This became even more embarassing as friends and family started having kids. Hell if I remember your third kid's name, let alone birthday.
So a couple of years ago I built a simple app to keep birthdays in check. It was... fine. Rails web app, did the basics.
But I still had to go to the app to add people, worry about being logged out, just enough friction that I'd forget or not bother. So a couple of months ago I turned it into a whatsapp-only app.
It now runs entirely through whatsapp (with a few webviews chucked in when needed) and it's super smooth. I can add birthdays with natural language, yeet in a few at a time, just record a voice note and get on with my day. And it sends me email reminders that save my bacon for now nearly 100 friends and family and their ruddy keeds.
Anyway, thought it might be useful for others. have at it.