whats cheaper to use than arduino for a birthday card?

Mouser sells bare Serial arduino boards.
One of those, and the uC (168 even if you don't need the larger memory of the 328), 28pin socket, 16 MHz xtal, two 22 pf caps,10K pullup are all available also.
Connect wire from the shield holes to your motor controller. Program on your arduino and then move it over.