It's 2021: Anybody still sending Christmas cards?

[rfomd129]

I forgot to mention this because I don't think it fits into the actual "sending" of holiday cards, but each year after Christmas I buy a pack of non-denominational holiday cards and I use them to give cash gratuities to the people who give us superb service throughout the year: our landscaper, our pool guys, our exterminator - and they are so grateful and appreciative to receive them.

I've lived in places where gratuities run the day. Many times the recipients here (Fl) are pleasantly surprised because they've told me they don't often receive gratuities.

I also send thank you cards to our local police.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

Anybody send a card to a single person under 30 ...who actually sends one back?

I'll be honest, when i was a single, childless male I did not send out any cards. I received a few, but never sent them.

Only when i got married and had children did that become a thing for us. And by us, i mean my wife does 99% of the work. I just buy the stamps and drop them off at the post office.


I would imagine for most of my male peers, it's a similar situation.

[P Larsen]

Get Avery labels for the To (large) and Return (small) addresses; can use excess all year.

Have addresses organized for the large labels (to avoid delivery delays, use proper USPS address protocols - abbreviations, no punctuation, zip+4; technically, any carrier who is not the principal assigned carrier can put anything not using those protocols aside for the principal carrier to determine proper delivery). You can even have ways of denoting people who reciprocate cards and those who don't (I italicize the latter), and during the year you can highlight addresses that change. Et cet.

The basic work if you are sending more than one type of card (specifically Xmas vs not, for example; I think of the latter as New Year's cards) is deciding who gets which type. If one type of card, then you don't have that issue. I observe Christmas as a religious day, as do many (but not all) of my recipients, so I have at least two specific types of cards.

Once card choice is made, it's a matter of someone doing the labels and stamps, and someone writing in the cards, and then sealing and mailing them. The person who does not want to write could do everything but write. Not difficult. For 45-50 cards, it's maybe 2 hours of work total alone (basically 1 hour of card sorting/labelling/stamping, and 1 hour of writing and sealing), and very much worth it.

[katzenfreund]

I have really cut down sending them... about 15 now, mostly to people over 50

[id77]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I'll be honest, when i was a single, childless male I did not send out any cards. I received a few, but never sent them.

Only when i got married and had children did that become a thing for us. And by us, i mean my wife does 99% of the work. I just buy the stamps and drop them off at the post office.


I would imagine for most of my male peers, it's a similar situation.

Sounds right. Before kids, I saw cards as a paper version of our friends-with-kids/pets social media posts. Pointless flaunting but minimal harm done, so we kept any we received until after New Year's. Did not send any, though.

With kids, I pretty much still feel the same way, but my wife seems to now feel obliged to also send cards doing the same thing. I stay out of it aside from nodding and agreeing to the final layout and looking the other way when paying for the cards to be printed. It's pointless but not a fight worth having.

[MMS02760]

I seem to have this debate each year in recent times - should I continue the tradition of sending out Christmas Cards. I have sent out in the neighborhood of 60 cards for nearly three decades. I do not regularly see many of the people I send cards to as they are relatives and former college friends, neighbors, and co-workers. I have the process down to a science as I use clear labels so I don't have to write out the addresses year after year. With white envelopes, it appears as if the addresses are printed right on the envelope so it doesn't look too bad.

The ever rising price of stamps and the general dying out of this tradition make me consider stopping the process. I probably only get half as many cards sent to me as many no longer do the card thing.

[Traveler1026]

Yep count me in as one who sends out Christmas cards. I’ve noticed less and less people each year are sending them out, however I enjoy it and it’s a tradition I plan to keep doing and never stop. I am 51.

[BOS2IAD]

Each year my list gets smaller and smaller when it comes to sending out Christmas cards.

One cousin, whose Mom lives with the family, sends out a yearly card that is a photo of the entire family plus their menagerie of animals. Another cousin sends a yearly brag letter, which I don't mind since they live at the other end of the country and we don't hear from them much otherwise. Plus, a few friends still send cards. If I get a card from someone I wasn't expecting to receive one from, I will put one in the mail for them.

Growing up, my family had Christian and Jewish friends. Thus my parents always looked for cards that basically said "Happy Holidays" so as to not exclude anyone. I ended up doing the same thing myself when I sent out cards.