Christmas cards -- less labor intesive ideas? hand address or computer labels? or ?

[DianaPrincessofWales]

Just wanted to add, YES, I have noticed over the last few years that I have recieved fewer cards than we used to. I think everyone is just so busy. Kind of sad if this tradition went by the way side.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I saw on another board this idea suggested -- they started sending EMAIL Christmas greetings with an attached picture and told people with the money they saved on cards and pictures, they bought food and donated to a local food pantry.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[MousekaMaddi]

Im a professional photog with my own studio and I always send photo cards of us and our DD -2 pix per card!, People see how we look and how our sweet DD is growing and they see my photog skills and that studios doing well ...but my friends wont send me their kids pix, they think I critique them...NOT
Just SEND me the pix, I LOVE to get pix!!
I do send a printed letter with mine as I love to read others, I HATE to get just a signed card. No pix no note, dont bother. Update me on your life please, dont just sign your name. I send 200 cards and hand address each, and love doing it. DH stamps and I stamp our return address(studio address actually....marketing here.)
Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[lenshanem]

I got the Mickey and Minnie photo card at Walgreens this year. I took the pic at home, downloaded it at Walgreens.com, picked out the card style and put our names and date on it and got an email about thirty minutes later they were ready to pick up. Very easy!
I had gotten Christmas address labels in the mail with our address on them so those got stuck up top and I hand wrote the other addresses with a red pen. Holiday stamps I picked up at the grocery store when I was shopping.

I think the whole production took about an hour combined including taking the pic of the girls who didn't want to put on the Santa caps. I sent out about forty cards.

I was THRILLED when I saw Walgreens had Disney themed photo cards this year.

 

[maggiew]

I got the Mickey and Minnie photo card at Walgreens this year. I took the pic at home, downloaded it at Walgreens.com, picked out the card style and put our names and date on it and got an email about thirty minutes later they were ready to pick up. Very easy!
I had gotten Christmas address labels in the mail with our address on them so those got stuck up top and I hand wrote the other addresses with a red pen. Holiday stamps I picked up at the grocery store when I was shopping.

I think the whole production took about an hour combined including taking the pic of the girls who didn't want to put on the Santa caps. I sent out about forty cards.

I was THRILLED when I saw Walgreens had Disney themed photo cards this year.

Exactly!!

I will probably get flamed for what I am about to write, but ...

I think its a lame excuse to say you are too busy to send Christmas cards. We are all busy. I work full time, I have a 1-1/2 commute EACH way to work, I don't get home until 7:30 pm each night, then help the kids with homework, etc. My kids have an activity each day of the week (band 2 days each, karate, soccer, church, altar server, etc.) But I still found time to write my cards.

I unfortunately do not live near any of my good friends. We have all scattered around the country. We all try to keep up, but we are all BUSY . So its nice that at least ONCE a year we can catch up. Even if its just a photo card, I can see how much the kids have grown. Or if they send a picture from Italy (or Disney), I know they went on a trip. I really love getting these cards because we don't keep in touch as much as I would like.

So my advice would be do as Shan did above. It won't take an hour. At least get photocards with your names printed on them so you don't have to sign. Use the return address labels that the Lung Association sent you (or whatever). Hand address them or put on label. I don't care. But send the cards!!! Send the New years cards if this time is extra busy. I"m sure your family/friends love to get them and look forward to them all year.

Maggie

 

[summerrluvv]

I order photo cards from walmart.com and then write the receipients names on the top of the card. I use return address labels and hand write the receipients address. It doesn't take that long. I did most of them on my lunch break.

 

[mlwear]

I saw on another board this idea suggested -- they started sending EMAIL Christmas greetings with an attached picture and told people with the money they saved on cards and pictures, they bought food and donated to a local food pantry.

Any thoughts on that?

I have an aunt and uncle who did that. Said they were spending their time and money at church. IMO, it was very lame. In fact, it came off a little condescending...like they were doing charity work and the rest of us were wasting time and money on cards. I still give time and money to charity and remember my friends and family with the small sacrifice of some time and a few stamps. (If you want to save $ on cards just write a letter.)
I don't even bother opening the e-cards I get.
I signed, wrote short notes in about half and addressed 60 cards in about two hours while watching the news and having Saturday coffee. I still need to write up my generic this is what happened this year letter and put on stamps. It isn't that much work and it is the only time I get to contact many of these people or hear from them.
Just below e-cards on my list are the cards that are printed by machine on the inside, a computer label on the envelope and a printed return address label. Wow, why bother? I do feel a little obligated to send them, too, but I always feel good that I did. Especially when MY mailbox is full with cards my family and friends took the time and effort to send to me.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I have an aunt and uncle who did that. Said they were spending their time and money at church. IMO, it was very lame. In fact, it came off a little condescending...like they were doing charity work and the rest of us were wasting time and money on cards. I still give time and money to charity and remember my friends and family with the small sacrifice of some time and a few stamps. (If you want to save $ on cards just write a letter.)
I don't even bother opening the e-cards I get.
I signed, wrote short notes in about half and addressed 60 cards in about two hours while watching the news and having Saturday coffee. I still need to write up my generic this is what happened this year letter and put on stamps. It isn't that much work and it is the only time I get to contact many of these people or hear from them.
Just below e-cards on my list are the cards that are printed by machine on the inside, a computer label on the envelope and a printed return address label. Wow, why bother? I do feel a little obligated to send them, too, but I always feel good that I did. Especially when MY mailbox is full with cards my family and friends took the time and effort to send to me.

I totally agree. Sending cards is a way to say that you're thinking about someone during the holiday season. I would be upset if someone told me that I wasn't worth their time to sign their name on a card, address it, and put it in the mail. As far as saving money, really, you can pick up a box of cards at the dollar store and a book of stamps doesn't cost THAT much, especially compared to how much some spend on gifts!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I saw on another board this idea suggested -- they started sending EMAIL Christmas greetings with an attached picture and told people with the money they saved on cards and pictures, they bought food and donated to a local food pantry.

Any thoughts on that?

I guess I should have said that I wasn't promoring this idea!
It was even a little "far out" for me and I am the most frugal person I know!

 

[malibuconlee]

We normally do the dreaded Christmas Letter, that saves on having to come up with something unique to say to each person. There are a couple we hand write extra stuff in. Then we hand sign each of the cards. A mindless thing we can do while watching tv. I keep the address labels saved as word files, then update each year before printing.

I figure if/when we have kids we can decide about doing the pictures then.

I do like the idea of the photo cards to send out. I like getting those.

eta: I have HORRIBLE handwriting, so the labels look better than my writing would.

 

[RobInBigKC]

My DW used to use pre-printed return address labels and hand-print every envelope and sign every card by hand.

Once our list hit 400 addresses (and we do pare it down to those we receive cards from) and our fourth son learned to crawl, she said no more and we started printing the "outgoing" address labels off on our printer (we maintain our list of names in an Excel spreadsheet during the year and export it into a word document with a label template each November). She still signs every card by hand though. This has been our method for the last four years.

Personally, I don't think the label on the envelope makes a whole lot of difference. We keep the cards on display until the New Year and save them for a year or two but the envelope gets trashed as soon as we get a chance (often after Christmas) to confirm the address of the sender matches what we have for them.

-- Rob

 

[kaytieeldr]

Some observations:

While labels with artwork are cute, they may make it more difficult for the post office to handle*;
Ditto for unusual fonts;
And any ink color than blue or black.
Any of the above could slow down delivery of what you sent, in that the scanners may reject them and they'll have to be processed by hand.

We're adults, and while our parents may want any of us to do things their way, we're capable of making our own decisions.

Former card senders who have advised us that they are using money formerly budgeted for cards, for their church instead, are merely letting us know WHY we won't be getting cards from them this year. Better, in my opinion, than letting us think we've been forgotten or snubbed.

Now, my opinion:
Hand-addressed is best, then computer-printed envelopes, with address labels coming in last - it just seems impersonal and businesslike. At least one person above mentioned buying cards on sale after Christmas. While sure, most peoples' lists change from year to year, we do know in MOST cases to whom we'll be sending cards. Addressing a batch of envelopes once a week or once a month throughout the year is much less daunting than hand-addressing four hundred(!) of 'em on December 1. I realize this isn't possible if you're sending the actual photo cards... well, it is if you're willing to use regular envelopes one year, and save that year's properly-fitting envelopes for next year's cards, and so on...

*applies to recipient address; ideally the return address labels don't matter because, well, the cards shouldn't be getting returned to us

 

[AliciaS]

How funny that I saw this thread while waiting for my printer to print out my "Gordon Gazette". I write a half page, 2-column, fake Victorian newspaper to insert in the card, attach a photo to the front of each card, at least write "Merry Christmas so-and-so Love, ..." in each card, and hand address the envelopes. We send out about 60. It's not THAT hard. Taking the photo with a squirmy 2-year old is the hardest part.

I have a friend who does the computer address stickers and sends pre-signed photo cards. She could pay a student to do it all. Thanks, but whatever.

 

[drcmk]

I think its a lame excuse to say you are too busy to send Christmas cards. We are all busy.
Maggie

Nah, my turn to get flamed.

I don't send Christmas cards. I won't say that I'm too busy, but I will say that I don't send cards because it is time-consuming and I'd rather not spend my time addressing envelopes. I have carpel tunnel syndrome so it would be painful, too, but I know I could use my computer to do most of the writing. I think Christmas cards are kind of a silly expense and waste of our natural resources (think of the trees). We definitely get fewer cards every year and I'm happy about that too. No more jammed up mailbox or stacks of cards I don't know what to do with, or pictures of people I hardly remember.

I'm not a mean person. I love my family and friends very much. I just don't send Christmas cards to demonstrate that. I hope I demonstrate it in other ways.

At the end of August, my kids always write a three or four page "Summer Newsletter" with lots of pictures, articles about our summer activities and whatever else they want to include--sometimes jokes, recipes, restaurant and movies reviews. My kids are 8 & 10 but we've been doing this, with varying levels of assistance for about 4 years. I send them to my closest friends and family--about a dozen people. My kids and I have more time in the summer and we enjoy this project, so this works better than Christmas cards for me.