Christmas Cards

I have not sent cards for years now.all my friends and family Know that instead of posting Christmas cards I give a donation to Cancer Research, the Lifeboat and Alzheimers

If you want to stop sending Christmas cards, I suggest send them this year with a little note inside to say why you are stopping sending them ... or ... you don’t have to give a reason ... just say you are stopping sending them at the Post Office’s expense.
I had an old friend who used to send to all and sundry which amounted to well over 100 cards! First week of January she started buying her Christmas card stamps ready for December. Bless her.

Some friends started sending me Christmas greetings on their phones with a picture of pretty snowy scene instead of cards. I know not the same maybe as a hand written card, but still shows they are thinking about you. I know cards cheap enough, but stamps have got so expensive.

I gave up sending cards years ago, they are far too expensive here.

A single card costs just under £2 and then there is the postage to pay as well.

At Christmas I write at long chatty letter giving the main news of the year and send it as an e-mail. Birthday greetings likewise.

Everyone does that here, so no-one minds.

I gather e-mail Christmas letters are frowned on in the UK, perhaps I'm wrong?

Someone has to make a start.

I was brought up never to send cards from charities - it was fine to support charities, but not to boast about having done so.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

We always send loads of cards. I already have this year’s in stock as I bought them in the January sales. We always send the local ones via Scout Post as this is a massive fundraiser for local Scouts. I don’t think they’ll be delivering this year if this crisis continues. We normally give out a lot of cards to work colleagues and folk in local groups we are involved in. Can’t see that happening this year. I think that also as so many folk have been isolated this year, they will enjoy receiving a card with a nice wee message, but please don’t feel pressurised to send them, especially with the soaring cost of stamps!

We got messages in cards from 2 people last year informing us they’d not be sending cards again but would be making a donation. As usual, I’ll be sending cards - postage is ridiculous, but buying a book of stamps a month through the year solves the problem.

Trees for cards and Christmas trees are grown as a crop and planted to reach an optimum size to harvest, so as the saying goes ‘every little helps’ to get us get back to ‘normal’.

I take one year off every 5 years. No one seems to notice - I think they presume it got lost in the post . Always charity cards though.

I don’t see that it’s ‘boasting’ to send charity cards, Grandtante - TBH that’s never occurred to me. If you’re going to send cards anyway, why not?

As for Christmas letters, or round robins as they’re often called, I think they did fall partly out of favour because too many of them turned into brag-fests about children’s achievements, their wonderful lifestyle/holidays, etc. Nobody ever sent one saying that they’d put on 3 stone and their eldest failed most of their GCSEs! (At least, not that I ever saw.).

Another kind we still get is from a far flung Canadian relative of dh who TBH we barely know - 2 x A4 pages in a tiny font, crammed with news of her doings and ailments, and news of a lot of people we either don’t know at all, or hardly at all - and all their doings and ailments.

I’d rather have a few lines scribbled inside the card, but that’s obviously rather more of a faff than the same thing photocopied for everybody.

www.jacquielawson.com some beautiful online cards set to music that you can send. It’s roughly £11 a year to send as many as you like

A few years ago I realised that most of my Christmas decorations were other peoples choice of cards. So I stopped sending to relations and friends who I had a lot of contact with. I just wished them Happy Christmas. Friends who I don't see often, I phone up, wish them Happy Christmas and have a nice long chat. Sometimes its the only time we catch up, but we don't want to loose touch and now distant friends often phone me first. This has cut down on my Christmas cards to virtually nil!

I use the jacquard lawson site for my cards. The person receiving one can cut and paste your message to read later on. I also send the advent calendar to several friends as this is goodcvalue too.

I buy cards from the RNLI every year as the proud mother of a volunteer. I have cut down to only sending to people who live too far away for me to greet in person. This year may be different because there won't be any Christmas get togethers between local friends and neighbours.

Dont buy them
Dont write them
Dont post them.
Sorted!

I wholeheartedly agree.

I buy cards from the RNLI every year as the proud mother of a volunteer
Well done to your son or daughter LauraNorder
I buy the RNLI cards and usually try to get to their fundraisers which I shall miss this Christmas in all probability.

I love getting Christmas cards and sending them

I really hate those self-satisfied announcements : ‘we are donating to charity xyz and won’t be sending cards this year’
I think this year with so much isolation, it is particularly important to let people know someone cares enough to send a card

Sawsage2 so do I

Most of my friends live overseas so last year I found a really nice verse and sent them a 'virtual' card and with the money I saved on stamps and purchasing cards I gave to charity. You can also write your own email and attached photos.

I know we should all be thinking about the environment and saving the planet and I try to do my best throughout the year but, really, the thought of not sending Christmas cards is a non-starter. I always buy my cards after Christmas when the charities are almost giving them away, but Ido so with a clear conscience as I donate to quite a few charities throughout the year, far more than the price of a few cards. The the greater cost is postage. If I remember I try to buy a few stamps each month so that is not quite so painful!

I know some people don't like them, but I always include a "Round Robin" to friends and family who I may not see for most of the year, and they do the same - and, no, it is not about boasting about our children's/grandchildren's achievements or even ouor own, if we have any!

I think in years to come sending cards will gradually cease. Certainly none of the young people I know send them, preferring to use email for Christmas and birthdays and any other celebration.

I enjoy the couple of Round Robins I get in with the cards, JaneRn. There are old friends I only usually hear from once or twice a year, and it’s good to hear what they’ve been up to. Christmas is a lovely time for a spot of nostalgia. None of them are boastful (they wouldn’t be friends if they were!).

My DH was a publisher and is very firm on the subject of paper being a crop which is grown, harvested and recycled so there is no need to over-worry about the planet on this one.

Do a quick Google Earth of the middle of Sweden. Hundreds of miles of trees.

Or go down the Jacqui Lawson route. She has some lovely Christmas greetings.

I can vouch for that, Lilyflower. You can drive hundreds of miles in Sweden and see nothing but conifers. Quite tedious!

During Lockdown we had a lot of birthdays and I started using Moonpig but used the card templates that you can upload photos to. They are of good quality and then becomes a memory. The recipients all really appreciated them. With family at Christmas I help the grandchildren make a few cards during half term for their parents to send. But we have cut down hugely over the years. DH has a spreadsheet of who we send to and who we get cards from. After a few years of sending and no card in return they get crossed off!!!