We received our first Christmas card of the season a few days ago. The first card is always the signal to me that I need to haul out our Christmas bin and start the whole card sending process.I L-O-V-E pulling out the Christmas bin and rediscovering our Christmas treasures. The much-longed for (by me, not Matt) Christmas cds, decorations, Christmas cards that I snagged for cheap during last year's after-holiday sales, the family of styrofoam snowmen, the ornaments, the teddy bear calendar, nativity set, and stockings. Ah.
The extra fun part this year is to watch how excited Chloe is getting about it all. She literally studied the teddy bear calendar for most of the morning yesterday. (You can see it in the background of the posted picture. And if you're wondering, yes, that picture is from last year.)
What was I writing about? Oh, yeah, Christmas cards. Forgive me. I have chronic wandering mommy brain.
Every year Christmas cards are a pain and a joy to me. The postage is an obvious expense and the time and effort exerted seems unending. Part of that is my fault because I insist on writing a personal little note in each card. And last year we sent out more than 50 cards so it got ridiculous. 50 cards?!? How does that happen?!?
Last year I could focus on the Christmas card task while only managing one little girl and one big pregnant belly. That belly has shrunk slightly and become the most active 11-month old ever and now my time is a precious commodity. I'm taking the following drastic measures with this year's cards.
1. Cut, cut, cut. Ruthless cutting of my Christmas card address list. I'm no longer obeying the guilty mantra of I-must-send-a-card-to-everyone-who-sends-me-one.
2. E-cards. Several of my extended family members would truly be happier if I went green with their Christmas correspondence. And do you know how much faster I can type a message than hand-write one?
3. Consolidate. Each year we send out 2-3 Christmas gift packages to long-distance family. Why not toss in the Christmas cards for family in the area? My in-laws can easily pass along the cards to nearby aunts. My dad can drop off my aunt's and cousins' cards. And we'll save a few bucks in postage. The important thing is that our loved ones get the cards not that the cards arrive via the mailbox.
I seriously enjoy the Christmas card experience. It's a blast to get lovely cards in the mail through out the month of December. And we re-use old cards for the next year's gift tags so we appreciate the cards two years in a row. But I don't want my entire month to be consumed with pressure over something so trivial. I'd much rather relish the festivities of the season with less stress!
If you've made it thus far through my ramblings, answer me a few questions on your own Christmas card practices . . . .
1. How many Christmas cards do you mail out?
2. Do you include a family letter or pictures?
3. Do you write a note or just a generic salutation?
4. How many Christmas cards do you typically receive?
5. What practical budget-cutting tips do you have for the Christmas card process?
8 comments:
We typically send out anywhere from 80-90 cards!! They have been photo cards every year, and last year was the first year that I didn't make them by hand. i was going to attempt to do that this year, but with Eli getting into everything and everywhere, it didn't really happen (Next year when he can help better!) Since we do the photo cards, it's just a generic salutation, but a few "special" will get something more inside. We get about 50+ Christmas cards each year, although I've noticed it's getting less and less (ok by me!). I always look for the best deals on photo cards and shop around until I find something with free shipping and/or half-price cards, or free cards. When I made the cards it was much cheaper, so hopefully next year we'll go that route again. Did I answer them all? Phew, I did :-) We got our first Christmas card the day after THanksgiving!!!! Now that's organized!
We send around 50 too, and they are photos with a letter only. Sometimes we send them after Christmas, though. HA. This year I made a multi photo 4 x 6 on the computer and printed them when I found a deal for 1c prints in October, and we'll stick a more recent family photo in also. I always use the 2 page per sheet print option so our letters use 1/2 sheet of paper. I buy a box of invitation size envelopes at WalMart for under $2. Including postage, I think our cards are around 50 cents each, which I can live with.
We send out around 60-ish every year, although I do think I'm going to cut back this year. As far as cost-cutting, vistaprint.com is great for that - you can get 100 postcards for just a $5 photo upload fee plus shipping - although sometimes you can catch a deal that waves even those fees. Also, you can print on both sides so you have the option of printing a note for all or leaving it blank for a personal note later. And, if you decide to send it w/out an envelope, you cut the cost of postage by using postcard stamps. As far as time (and believe me, I know how tight it can be) I stopped doing most personal notes and a Christmas letter a couple of years ago. With blogs, facebook, email, etc. making it so much easier these days to keep in contact, I figure most can easily find out what's going on w/ our family if they care to know. Of course, there are the few who don't do computers, and I always include my blog address and/or email address on my card so anyone who wants to get in contact can do so.
I LOVE sending out a Christmas "card." (I love receiving them even as much, but I think we give people a challenge keeping track of our address.) I normal write a letter and print it on cutesy paper, take a family Christmas letter and just mail it. But, sadly I think I'm going to almost completely eliminate the mailing this year. This makes me so sad, but we're having to poke new holes in our belt to make it tighter, if you know what I mean. (And I know you do!) I think I'll just try to send it via email. Maybe print out enough for family. I don't know. I usually send about 75!
I love Christmas time and all it entails too! How's Clive treating your tree? Simon isn't doing as badly as I'd feared. I didn't put any breakable ornaments on the bottom (obviously).
My favorite thing to receive at Christmas time was the cards that included newsy letters from people that are a big part of my past but I don't stay in contact with regularly. Because I loved getting the newsy letters, that's usually what I sent out on Christmas paper. I also love getting updated family pictures from my out of town friends and since the girls have been born have sent one of our family which the Christmas letters. Last year, I sent all of the letters I could by email which really saved on postage. I got over the fact that it didn't feel the same.
No sending anything through the mail this year, though! Not expecting to receive many either this year as it costs $0.94 to mail a letter here and everything sent doesn't always arrive anyway. That's okay -- at least we have email.
We send out about fifty as well, and typically we send out photo cards with generic salutation...when you have babies as precious as ours, who needs anything more than that face to perk up their season?!?!?!
We send over 75 photo cards and I send a page-long letter along--which many of my recepients may not care to read;) I'm not sure how many we get, but I send out more than we recieve--I think--Sam's Club has great deals on their photo cards, I can get 100 cards for $25.00, which I think is pretty good. Yes, I loathe the money we spend on postage, but I chalk it up to-"it's just once a year."
Love, love, love Christmas cards! And I have no idea how many I send & every year I kind of do it different. Last year I sent a letter with the cards & I kind of wanted to do that again (it's been a newsy kind of year!) but I spent all of last week languishing in illness (acute tonsilitis) & with no paid sick leave left for the year, all of my Christmas budget will probably go towards that lost income. My parents gave me all of their leftover cards so I could at least get them ready for my church family.
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