The most wonderful time of year is almost upon us! The time for sending and receiving holiday cards, of course. Whether you send greetings for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year, reaching out to those you know and drawing them close during the holiday season is a beautiful tradition to keep.
Be that as it may, sending holiday cards can be an overwhelming project and, well, a bit of a minefield. I love sending cards and I’m passionate about small details, so I’ve put together this Holiday Card 101.
Who Can Send Cards?
Literally anyone. Please don’t feel like, if you don’t have kids or your kids have moved out, no one wants to hear about how you’re doing or see your smiling face. I sent handwritten cards in my early 20s and transitioned to photo cards the year my husband and I got married, and we’ve sent one every year since. By the same token, it’s easy to fall into the trap of making your card all about your child(ren). Remember that you still matter to your extended family and friends, and try and include something of you (and your significant other, if appropriate) on your card, whether it be a whole family photo or quick life update.
If you’ve fallen out of the habit of sending cards, know that it’s just as easy to “fall back” in. Worst case scenario, you send to your old address book and get a handful of returned cards because people have moved. Sending cards earlier gives people the opportunity to reply to you, even if they don’t routinely send cards, or haven’t sent you one for a while.
Picture Perfect
I love a handwritten note as much as the next stationery-lover, but I send pre-printed cards with a photo and message for ease. That way, older relatives who may only hear from us once or twice a year can see how much our son has grown!
Over the years I’ve used a combination of professional photos and iPhone snaps, both with great success. Sometimes we have time to have photos taken, other times we just can’t make the scheduling work. I try to make the photo as festive as possible, but I also love when people use their favorite family photo from the year (usually 4th of July!) as the centerpiece of their holiday card. Whatever I use on the front, I make sure to create a collage of 4-5 photos from our year, featuring my husband and I, our son, and our dog, for the back of the card.
My best advice is to choose your photo first and then pick your card design — the two should work together and show one another off. Think about the color tones in your photo and choose a design that mirrors or complements them. Beachy photo? Lean into cooler tones like blues, greys, and straw yellows. Holiday sweater extravaganza? Opt for a classic green and red palette, or go bold with fashionable rainbow brights. Never rule out making your photo black and white if you just can’t find a design that works.
Holiday Wishes
Because there are a lot of holidays this time of year, and lots of us celebrate in different ways, the kind of “holiday message” you send will be unique to your family. I love the idea of sending a Thanksgiving card, but generally find that life is too busy to get organized and mail them out in early November. As we send quite a lot of cards overseas, sending such a specific greeting wouldn’t necessarily work for us either.
Our card list contains people of all faiths and none, and sending a non-specific “happy holidays” greeting can err on the side of caution. Generally, I use our card to wish people a “Merry Christmas” — mostly because that is what we celebrate, and I am extending our celebration into others homes to celebrate with them. I’ve never had anyone say they were offended to receive it, and I am always delighted to receive a Hannukah card or New Year greeting. I think cards are a great way to learn more about the way friends and family celebrate, so I absolutely encourage you to lean into your own traditions and share them with those you love.
Make it Personal
As well as good wishes, use your holiday card to provide any new information or life updates. We used one of our Christmas cards to provide our address when we moved into our new home; and when my son was born, our holiday card doubled up as a birth announcement to lots of people on our list. By making your card serve a double duty, people who you contact sporadically can still keep up to date with what is going on in your life.
It doesn’t have to be “big milestones” either — lots of holiday cards provide a little space for you to sum up what your kids have been up to or achieved this year. My favorite holiday card tradition is adding a new saying or proverb to the signature, which works to sum up our year.
Where to Order
There are literally so many places to order holiday cards now, at varying quality levels and price points. Minted, Shutterfly, and Simply to Impress have a large variety of holiday cards that are easy to personalize. I love that you can now upload your photo and see it in a large number of designs at once, allowing you to hone in on the perfect design for you! Because they predominately print photo cards, you can ensure that the print quality is really high, even with phone photos. I like ordering from Minted because you can always get double-sided cards, return addressing, and envelope addressing is free — they are on the pricier end, but frequently have good discount codes as we get into November.
Pretty much anywhere that offers photo printing — CVS, Walgreens, Walmart — will also give you the opportunity to turn your photo into a holiday card. They have a great range of designs, you simply add your photo and names online and they are printed for in-store collection. The only downside is that most designs don’t give a lot of scope for personalizing (beyond names) because, as they are printed on photo paper, they are one-sided. You’ll also have to buy your own envelopes. Online photo services like Snapfish and Tiny Prints offer the same range, without you having to pick them up in store.
A Good Impression
It’s really important to dot those i’s and cross those t’s when you are sending a holiday card. I’ve created the little cheat sheet below to ensure that you always refer to your family name correctly — two rules to remember: never use an apostrophe, and use “family” if you’re in any doubt.
When to Send
I typically send cards out in the first week of December. This allows plenty of time for international cards to arrive before Christmas, but also allows time for local friends and family to enjoy our card and reply before Christmas if they want to. Friends move and addresses change, so if I have cards returned as undeliverable or find out that someone has an new address, sending out early gives me scope to send out any extras as needed. I always order extras for handing out to neighbors, teachers, etc. because they are a nice, personal accompaniment to a gift.
Keeping Cards
As a rule, I don’t keep holiday cards from one year to the next. Instead, I prefer to enjoy and display them for the season, then move on. The exception to that is that I do keep our holiday card (the one that we send) each year, and have started a little book of cards so my son can enjoy it when he’s older. It’s nice to see how we are growing year on year, and the different styles of photo and cards we’ve chosen to mark each holiday.
This simple, cute, and personalizable acrylic card holder is a perfect way to corral your holiday cards, whether you only keep your own, or stash them year on year. They also make great gifts!
I hope this simple guide to holiday cards will help you embrace and enjoy this tradition this year. It’s such an easy way to spread cheer during the holiday season — I love receiving cards in the mail, and it brings me closer to loved ones and friends who are far away when I think of them smiling as they open and display our card. Cards don’t have to be expensive or ornate, and your news doesn’t have to be groundbreaking — they just need to be sent with love.
