Does anyone send (or receive) paper greeting cards?

[badatmath]

I'm pretty surprised this cards thing is so popular but I guess I don't take into account most of you have/or had much bigger families.

 

[gamboolman]

Now that I'm retired afew years - I like writing Cards and Letters like what we did growing up.

I try to send Birthday Cards and Christmas Cards and I enjoy sending Post Cards to folks.

But I think it is fairly unusual and probably not many young folks do it anymore.

 

[Koolau]

Wife sends birthday cards to all the relatives and close friends. She often throws in a scratch off lottery ticket for the younger (under say 25). Some of those tickets have hit $100. She's a favorite aunt. I'm OK with it. I think it's cool that there are still some people that send snail mail.

Getting the "what did our family do in the last year" Christmas letters seems kinda lame. Sometimes it's nice to hear what people you're not in close contact with have going on in their lives but a lot of the time it turns into a brag fest. We quit doing it about 10 years ago and I don't miss it.

I really appreciate those Christmas letters from several friends and family. If they brag (especially on their kids' accomplishments) I'm cool with it.

 

[pjm-7]

I still send a few cards. I keep a small supply on hand. In the past year or so I seem to be sending more sympathy cards. I still believe in a handwritten note in a sympathy or thank you card, old fashioned politeness. When dad was still alive, I would send him a couple of postcards on my travels. It meant a lot to him.

 

[martyp]

I have one elderly relative that I still send 2 paper greeting cards to but I kind of low key resent it. It isn't the cost I just think it is stupid to drive to a store and waste money on something that will be thrown in the trash anyway. . . I keep telling myself to buck up it only takes a few minutes but after a lifetime of cheesy worthless cards I don't want to buy more. Nor do I want to get any. But I don't want to be rude by just stopping. Well, okay yes I kind of do want to be rude I guess . . . hence the reason for the thread. No idea if this would be upsetting to the relative but likely so as everything upsets them.

Does everyone else still buy cards/like getting them?

I think you should do what is appropriate for the person you are addressing. If you want to do something kind for someone then meet them where they are.

At this point don't use paper greeting cards. I will contact friends and family by messaging in an email or on social media because that is what the people I know expect and accept. Today is a good friend's birthday and I will contact him by email . . . as usual.

I will buy a card for my Thai fiancé because cards are not a tradition here and it will be perceived as something special.

I do have two fond memories of greeting cards:

When I was growing up in the 70's we would get very many Christmas cards and we would post them on the walls of our family room for weeks. They were part of our Christmas decorations.

There was a decade when we had 2 Jack Russell terriers that we loved very much. I had become proficient with Photoshop and each year I would create a funny custom Christmas card of me and the dogs. I don't know of the recipients liked them or not or thought I was crazy but I enjoyed doing it.

 

[Ronstar]

yep, friends and relatives birthdays, anniversaries, and also Christmas cards

 

[sdawson]

Now that I'm retired afew years - I like writing Cards and Letters like what we did growing up.

As do I. That is, I have friends and family I exchange letters with, and of course send out Christmas and birthday cards.

Folks love getting mail, it's an easy thing to do to make someone's day. It just takes a bit of your time, and some practice to recall how to actually write a letter catching up a friend on what is happening with your life and asking them about theirs.

 

[Koolau]

We do receive many dozens of cards each year - possibly because we send out so many ourselves. In any case, we appreciate them - especially from old acquaintances and from family.

 

[Midpack]

I don’t like exchanging cards, but DW would be disappointed if I didn’t get her a card for special occasions, so I always do. She saves them, I just throw them away. The only cards we send through the mail are thank you cards when appropriate. The messages in most cards now seem poorly done, but I/we can always find one that we like.

 

[Koolau]

Last time I cried was when our youngest sent me this year's BD card. She didn't just sign it "love, your daughter". She said "I love you."

What could be better than that? I'll keep that card until I die. It made all those years of raising her worth it.

 

[scrabbler1]

When my LF and my SIL exchange with me cards (usually but not always for birthdays), we find funny cards which include pictures of cats because we are big cat fans. The card makers always have some creative, cute, and funny cat cards which I always add a little joke to enhance the card's message.. These cards are often worth saving.

 

[athena53]

Paper greeting cards- only for DS, DDIL, grandchildren (with money inside!) and siblings. Cost of cards is getting out of hand and so is postage. Any card with any frills or decoration is made in China.

At Christmas I send out about 30 hand-written letters to friends and family who are out of town, with a page of pictures. I quit enclosing a card. What they really like are the letters and the pictures!

People seem to be cutting back on the generic letter sent to the masses- I always considered those the FaceBook version, in which everything is rosy, and there were always references to people I didn't know. Some have changed to an e-mailed version.

I remember my mother who had her Christmas card list, sending a lot of cards out, pre-printed inside with their names in the signature section. I think the Post Office even gave you a 1 cent discount for Christmas cards- you had to just fold in the flap rather than sealing it in case they wanted to check. Back then I think regular postage was 4 or 5 cents.

 

[CautaServans]

Always have and always will buy paper cards for people, except for my husband. I make his.

 

[iloveyoga]

I exchange birthday and Christmas cards with some of my best friends. I also send out sympathy cards as needed.

 

[ls99]

Yes.

 

[shafer9]

Interesting topic actually. Personally, I get test electronic greeting cards. They’re impersonal and generally stupid and annoying. I sent Christmas cards for years, but people seem to be getting out of the habit and that doesn’t bother me at all. I buy a few every year and if someone sends me a Christmas card, I return it.
The one thing I have started to do is write letters. It’s old-fashioned and retro and hands-on and human and tactile and fun. Personally, I think you’ll see a shift at some point away from all of this electronic, digital crap as people just become desensitized to it all, and very likely there may be some sort of return to more hands-on communication vehicles. At least I hope so. Letter writing is a lost start and I’m hoping it comes back when people get disgusted with scrolling for everything. I’ll be dead by then, but I don’t care. So I’m gonna do a little of it now because it makes me happy. And the people— young and old— I send them to are invariably pleased and surprised at receiving it and express their appreciation. So win-win as far as I’m concerned.

 

[target2019]

Too many get returned!

Just send an email. Attach a PDF if you like. Worst case, it goes to spam.

 

[partition1]

I have one elderly relative that I still send 2 paper greeting cards to but I kind of low key resent it. It isn't the cost I just think it is stupid to drive to a store and waste money on something that will be thrown in the trash anyway. . . I keep telling myself to buck up it only takes a few minutes but after a lifetime of cheesy worthless cards I don't want to buy more. Nor do I want to get any. But I don't want to be rude by just stopping. Well, okay yes I kind of do want to be rude I guess . . . hence the reason for the thread. No idea if this would be upsetting to the relative but likely so as everything upsets them.

Does everyone else still buy cards/like getting them?

Yes, I still buy and send paper cards. It's intimate and thoughtful...especially when handwritten. We always mail out at least 50-60 personal holiday cards every year.

Granted, being frugal with the cost of a flipping piece of paper...I do search for deals and thrifts for cards during the year. Scored 3 12-pks of dollar store Christmas cards for a few bucks last year, and no one is the wiser.

 

[stevenr]

Yes. We will send selected bday cards, and more often these days, sympathy cards. In my retirement I have also resurrected the art of sending postcards, and people love getting them. I actually get a kick writing them on our travels, and visiting post offices around the world (and seeing that country's stamps) is kinda fun. France has a funny baguette postcard stamp that really establishes the sense of place!

 

[frances]

Interesting comments.
for a retirement activity I started making greeting cards. Not just printing them, but making some that are more like "art".
Friends and relatives that I've sent them to tell me they save them and have even framed them.
So I guess it all depends on your perspective as to what's a "waste" and what's not....

 

[HI Bill]

We almost never send out cards except occasional Christmas cards to a select few. We do received emailed Christmas letters, and the occasional thank you cards.

 

[Al18]

Al18’s wife says:
It’s a beautiful layered card - love it. What brand die’s do use? I like Crafter’s Companion die’s.

 

[old medic]

We still send around 100 cards out every Christmas. My wife still sends at least 30 birthday, sympathy or thank you cards to friends and relatives every year.

DW is old school this way... After Xmas sale for next years cards, BD, anniversary and other special occasions. Cost a good dinner out once or twice a year....
I have on several occasions wrote I LOVE YOU on a $50 or $100 instead of a card.... shell throw it away too....

 

[Steve P]

Holiday cards are still sent. Sometimes I see them on refrigerator's, etc throughout the year. Also once in a while a card with a real handwritten note. But not nearly as many cards going out anymore other then thesee.

 

[Dalton]

Yes, of course. I'm pretty alone and isolated, so receiving thoughts from friends and families is really nice. I send and receive Christmas cards, though not as many as in the past, and some years I only hit the most important people, if I haven't gotten in the spirit (ultimately, that leads to procrastination, but I also write a little note, so that requires more motivation).

My sibling's family gets birthday and congrats cards. the nieces and nephews usually get cash or a check. I like to make sure they remember how to read cursive, lol, and I get to offer words of wisdom and encouragement. They always send thank you cards, with notes about how/what they are doing.