Ship of Fools: The death of Christmas Cards?

Thread: The death of Christmas Cards? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Jante (# 9163) on :

Are you sending Christmas cards this year? Or has social media and the cost of postage sounded the death knell of cards?
We debated whether to send our normal rather large number and given our move earlier in the year decided to send them. However I am aware of more and more peaople sending a message via email or Facebook and have received a number that way myself.
It got me wondering.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Unless everyone is posting late, or there's an undelivered stockpile at the PO, we've received a fraction of the cards of previous Christmases. I don't think these are going to be replaced by online greetings: I think people are culling their lists.

I've sent my usual (small) number of cards and I'll be adding a FB 'card' to people whose postal addresses I don't know in any case.

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :

I tend to go through an 'everybody's crossed us off their lists...' phase at about this time - I've always been proved wrong, and indeed the postman delivered a goodly batch this morning.

I only ever cross anyone off my own list if they haven't been in touch for at least 3 years, and I would never stop sending physical cards to those on the list. It isn't a massive list anyway though. Like Firenze, I have another set of people whose physical addresses I don't have, and they will receive messages by a variety of other means.

I'd hate not to have cards around from those I love at Christmas - they're the most important part of the decorations.

Posted by The Rogue (# 2275) on :

We don't do cards at work - instead we donate to a charity. I wonder how much impact this kind of scheme has on the number of cards people get.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

I sent out just over 100, and I will receive slightly fewer than that. I also still send out paper birthday cards.

I will sometimes send e-cards for birthdays, etc., but I don't do Facebook.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I posted 80 at the start of this month because of the threat (which has materialised) of a local postal strike.

About 20 of the people i send to have sent or are expected to send email letters and card attachments.

I think that is a shame. Every letter I include in a card is personal to the addressee except for a few standard paragraphs.

I shall strike out the emailers from my list next year!

Posted by Felafool (# 270) on :

What did we do before the invention of the Christmas card in the 19th century?

Is the idea of sending a card an anachronism in these days of high(er) tech communications?

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

I have just written my annual 3 cards. I unfortunately used the last of last year's Christmas stamps last week, and only have one Olympic one left, so will have to buy some more tomorrow.
So yes, AFAIAC cards and letters in general seem to be dying out.

Posted by cheesymarzipan (# 9442) on :

I just forget to send any unless I'm also sending a parcel. Last posting day for me tomorrow so i'll have to do them in a mad rush tonight. I do like sending them, I just forget!

Posted by Cara (# 16966) on :

Yes, I still send paper cards. Just sent out about 60. I love receiving them and I like the way it makes us think about each other every year. Many of the recipients are far-flung family and friends who live in different countries, and it's a lovely way to keep in touch.

Some I haven't seen for years and years, and will probably never again, and I do sometimes wonder why I'm still sending a card--but then they send theirs anyway, and I find I can't unilaterally stop!

It's a lovely tradition, though admittedly time-consuming.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Yes - we have sent cards, but send less and less each year. We have received about half the amount we did last year.

Posted by Aravis (# 13824) on :

I've sent about 70 cards (have made all mine for the last 28 years!) but have sent less than half of those by regular post. The rest I either hand-deliver or send by Scout post (very much cheaper).

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I sent a few out this year, mainly to people that I don't have an e-connection with. In fact, largely family members.

I think that, because I tend to communicate with people electronically, it makes more sense to greet them at Christmas in the same way.

Mrs Cat sends quite a lot more, but then her family is a whole lot larger than mine.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

I send a total of 80 (approx. half of these by post), and get almost as many in return - I have managed to get it down from the original 100 that I used to send, but would find it very hard to reduce it any further.

Many of the postal ones are to old friends from school or college - if I can't manage to spend £1 on them once a year it's a pretty poor show.

I usually write a sentence or two to update them on essential information (weddings, new babies, address or job changes) but this year I've just put in my facebook details, so they can find all this out for themselves if they wish.

I love to look out for funny choir/musical cards as they are my trademark.

[ 17. December 2012, 20:07: Message edited by: Chorister ]

Posted by Rosa Winkel (# 11424) on :

I've written four cards today. That's my lot.

Here in Poland I don't know anyone who sends cards. People offer their wishes to each other directly. Of course, Christmas is largely a family-centristic festival here, and people will visit/ring up relatives.

The main place I've seen Christmas cards here in on graveyards, where a few musical cards are left open on graves. People seem to tolerate that.

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

I no longer send them to people that I see locally, but still send them to friends and family out of town. I do still send paper birthday cards. I also send valentine cards to friends who are alone.

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :

After a year's hiatus we have sent about 20 cards snail-mail. We have sent via email a PDF of the letter to others whom we know are electronically able. We have rec'd about a dozen so far.

The Christmas card update are fun to receive. Except we have a few correspondents who write things like: the kids are at the top of their class and about to win Nobel prizes, we are tremendously successful and over-joyous every minute of every day as we set about travelling to exotic places and baking cookies, and isn't it wonderful to be Jesus' special friends. This sort of thing gets me thinking about what a failure I am and hoping that Santa becomes Zombie Claus and visits them and eats up their brains.

Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :

I think now we send out about a dozen or so cards, mostly to family and friends who live out of town. We receive a lot fewer than we used to as well. We enjoy receiving them -- it's always nice to look at the pretty graphics, and it's interesting to get little notes from people we don't see often -- but it's not really what it used to be.

Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on :

My parents sent close to 200 and kept a list of who recipricated.

I used to send 100 and get about 50. Friends told me not to send cards to people you see.

A decade ago I was sending maybe 40 and getting about 15. This year I'll send about 30 and receive maybe 6.

Most friends send none.

Posted by bib (# 13074) on :

I dislike receiving email cards, so I don't send any. I like the annual Christmas cards that arrive in the mail, as many of my friends make their own really beautiful and creative cards. I make most of my own cards and personalise them as much as possible. However, I don't like the printed cards from politicians and businesses that arrive in my letter box and these are filed in my rubbish bin.

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :

I am sad to see the decline in Christmas cards and likewise the high postage prices which now almost enforce a reduction in the number of cards I feel able to send. But as Chorister said, it feels a sad state of affairs if I begrudge my friends and family £1 each once a year. I have always used the Christmas cards as my main form of decoration at this time of year - surrounding myself in greetings from all sorts of people somehow feels even more Christmassy than lots of tinsel, though we do the tinsel too.

It may also seem avaricious, but I mourn the decline in buying gifts too - though again I think the "spending race" of who spends how much on whom was ready for a cut back. Part of my extended family have decided not to do gifts any more. I feel bereft - robbed of the opportunity to buy them a gift at this special time of year and resenting feeling that it will be awkward and cause embarrassment if I go against the agreement and buy one anyway. I love getting presents and I love giving presents. I love getting cards and I love sending them. I must just get more organised next year to spread the cost.

(I set aside a sum of money in my savings to cover the cost of Christmas this year which felt good right up until some money I was expecting this month failed to materialise and I ended up spending the Christmas savings on daily stuff!!! Honestly, I wish my employers could sort out prompter payment of expenses!)

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

We'll send about 60 and expect to receive about the same. Two friends make cross-stitch cards and we keep those and put them back up in future years, so we'll end up with more than 60 on display.

However, I don't send to "new" friends. It seems that people I've become friendly with in the last 3 years become "Facebook" friends, rather than "send-paper-cards" friends.

Posted by SusanDoris (# 12618) on :

I decided last Christmas that that was definitely the last time I was going to send the approx 60-70 cards as before. I have cards to give personally to close family, plus two sent. During the year I have been contacting people by e-mail or phone to let them know this was nothing personal! I've had quite a few e-mails in response and far fewer cards and I wonder whether I have, in fact, had mnore communication with people than the card method.
(I have a secondary reason for not doing it any more, having only my limited peripheral vision, but in fact that was not the main one.)

Posted by Freddy (# 365) on :

This topic fills me with dread. [Tear]

We have already received a large number of cards from people we dearly love. But we haven't sent any. They sit on the table waiting for us to get our act together. [Disappointed]

We used to make our own, including amusing pictures of the children, pets, vacations, etc. Some people hate those kind, but most of the ones we get are like that. Again, guilt. [Frown]

The worst, though, are cards from beloved friends that we can't seem to get around to visit. [Tear]

Utter misery. Who invented Christmas cards? [Paranoid]

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

Sooner the damned things go the way of crinoline hoops and borax crystals the better IMNAAHO.

We did send a spoof Christmas Newsletter once in which I claimed to be the IT Director for ICI (that shows how long ago it was) and Mrs T was the Director of Occupational Health for BMW, we had had several foreign holidays, bought a villa in Tuscany, sung at Glyndebourne*, published several learned tomes, been on lecture tours and had my musical compositions premiered in the Royal Albert Hall.

Probably time we did it again, now we have children who we can claim are playing principal trumpet for the Hallé, representing the UK in various Under-9 sports, taking their A levels at the age of 4 and turning 7 whilst deciding between offers from Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard, teaching other children violin and piano at local public schools etc.

Or is it only us who get these nauseating family newsletters?

*the height of my achievements in opera at that time were singing in the chorus in Iolanthe in the University Drama Studio in Sheffield. Since then, IRL, I rose to the heights of singing the part of Antonio, in The Gondoliers, in the University Drama Studio... etc. etc.

Posted by SusanDoris (# 12618) on :

Karl: Liberal Backslider
Lynne truss is doing a series of such letters this week on the 'Today' programme - did you hear this morning's? [Smile]

Not sure of the time but it must have been before 8:30 because I went out about then.

[ 18. December 2012, 15:39: Message edited by: SusanDoris ]

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

I told my mother off one year because she had such a habit of sending smug Round Robins which made me sound like the most nauseating Goody Two-Shoes to ever walk the planet. Which I am sure couldn't possibly be true. [Biased]

My brother has the right idea, all his cards are designed by his daughter and copied on the computer. Problem solved.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

This year we have emailed as many friends as possible with a note saying that the money saved is going to Church Action on Poverty. Not that I begrudge spending money on friends but I do resent giving it to the Post Office. Sent almost as many cards in the post, though: most of those we receive don't include an email address or even a postal address so if they have changed, we will probably have lost touch.

Facebook is a much better way of keeping in touch with friends all through the year. But it doesn't suit everybody.

Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on :

I'm sorry gift exchanging is dying. I enjoy thinking about people and what they might like, or see something in a store that "looks like that person would love it" or make something.

But people don't like to receive a gift unless they have one for you, and I'm at the age when full attention is on kids and grandbabies not on extended family or friends, so they are all saying "no gifts."

But also there are more "Secret Santa" type exchanges than in the past.

[ 18. December 2012, 17:13: Message edited by: Belle Ringer ]

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

Or is it only us who get these nauseating family newsletters?

No. We all get them and I confess this year we're guilty of sending them too because a lot has happened with our family in the past twelve months and we didn't send any Christmas cards last year because we were in the thick of the happening things. [Eek!]

Ours hopefully isn't nauseating though - Hortense has not just returned from her world tour nor is she waiting to go up to Oxford, nor has Theodore gained his grade 8 oboe with distinction at the age of 5. It's just an economical way of passing on the same news to a number of people, with a few photos included.

We don't send many - between 30 and 40. A few people send e-cards or their newsletters as attachments to emails. I dislike this practice, though Mr Nen has sent a few by that method to his friends.

In past years I've been overwhelmed with the cards and they pile up on the kitchen surface being irritating. This year I have places to hang them up.

Nen - feeling organised. [Yipee]

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

I'd be quite happy not to receive the Round Robins, but the Christmas Cards I like - I'd rather not put up loads of decorations at Christmas, but putting up the cards provides a lovely splash of colour just as good as other decorations.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
I'd be quite happy not to receive the Round Robins, but the Christmas Cards I like - I'd rather not put up loads of decorations at Christmas, but putting up the cards provides a lovely splash of colour just as good as other decorations.

Agreed - and I cut them up for gift tags the following year.

[Smile]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

I also like to hang mine up (on the agenda for tomorrow), but I exchange very few gifts, so I don't re-use them as gift cards anymore.

I read each card when it arrives, and then have a chance for a re-read when I take them down for Epiphany.

Posted by Lothiriel (# 15561) on :

I send cards to my regular business clients (10 this year). I haven't sent personal cards for probably 20 years. We receive a handful of cards.

Posted by Sleepwalker (# 15343) on :

I've sent just as many Christmas cards this year as I usually do and received (so far) just as many as I would normally have received (so far). I love sending and receiving Christmas cards. I give out Christmas cards at work and others give them back. In my present office a group decided not to give any cards or do a secret Santa but instead give to a charity that they chose. Another group chose to give cards AND to the charity. I chose just to give cards! (I have my own favoured charities)

From a report I heard on the radio today, Christmas card exchanging is holding up pretty well here in the UK.

Posted by que sais-je (# 17185) on :

My wife sends most cards: she has a big family and lots of friends going back to school days (we're in our 60s). I send out about a dozen and decided this year to save the cards and the postage, send e-cards (if you don't mind searching through the naff ones. Care2 have funny ones). I estimated that would be about £12 to a good cause. Then I thought (as you do) of Kant's Moral Law - "Behave in a way that you would wish to become a universal law". I like getting cards! If everyone sent ecards it would be awful.

Found and posted them just in time.

Happy Christmas everyone on Ship of Fools.

Posted by Jante (# 9163) on :

Que-sais-je I am with you on this I love receiving them and so have ended up sending as many as usual [Smile]

Posted by Eleanor Jane (# 13102) on :

Gosh, you guys send a lot of cards! Even with giving them to about 15 folk at church I think we only got through about 30 or so at the height of things.

Now we've moved overseas we made sure that we sent ours off early Dec to show folks that we still love them even after a year away. It's been really lovely getting a few in return.

Posted by Jigsaw (# 11433) on :

Earlier today I popped round to my elderly neighbours and they had received about 200 cards so far, all hung up on red ribbons from their picture rail.
I sent 100, significantly down from last year, and another 50 by Facebook or email.
So, is this an age thing?

And, on the round robins issue - I have a friend who seems to spend each year having various vital organs removed. I can't wait till she gets to her total brain-ectomy. Then I'll save the price of a card and stamp.

Posted by Ramarius (# 16551) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Sooner the damned things go the way of crinoline hoops and borax crystals the better IMNAAHO.

We did send a spoof Christmas Newsletter once in which I claimed to be the IT Director for ICI (that shows how long ago it was) and Mrs T was the Director of Occupational Health for BMW, we had had several foreign holidays, bought a villa in Tuscany, sung at Glyndebourne*, published several learned tomes, been on lecture tours and had my musical compositions premiered in the Royal Albert Hall.

Probably time we did it again, now we have children who we can claim are playing principal trumpet for the Hallé, representing the UK in various Under-9 sports, taking their A levels at the age of 4 and turning 7 whilst deciding between offers from Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard, teaching other children violin and piano at local public schools etc.

Or is it only us who get these nauseating family newsletters?

*the height of my achievements in opera at that time were singing in the chorus in Iolanthe in the University Drama Studio in Sheffield. Since then, IRL, I rose to the heights of singing the part of Antonio, in The Gondoliers, in the University Drama Studio... etc. etc.

Funny you should mention that... We do an annual newsletter (that we try and make mildly interesting) - this year my lads (in their early 20's) suggested we do a spoof one. Next year I'll get them to co-author it).

Reading that they don't send cards in Poland has given me another idea. Every year we try and introduce an element of Christmas celebration from another country. We now open one Christmas present on Christmas eve for example. Maybe next year we'll go Polish.....

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :

I posted 60 this morning. I did not add a letter, as I have been busy. I will make sure I do one next year. I did however add a personal note on each one.

Now I will start on my Church cards, for people I know well, and for those who may not get many cards.

I will call on neighbours with their cards. So far, I have delivered one, and had a long chat with her. She is widowed. She had seen a letter I had published in the Guardian, and chatted very enthusiatically about it.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Lynne Truss has had fun writing a reply to the usual obnoxious Round Robin. She gives several examples - I think the first one is particularly funny.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

Brilliant replies, all of them, but don't tempt me!

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

They don't go anything like far enough.

[Mad]

Posted by Nanny Ogg (# 1176) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Unless everyone is posting late, or there's an undelivered stockpile at the PO, we've received a fraction of the cards of previous Christmases. I don't think these are going to be replaced by online greetings: I think people are culling their lists.

I've not received many this year, mainly those handed to me rather than posted.

I've been forced to cull my list of Christmas cards to be posted as I'm now on sickness benefit. I've sent an email letter with Christmas wishes to online friends and I've given a few cards to friends.

The same goes for presents. I have only bought one for the person coming round on Christmas Day. I can't afford to give any more, even to close family [Hot and Hormonal]

I feel like Scrooge but luckily friends and family understand [Smile]

Posted by ACK (# 16756) on :

Many years ago I was sitting with a pile of Christmas cards, working out who I was going to write them for and realised I was not giving them because I wanted to, but to avoid feeling guilty if someone sent me one whom I had not sent one to.
So I decided not to bother and have stuck with that attitude since.
There probably are about 6 cards I would send, since otherwise they would tell my mother and make her unhappy. However my beloved does 'do' Christmas cards and includes them on his list, so everyone happy!

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