Thread: Fluff: Greeting Cards

Do you still mail greeting cards -- birthdays, holidays, get well, congrats, etc.?

My older generation family members still send out cards for EVERY holiday and birthday... even if they see us almost every day and attend family parties/gatherings for the occasion. They feel that it is an important tradition that MY generation is lacking in.

I'll admit that I do not often send out cards, barring perhaps sympathy cards when I'm unable to attend in person.

Friends online may receive e-cards or public recognition. Those family members that I see in person we will give gifts with either homemade or store-bought cards attached.

Outside of that, I generally do not mail greeting cards out. Some of it has to do with taking time to go buy stamps, cards, and mail them out. Other times, I feel that they would be received, glanced at, then tossed out with junk mail.

Do you feel that we (as a generation) are somehow failing social norms?

I don't mostly for this reason, and because they have become so expensive. It just seems so wasteful to spend $5 for something someone is going to look at and then toss.

Originally Posted by MissyJ

I feel that they would be received, glanced at, then tossed out with junk mail.

I would much rather spend an extra $5 on a gift than to spend that on a card. Some of my family instead of sending out Christmas cards send out a family letter with a summary of what they have done that year. I would much rather get that than a card.

I have never done Christmas cards. Mostly because I am too lazy. I think with Facebook, e-mail, and other online forms of communication that it is not as necessary as it once was. It is still nice though. I would never put a card in with junk mail if I received one. Christmas cards that are sent to us are hung up on the wall. Everyone I know has a place they keep Christmas and birthday cards at least for a while, so I do not think people are putting them straight in the trash.

I send birthday cards to my two closest friends especially if I won't see them around their birthday, and they also get Christmas cards, but thats it. I also only buy the cheap cards for $1-$2. I also often can't get to the post office for stamps because they are only open the hours I work and if I go up in my lunch break I spend the whole time waiting at the post office.

Originally Posted by MissyJ

Do you feel that we (as a generation) are somehow failing social norms?

I think that most of us probably follow the social norms of our own generation. I don't think that means we don't do things as well, just that we do them differently.

I send e-cards or text messages to my friends for their birthdays or holidays, or attach a card to a gift if I am giving one. Other than that, I never mail cards (and never receive cards in the mail, except, again, from some of my family members in the older generation.) I think that's pretty normal for people our age.

The social norm for my family is to send cards. I do my family, and if DH wants to do his family he can do his own (not that he ever does). The one thing that's made me cringe since getting married is that DH's family (or some of the family) thinks it's my duty to mail the cards for his family, like I'm the little wifey at home, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

That said, I send birthday cards and like receiving them. IDK. I guess it's a tradition for me and I like tucking away those cards that are really meaningful and heart-felt, like some time was actually invested in picking it out.

I'm old school .

I send cards to close family members and friends. Love to send. And love to receive them.

I also send out Christmas cards each year. And birth announcements. And hand-written thank you notes. And handwritten hello notes. And hand-written I'm thinking of you notes. I like them.

I do buy the cheap cards. And I keep stamps on hand and purchase them at my grocery store when I check-out.

And I require my children to write notes of thanks and real letters to their grandparents and cousins who live far away. They have cousins who are pen pals and it is fun for all parties. Yes it is old school, but I like the practice it gives them in writing and corresponding.

I actually stumbled upon a box of letters and cards that dh had mailed to me when we were dating. Back before people emailed much and there was no FB. They are such a treasure to me and I imagine this generation will never have anything like that to keep....lol.

I'm O.L.D. apparently (and had to look up what YOLO means--ha! The first thing the dictionary said about it is "You are probably over the age of 25 if you have to look up the meaning of YOLO." Yep. Very.)

I do send handwritten thank you notes via mail, and have already started T out in this direction (I have been writing "Thank you" in dots that he can trace, and then he signs his own name and draws a picture for the person he is thanking...has been a hit so far. )

This is so bad, but I actually hand write so few things that my hand writing has noticeably deteriorated, or else I've forgotten how bad it was to begin with. I had to hand write an address on an envelope today and was shocked at how illegible it's become.

I like to give greeting cards but I often attach to the present. We send Christmas cards to all our friends and family every year. I love getting them too! I save all the picture ones and the ones from immediate family (grandma, moms and dads, brothers etc. because I love looking at the ones I had from when I was younger.)

I absolutely LOVE Christmas cards, but less and less people are sending them out. I only give Birthday cards to my immediate family. I like to surprise my dh with a card now and then of encouragement in his lunchbox at work.