The season is here. Everyone has their own approach to Christmas cards, holiday cards and the like. But it's time for a bit of honesty. By not sending out cards and going e-card, are you going green or is this your excuse to forgo the tradition? Here's the test:
Do you usually send post-office variety cards to a list each year?
Are you sending individually addressed e-cards that have some personal element to them?
Are you not sending a mass email to your entire address book with the excuse of "going green this year?"
If you have answered YES to these three questions, then hats off to you! You are sending a true, spirited GREEN Christmas card.
If you have answered NO to questions 2 and 3, you are just saving time and money and trying to score token GREEN points. Sorry, these don't count.
Take the eCard challenge:
Actually send an individual email to each person. It's not hard.
Have your stock message that you can copy and paste to the next, but add in the "Dear .....," and a personal note for them, as you would have with your post-office cards.
If you are all about the mailing labels, printed signature, and/or printed envelopes, then I guess there's not much hope for you. Mass email e-cards are a perfect match as your next step in social etiquette degradation and numbness.
Tips for a fun USPS mailing:Instead of photos, take advantage of the Vista Print coupons and print postcards. They are more durable and can be trimmed to fit most frames. They have standard postcards for free most of the time - 100 for upload and shipping only. They also have coupons for return address labels and other goodies.
Tips for a fun e-Approach:
If you are determined to save time, yet personalize the "Dear..., " part, consider Constant Contact or other e-card programs that allow you to personalize each. They also have some tasteful and fun templates that allow you to insert your own messages, photos, etc. You can even link to a YouTube video greeting you may create.
Miss your family? How about a family SKYPE time? Schedule it when the big gathering is going so everyone can say hello to you and the family. Great way to connect if you can't be there. You just need two computers with web cameras.
How about YouTube? You can record a family greeting, post it and send out the link with your e-cards.
Finally, Shutterfly.com has FREE share sites. You can set up a share site, invite the family to view it or send the link with password to your list. You can post recent holiday photos there and keep it going all year. Nice thing is, members of your share site can order the photos.
What did I do?
Since I miss my family terribly, I bought recycled paper cards, hand-addressed the envelopes, wrote a note to each, hand-signed them, printed labels for the return since my penmanship is somewhat lacking, and gave the US postal workers something to do; bring happy mail to my loved ones to counter-balance the bills and junk mail they usually receive. It costs money and time, but I can't be with them, don't send them all gifts and truly enjoy taking the time to think of each of them this time of year. It's also a great time to send out postcards of the children.
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