Long ago, back when we were at the financial level where it was WELL worth it to return a 99-cent bottle of shampoo if I didn’t like it, I found a whole bunch of Christmas cards on clearance at a bookstore for $1/box. They weren’t what I would have chosen (one was a scene with pagodas, another was an Andy Warhol red shoe, a third was a very plain light blue with a few white snowflakes on it), which as it turned out made them all the more fun to send.
Every year since then, even now that we can afford to just buy them at regular price, it’s been a ton of fun to go scouting for clearance cards in January. One year, when we had a new Target that didn’t yet know how much stock it would need, I bought three or four boxes each of half a dozen kinds, all at 90% off. Most years, I add more like half a dozen boxes: enough to replenish but not enough to oppress. Every year near Christmastime, I go down to the basement, pull out the two big cardboard boxes labeled “CARDS”, and pick which style I feel like sending this year.
This year, I went down and…no cards. It SEEMED like I had a lot of cards, because I had a dozen and a half boxes of leftovers from previous years; plus another half-dozen boxes of cards I bought just one box of; plus a bunch of things purchased but not often used, such as decorative business-size envelopes. But NO sets of enough cards to send out to everyone. This is the first time this has happened in probably close to fifteen years.
Paul had the good idea of getting cards from the ACLU or something. I loved that idea, but ACLU doesn’t have holiday cards, and neither did the next two charities I tried, so maybe that is less of A Thing now; I’ve noticed most of my list sends photo cards instead. But in any case, I don’t think I’d want to order this late.
Then I thought, well, it’s a perfect year to need new cards, because I want something a little more…SOMBER this year, anyway. But I looked around and didn’t see anything that exactly communicated what I wanted to say, which was, “Sure hope this isn’t our final year living in the world as we know it” or “Who’s really in the mood for this right now anyway?” or whatever.
So! New plan: this is The Year of Using Up All the Scraps from Previous Years. I have three of this card, two of that card, half a dozen of this other card, a nearly-full box of this card, etc., and I am going to clear them out to make space for all the cards I will buy THIS January on clearance.
I love the idea of sending out a bunch of different holiday cards! Are you giving them out randomly, or are you choosing a specific card for each recipient? Each would be fun in its own way, I think!
So far I’m mostly choosing specifically, like sending the Merry Christmas ones to people I know celebrate Christmas, or sending my very few super-cool Museum of Modern Art cards to people I think will appreciate them; or, one thing is that some cards I just sign, but others I write a few paragraphs, so those latter kind have to go on cards with good writing space. It HAS been rather fun!
You’re sitting on a goldmine. I’d buy “Sure hope this isn’t our final year living in the world as we know it” or “Who’s really in the mood for this right now anyway?” cards in a heartbeat :)
My cousin does the photo card thing and she used and adorable picture of her daughters, but in the text box, they just wrote, “Here ya’ go.” It served the somber mood well, AND cheered me up. It continues to do so each time I pass it on the fridge.
All this is to say, I second the idea for some darker holiday cards!
I think the idea of getting rid of the holiday card scraps is perfect! I also would have bought holiday cards from the ACLU if thy sold them.
I think the process of sending out a bunch of different designs would be so fun!
That sounds like such fun! Especially the part where you get to say, okay, so person A is going to appreciate scrap 1 way more than person B… and scrap 3 is PERFECT for the C family! Very fun!
We make photo cards with a letter that always ends “We wish you love, peace, and joy in 20XX.” I’ve been thinking of changing “joy” to “resilience.” Also skipping the rest of the letter, because I can’t even.
Good call on clearing out your cards. You may need the storage for other items (i.e. copious quantities of emergency supplies.) Happy 2017 or something.
Is sending the same card to everyone a thing normally? Because it seems like a novel idea to a lot of commenters, but I’ve always just finished whatever box I’ve got open, then moved on to the next box and used however many of them I needed to complete my list of recipients. If I don’t think I’ll have enough left for the next year, I grab another box if I see any on clearance after Christmas.
I figure that people don’t keep the cards, and I give my attention to making sure I have a decent family photo to include inside the card, which is something a lot of people would keep.
I did see some pretty funny cards though when I was out killing time at a fun store on Saturday: things with messages like “I spent hours of effort to thoughtfully pick out the perfect card for you to throw in your trash” in elegant letterpress. If I was the sort to buy individual, expensive cards for everyone, I would have picked up a few.
@Shawna, I had the same thought — I have never tried to get enough of the same card (or set of cards) to send to everyone. I occasionally wonder if I’m sending people the same exact card I sent them in a year prior, but — what are the chances they would notice?
I don’t know what other people do, but that’s what I do: I pick a card to send that year, and send it to everyone on my list. I don’t fret if I can only find two boxes of a card I like: I buy them anyway. But in general, I like to send the same card to everyone. Not because it matters, or because I think people would know/notice, but because it’s fun to pick This Year’s Card.
Most of the people who send me cards send photo cards that they get printed; my assumption is that they pick one design and send it to everyone rather than choosing several different designs, but I haven’t asked.
I tried to find a somber but not too religious message for my photo card: I looked at three sites and nada. I could only find one card with just the word “peace” but it had the wrong photo sizes. Two that said “peace and love.” None that said “Breathe deeply” or “pray for our future” which is what I was looking for. The card designs, much like me, expected more “joy” this season and not so much a need for “peace”.
I decided to select a moderately joyful message with the thought that maybe it with help with visualization, if I project joy we can get to joy.
Not working yet but the cards haven’t arrived.
I ordered our cards the Sunday before the election and they are just….too hopeful.
I haven’t managed to address or send them yet. They are the Wrong Tone.
First, I love you 😉 I very much appreciate all of your post election posts. You are doing me a great service!
Second, I occasionally have years where I send out repeat cards. It’s satisfying to use them up. If I were buying this year, I’d defiantly want to convey “sure hope this isn’t our final year…” and “who’s really in the mood anyway…”. But I bought a bunch of super nice cards at 75% and 90% off.