Christmas cards

There may be evidence of somene sending a card to someone else in the 17th century but the Christmas card as we know it was introduced in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole, who three year's earlier had introduced the penny post.

Now there was a canny way of increasing revenue for the post office.

Sending cards is a fairly recent 'tradition', though, (for the masses) only possible in any number when we had a post office service. Now, fast becoming obsolete, I believe:

www.whychristmas.com/customs/cards.shtml

In my office we all used to send cards to everyone so you would end up with about 30 cards on your desk. This seems to have died out now especially with the younger ones. I'm happy about that but still like to send to family and friends outside work.

I admire you, Blubelle, for your committment! How lovely is that!
I too hate eCards.

To me, the whole point of a card is to let people know you're thinking of them. Sending a card is a positive gesture that requires effort.

I love getting them as it means that I'm valued enough to be worthy of the effort.

Numbers are diminishing year on year though.

What on earth has sending cards to do with the climate emergency? They can be recycled and the more trees we plant to replace those cut down to make paper the better. That’s sustainability.

Turning.your heating down by 1oC will do more good.

I will send cards to those who sent me a card last year. It means a lot to some people like my 94-year old aunt.

You may think exchanging cards in your cul de sac plain daft but it is reinforcing a sense of community together. You may need support in a crisis from those neighbours - I’d say maintaining a relationship would offer bigger benefit than the cost of a card.

The only ecards sent to us are from a friend we have known for years, who in the past always sent a card that came late and who’s birthday/Christmas gifts ( when we used to exchange gifts) were hastily bought and disappointing in the extreme.This friend had plenty of money, so not an excuse.
Ecards became an easy option for her, and anyone else who really cba to put a bit of thought and effort into it.
I can see though, that ecards are a good idea when a birthday has been forgotten and there isn’t time to then send one, or to friends who live abroad.

MamaCaz it doesn’t make you look mean....if you need the money you need it.Mean is having plenty of money and not wanting to part with any of it.
Thomas you are not being rude in my view, but obviously you are in the view of your relatives, who feel hurt by your decision not to send them a card.You may have done better to simply say your arthritis makes writing cards/envelopes painful and left it at that.
I love the tradition of sending Christmas cards, and enjoy both the sending and the receiving of them.
True, we do get the occasional ‘annual firelighter’ sent to us, which is scanned briefly before putting to practical use ?
But that’s ok.
I hand deliver all the cards that I can, and post about 25.

I only send about six cards by post now - then two or three more given by hand if I manage to meet up with some former workmates/friends at that time of year. (That got cancelled last year, and I still have the cards I had written for them!)

I might cut my postal list done to just two this year - two elderly relatives who really appreciate them.

I am going to be honest - I have cut down on cards for several reasons, but one is definitely to save money, but we need it ourselves so unlike (apparently) everyone else, I won't be giving it to charity. There, I've said it. If that makes me look mean or selfish, I'm sorry, but there you have it!

I dislike round robins, thankfully I only ever used to get one which told me pages about their life which I knew absolutely zilch about it was a waste of paper for me I stopped sending to that family a few years ago and haven’t had a round robin since
Where did that come from? we never used to hear about them?
Such a shame to lose card sending a lovely custom,
I m easily please but I get a real moment of enjoyment when I open a Christmas card and when I look up at them hanging on my wall I remember my family and friends, sorry but printing out an e-card just doesn’t do it at all for me

I buy mine from my local hospice where I volunteer, they are beautiful, good big size, and only £3.50 for 10. Over 80% of the money paid goes to the hospice to fund nursing time along with other expenses of running the hospice at home service. I can only assume that a card company has donated the cards!

I still enjoy sending and receiving Christmas and birthday cards. It's part of the tradition for me and quite a few people I know. I buy most of my cards at two local charities I support and they are very reasonable priced. Although I don't particularly like the "round robins" that I get in a couple of cards, I enjoy the ones were the sender has written a few lines personally with odd snippets of news. Once the first card has arrived through the letterbox I consider the start of Christmastime in our house.

I still enjoy receiving a card especially from relatives I only hear from once a year just to make sure they are all still alive! Joking apart my dear brother lives on his own now and I wouldn’t dream of not sending him a card but he would understand if I didn’t. Yes I do think it’s dying off and in a few years it will dwindle to nothing.

I don't send anywhere near as many cards as I used to, but I don't envisage ever stopping sending any. I like them! Only a couple of people I know have stopped sending them and are 'donating to charity' instead but I'd rather they had been honest and say it's either because they cba or we're no longer important to them. The charity thing always seemed so mealy-mouthed to me.

I'll also be sending a round robin this year. I've gathered a lot of friends who live a long distance away and I can't do handwritten letters to them all nowadays. But fear not, RR-haters, my main news, which is that my darling sister died this year, won't be boastful.

Only trouble is we are now the elderly relatives - none of our parents remaining sadly.

As for not displaying e-cards - we print them out anyway and hang them out along with the "real" cards.

Germans don't "do" cards, but I have made some on an on line site where you can make your own cards with your own photos. Most of them will be sent to my friends and relatives in the UK. The post offices are losing out with the digital revolution. I am not in favour of paper (hate books - only read Kindle nowadays, newspaper also only digital) but I still have all the cards I have received over the years, and I love being kept up to date with my friends' round robins.

Ngaiol and MOnica, I was referring to cards in general. A birthday card is between £2.99 and £3.99 in a lot of shops.
As far as the cards that I post at Christmas, I buy charity cards, which of course can be cheaper in packs of 5 or 10.

I agree with M0nica. I love sending and receiving cards and they look festive on display, and are part of the decorations. I would be sad if it died out - and you can't display ecards, can you?

I give mine in person or through letterboxes to at least half my recipients and I get so much pleasure out of making them a lot of my friends say they have kept all my cards

You don’t need to explain yourself thomas it’s for everyone to do what suits them

My own personal opinion is that it’s a shame to lose yet another of our historical customs and I ll keep it going for the rest of my life hopefully

J52, where on earth do you buy your cards? I went to a Charity Christmas card fair held in a church in York during November and December and the cards I bought there cost about £4 for 10. That is about 40p a card.

Not all my cards are posted. DD went up to visit her brother this weekend and took 5 cards and a birthday card with her, for further hand distribution. Three more will go to one person tomorrow for redistribution around their family. I woulds say that about half our cards reach their destination with out requiring stamps.

It all seems a little silly when we're living on the eve of a catastrophic climate emergency though, doesn't it. OK, so some people like a nice card. Perhaps we should send one to very elderly relatives. I see no point at all if they're for people we see every day.

“I’m not shutting out the rest of the world and concentrating on my immediate family” and I definitely don’t think I’m better than anyone who is sending cards.
I just think my money could be better used by a charity. This is my reason more than my arthritis for not sending cards . I actually speak to everyone on my Christmas card list during the year.and I will make sure next year I send anther individual mail to each ex card receiver . I won’t send a round robin . I won’t send an e-card . I will send a card to a 90 year old aunt because she can’t email or hear what I say on the phone.
I enjoyed reading people’s opinions even if a couple of them were contrary to my view.

J52 You say that £12.00 is the cost of 4 real cards! Where on earth do you shop?? My Waitrose Charity cards are not cheap but certainly not on that scale.

I also don’t like e-cards flora they feel so impersonal and untouchable and needing so little effort Sorry any e-card fans just my personal feelings