I’m hip, I’m modern, I’m with it 😉 … quite some time ago Miss 25 set me up so I could go cardless, and pay instead using my phone.
But that’s not the type of cardless I’m talking about today.
No, I’m thinking of greeting cards, and in particular birthday cards.
Christmas cards have pretty much gone the way of the dodo already. A big part of that of course is due to the speed and convenience of email and social media. It’s cheaper and better for the planet to send an electronic Christmas greeting.
I don’t know about you, but it’s been several years since I sent out Christmas cards; and these days we only receive a handful – and most of those are from real estate agents! 😉
But what about birthday cards?
I must confess that we don’t always bother in our family. Gifts yes, but birthday cards are a bit of an optional extra.
You might be surprised to learn that even though I love writing, coming up with something to write in a card is guaranteed to give me writer’s block. The pressure! I really struggle to think of something fun / interesting / original – so generally I stick to the basics: “Dear such and such, Happy Birthday, love Janet and family”.
And have you seen how much some birthday cards cost?! They can be quite expensive for what is not much more than a piece of paper!
Usually I buy my cards from the cheap shop. We have a pressie box which I keep stocked with wrapping paper and various cards, so when a birthday or other occasion comes up, we always have them on hand.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have people like my stepmum, who puts a lot of time and effort into choosing just the right card for the recipient. It’s something that is uniquely her, and I always look forward to seeing what she finds!
The pressie box however works for me, as I struggle to find the time to browse and choose the perfect birthday card. In my case at least, I guess you could say the birthday card is becoming another casualty of our modern busy lifestyle.
Having said all that, I still like to browse birthday cards on the odd occasion I’m indulging in a bit of retail therapy. I particularly like looking for birthday cards for the husbear – if I come across the perfect card, I’ll buy it and put it aside even if it’s many months before his birthday.
I do still enjoy receiving and displaying any birthday cards I receive; but it’s true, then they do tend to end up in the recycling bin (except for the ones from the husbear).
It seems I don’t even tend to take photos of birthday cards, as the pics in this blog post are all I could find. I think this is something I’m going to start doing from now on though – so at least then I will always have the memories.
Are you team birthday card or not?
My Aunt passed away the week before Christmas.
I have been the one who kept driving to Sydney and had to get rid of things.
I brought home with me a crate of cards from Birthdays, Christmas, both for her husband (who passed away 26 years ago).
And donated them to the local day care centre at the end of my street.
They loved every single card.
The kids have made mothers day cards out of the covers and stuck them onto paper and written on the inside.
I at Christmas time they will be making decorations from them. Like how as kids we did.
Hi Suzie, that’s a great idea if you have a lot of old cards! It doesn’t really seem worth it for the 2 or 3 I might get for a birthday though. PS Miss Fleur says HI!!!!
I still send Christmas cards the list is a lot smaller than it used to be and because my kids and grandkids don’t live close i send them cards with a little gift inside. I like you tend to go
to the dollar store for cards.
I think I’d do the same if my kids (and future grandkids) weren’t local. Hadn’t thought of this!
Hi Janet – I gave up on Christmas cards and the family newsletter several years ago. With FB it seems like we all know what’s going on in each other’s lives, so it was all a bit redundant. But birthday cards are still a big thing for me. I like that it gives my adult kids the opportunity to write something nice to me that they wouldn’t take the time to say (we’re not big gushers in our family) and I also don’t give my ‘kids’ physical presents – just cash to spend on something fun they’d like to buy themselves – so a card is a good way to enclose the money and it makes it a bit more special. And finally, there’s the handmade cards from my little grandgirls – they always make me smile, so I’ll be hanging on to the birthday card tradition for a little longer.
Leanne, you’re so right cards are FABULOUS when you’re enclosing money or a gift card (as we often do).