Let me be the first to say that I don’t think that sending a Christmas card is a requirement for being a good mom, wife, daughter or friend.
I have several people in my life who I’ve never received a card from and I don’t think any less of them and know that I’m loved.
That being said, I do love recieving those cards and pictures. If you are one of my friends who does send them, thanks.
I don’t always send them. The year I had a book due, my mom had cancer, and I had pneumonia all in the same two week span? No cards went out. If you are having that kind of holiday season, you get a Christmas card pass. If you would like, I can even write you a note.
However, if you are going to send them out, there are a few steps you need to take:
- Pick your Christmas cards
- Gather up mailing addresses
- Organize addresses
- Printing addresses
- Get Stamps
- Return Address
No wonder so many of us quit in the middle.
So today, all I want you to do is gather up your addresses that you plan on sending cards to, figure out your Christmas cards, and order (or pick up) your stamps.
For addresses, get any envelopes and lists from last year, your address book, and your online address book. I’ve created a Excel spreadsheet to keep all my addresses on. You can download it for free at my Facebook Author Page. (You will thank me next Christmas if you get those addresses together now.)
Create your list (this may take a couple of sessions, but no fear, I’ve put a couple of work sessions into your 21 days!) Once you get your list together, you will be able to either hand address, or create a Mail Merge from your Excel list. Here is a great tutorial on How to Create a Mail Merge (It will take a time or two to learn, but it’s a grat skill to have. And if you want to make labels, and Mail Merge scares you, ask a friend for help and then bake some cookies for her.)
As far as cards, all you have to do is make your decision: Custom cards, or store bought? Yes, custom are cute. Store bought are great for those who are just now getting started. Just saying…
If you are one of those women who said she wanted a simpler Christmas, may I politely suggest an adorable, standard-sized, store-bought card. (And if you’re making your cards from scratch, I can’t even talk to you…)
For adorable custom cards (that really aren’t a huge hassle…) check out shutterfly.com
Finally, get one item checked completely off your list by getting your stamps. Yes, you could wait in line at the Post Office, or for the service fee of exactly one dollar, you can order the adorable holiday stamps from USPS.com and have them delivered to your door. (Look at the cute stamps I ordered from the site.)
Tomorrow, we will talk about the holiday pic that you may, or may not, include in your card or put in your custom card.
You can do this! So in the comments below, tell me the date that you plan to have your cards sent out , or tell us the that you’re NOT going to send out cards. Either way, I will send one lucky commenter who posts before next Wednesday, a pack of 20 of the FAB ornament stamps.
I have my cards, and my stamps! (Bought cards on clearance last year!) I am aiming for Dec. 9 as the mail date.
In lieu of our current life changes, we are only sending cards to immediate family members and they will be made by our kids. They will be completed and mailed by December 15th.
I choose to send out cards (yes, I have them, plus stamps, in my handy binder) as I receive them. I have the sender’s correct address, and I don’t put guilt on others who are having a “need a pass” year by sending my card to them first!
Our family has a huge email list, so last year we did an e card. It was so easy and it gives people the option of printing it out if they want. Less clutter for everyone. As soon as we get our family photos in, I am going to scan one and send out or Christmas e-card.
I haven’t sent Christmas cards for many years, mostly due to budget constraints. It has always seemed a little silly to spend so much time and money sending cards to people I see regularly. Anyone far away that is important to me hears from me more than once a year. I can’t see Christmas cards happening this year, either. But we did just make a move recently, and by next year may be missing some of our friends from our old home. So I am committed to restarting the tradition by keeping a record of the cards we receive this year so that it will be simple to send some out next Christmas. Thanks for helping!
I love receiving the photos and letters from friends at Christmas, but sometimes I find myself comparing myself and my family unfavorably to the wonderful glowing reports that I receive from distant friends. Sometimes they are just too shiny to be authentic.
So to remedy the ‘my kids are smarter than yours’ tendency, I had a plan to send out ‘Thankful’ letters before Thanksgiving. I thought, I’d review the year from the perspective of what we’re thankful for and send them so that our friends and family could know that they are a part of it.
But, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and this is the closest I’ve gotten to implementing my plan!
I think I’ll plan for Easter letters : )
Can I just say, I heart you? Such great stuff. I love the *idea* of Christmas cards. I’m going to aim to have them launch by the 10th (hahaha), but not particularly hold myself to that if it doesn’t work out.
I like to have something to aspire to!
I already have my cards done since my amazing friend hosted a party a few weeks ago to get them done early. I have my stamps. So….I’m going to aim for December 5th to get them out! I may even try labels this year!
I won’t be sending out cards this year as I’m really trying to stick to a budget, and I will be focusing on the kids with my husband in Afghanistan. Thank you for your tips and help getting organized. I might be able to get a jump on next year as one of your other readers suggested 🙂
My friends and I have a fun plan for getting our cards addressed,stamped, and sealed with return addresses. We are getting together for a Saturday morning brunch to get it done together, while the dads have the kids shopping for mommy’s Christmas present! We did this one other year and it was so much easier getting it done together without the little hands helping! It also motivates us and helps us set a deadline to have our cards printed, addresses organized, stamps bought etc. in time for the Christmas Card Brunch! This year we are getting together on 12/10. So if you are reading this and like this idea, you have time to do this too! Another idea, if some of the dad’s work on Saturday (or if you cant find a Saturday that everyone is free) is to pitch in together to hire a sitter. Happy Christmas carding!! 🙂
Wow! Can I first just say how inspired (ok, and a tad jealous) I am of so many who are already partway through this process!! 🙂
Now, to be honest, I am going to try to send cards out this year, but (and Kathi, you know this from past years) it may or may not happen! I actually have the cards that were professionally done last year still sitting here. So yes, those pictures will be included with hopefully an updated picture-maybe just of the kids, and a very brief family update. I hope to have them all ready and mailed out by Dec. 15th. That will honestly be a first in my life! Here’s to hoping (and planning!) 😉
I’m planning on having my Christmas cards out by December 8/9th. I don’t put my Christmas tree up until after Thanksgiving, so I will have my backdrop when I do that 🙂 I’m really not in the mood to send them out, but taking the time to do them will keep me busy and I know the few people I send them to are grateful 🙂 The holiday season is rough when your significant other is deployed 🙁
I normally send them out the day before Thanksgivihg but this year I am still waiting for my dd’s school photos so hopefully I can send them out next week.
Mine are mailed out the day after Thanksgiving. Most are signed and sealed. Just a few more to go….
I am shooting for December 10th, depending on how quickly my cards get shipped from Snapfish. And by that, I mean, how quickly I can create and order said cards. At least we’ve got a card-worthy photo ready to go. That’s a miracle in and of itself!
Got the cards – bought from a homeless chartiy – really cute with a dove on front, got holiday stamps already from Costco! Just need to print the labels and start writing them! I always post the foreign ones too late for them to get there by Christmas – maybe this year will be different and I’ll have them all posted by 9th December….
I dont want to send any out this year. So, i wont!
My cards and pictures are ready to be assembled and addressed. I hope to get it done by Dec 2nd.
And I’ve always used avery labels to address my cards. The list rarely changes from year to year and I can just print a new sheet of labels and be done with the address part. Assembly doesn’t take long at all. Maybe I’ll even send you one this year!
Oh, and my cards were all free. I do have hand made cards, but I swapped them for some manual labor with a paper crafting friend. And all of my photo cards came from deals on the photo sites. 🙂 Just need the free stamps and I’ll be set!
I do send Christmas cards and I send the kind that are a picture and always have my grandsons on it sometimes with my husband and I and sometimes just them. They will be visiting some this week because of the Thanksgiving break so I plan to get a picture taken while they are here(I already have my tree up for background) and I hope to take them and have them made on black Friday. If all that falls into place then I will be mailing them no later than December 5th but hopefully sooner than that.
I have my cards ordered from Shutterfly. I have my address labels printed. (I made a document a few years ago so all I do is update any addresses and print on stickers.) I’m buying my stamps at Costco tomorrow! I’m planning to mail them out December 1st!
I already have my picture, and I planned on ordering my cards by the 10th of this month. However, I might be requesting a personal note of exclusion from sending out cards this year, or I might actually get them out. If they go out, I hope to mail them before December 18th. High hopes…. It’s one of those years….
I hope to have my cards ordered this weekend and labels and stamps ready by Dec 4. Pictures already picked out. I hope to get them out the door by Dec. 8.
I do NOT plan to send Christmas cards this year. I think I will use the idea though with the intention to be good and send those cards next year. Then I’ll be ahead of the game and can be one of those super organized annoying people that get your card to you the day after Thanksgiving and leave you feeling like such an underacheiver….lol
In keeping with our tradition of the last few years, I had planned not to send out cards again this year…just write a cheery season’s greetings on facebook…but my husband thought it would be a great year to send out a family photo, apparently so people will still rcognize us. We chose one taken at a family wedding anniversary earlier this fall…none of us were fully prepared. I hadn’t even had time to brush my hair before our individual family’s photo shoot. Naturally enough, we don’t look quite “camera ready.” Hoping people still won’t recognize us.
these will hit the post office the first week of December.
To do or not to do; that is the question? I love to receive them, but they are time consuming. Last year when I said I wasn’t going to send them out. At the last minute I changed my mind; frantically searched through the last years pictures, scrambled to get cards made and rushed to get them out before Christmas Day! That just won’t do to go with my theme of “peace” this year. So my goal is to have a firm commitment to do or not by 11/28.
I am going to try to get mine mailed out by December 9. Hopefully. I am going to order them tomorrow!