Following on from my previous analysis of Christmas cards in 2015 I have the updated report for Christmas 2016.
The main headlines:
There has been a 21% decrease in the number of cards received in the Streep household in 2016, from 67 to 53. This is likely to be as a result of the eldest child moving to big school, or a general decline in card sending, as opposed to us becoming less popular.
Despite the overall decrease in cards received, there has been a significant increase in the number of religious themed cards, a 33% rise from last year (from 6 to 8). Notably, a number of these cards were sent by friends in their mid-forties, as opposed the expected demographic of older card senders.
Whilst animals still represent the biggest card type, they now only represent 30% of all cards, down from 39% last year. Christmas characters (Santa & snowmen) have increased their share, from 19% of all cards, to 26% this year.
Within the animal category, this was the first year that there were no bears, polar or otherwise. This could indicate a loss in popularity across the board for bear species. Stags / deer and penguins remain the 2 biggest sub-types for animals, although penguins have reduced slightly (from 9 in 2015, to 5 this year). 2016 was a first for ladybirds (or indeed, any insect) to make an appearance on a Christmas card.
Snow scenes remained fairly constant, whereas there was a decrease in the type 'foliage' (comprised of Christmas trees and holly), down from 14% of all cards in 2015, to a mere 8% in 2016. In numeric terms, this is a reduction from 9 to 4 - representing a 56% fall in foliage related cards, which is somewhat at odds with the current hygge trend.
The following charts indicate the main trends.
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Analysis of Xmas cards 2016
BerylStreep · 03/01/2017 15:31
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I love that you do this 
I haven't done the stats but reckon it's about the same in the Cat family. To add: approximately 30% of cards received were covered in glitter.
Ours are still up so detailed analysis must wait.
But one thing I have noticed is a big increase in "wreath" as a card motif this year. We have had at least 6.
Most common is still Santa.
We have had a good number of cards this year (100+), but the vaaaaassst majority have come from people on the DCs' paper rounds (4 rounds as DS1 has a different Sunday round) - many containing cash tips (tho not for me obv). Barely any from school mates and fewer and fewer from family/friends. I can't complain tho as I sent about 6 this year.
We had a huge number of robins this year - maybe 30% of all our cards were robins!
I noticed that the card design quality had dropped a bit. We used to get a good number of shiny high-design concept cards, often abstract or modernist designs. This year it's like everyone's bought cheaper packs so I wonder whether there is some deeper connection to economic insecurity as well as design trends. Like hemlines and recessions...? British winter birds = Brexit nostalgia? Cheaper cards = economic anxiety/instability?
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