Birthday/Christmas cards on display at home - are they free for anyone to read?

Look at my stuff.

But DON’T look at my stuff!!!

I think some people on here are getting a bit miffed to realise they are being described as "incredibly rude", on here but likely in real life behind their back too 😂

I am amazed that posters can feign complete innocence and naivety about reading other people's private post being rude

What's the point of putting them up if you don't anyone to read anything?

I really don’t think my mother takes such a dim view of me because I admired one or two cards that said something like ‘many happy returns love from Beryl’ 😂

If you can see something without touching it, then it is probably intended for you to see.
If you have to touch it to see it, then you should probably ask for permission.

I wouldn't pick someone's cards up and read them, neither would I expect them to do it to me. However, many people do.
They are the same people who come into my kitchen and read my calendar and pick up any letters they see and read them too. They also comment on or ask questions about what they find.
'Who is Pete?'
'Why is your electricity bill so high?'
'You spend a lot of money on eating out don't you?'

Why should I put my cards in my bedroom, or in a drawer?
All of my house is a private area. My living room is not a public area, it belongs to me.
As for letters, I leave them on my coffee table as a visual reminder that I need to address them.
If I were to put them away, I would forget about them and they wouldn't be dealt with.
If I removed items I don't want other people to be nosying at, I would be organising my home with visitors at the forefront of my mind and that's not how I run my home because after all, it is my home!!
I organise and run my home to suit myself, not to prevent visitors being nosey because any decent person understands what is for general viewing or use and what's not.

Levity? You told me off. And you’ve doubled down by telling me to chill out yet again. You’re just patronising and you know you are - picked on the wrong person.

I would if they were out on display though I guess you kind of have a point.

Outside picture might be commented in by me such as ‘awww - cute puppy’

but I wouldn’t dream of touching, let alone reading the inside of a card on display in anyone’s house.

Not the same thing at all.

I don’t display cards, so it wouldn’t affect me, but never in a million years would I pick up a card in someone else’s house. It’s really bad manners. It’s the same as reading a post card that was propped up on a mantelpiece or eavesdropping. They might be on display, but I know the messages aren’t for me. Why would it be acceptable for me to read them?

Yes you’re right. I’m the idiot.

No, I wouldn’t dream of reading a message meant for someone else while I was a visitor in their home. I wouldn’t be very interested either.

This has come up with my parents - who think it’s perfectly fine. They would definitely also read medical appointment letters stuck to the fridge!

They read a card from a close friend of ours who’d written an in-joke inside the card, then started questioning us about the joke (which admittedly did sound odd to the uninitiated - but it wasn’t meant to be read by the uninitiated).

My dad asked me ‘what do your in-laws make of jokes like that?’ and I told him that my in-laws don’t rummage through our stuff in the same way because they have some healthy ideas about boundaries and privacy.

I read my Mum’s cards. She’s 88 now and gets loads. I love reading the messages. It’s nice to see how well-regarded she is. My friends pick up and read mine, but I don’t mind at all. I wouldn’t do it at the house of someone I don’t know well though.

Would you take a postcard off a fridge to read the back?

sounds like people would! It's "on display!"
So am guessing, same for medical appointments etc.. that we also put on the fridge.

Now I understand a bit better why some MN posters are allergic to visitors. Can't blame them

The OUTSIDE is on display, the inside is NOT. If you think it ok to pick a card up to read the inside why would you not think it ok to pick up post to have a nosy?

Would you take a postcard off a fridge to read the back?

I didn't realise that, in the same way we have to child-proof the house for obvious reasons, we also have to "nosey CF-proof the house" for rude visitors who think they have a right to read private correspondance, look into cards, and what? go through the family calendar to check our appointments? read through my emails if I happened to leave my laptop open? Go through my handbag because it was "on display" as in on a chair, and not locked in the cupboard?

That's amazing 😂😂

I wouldn’t dream of it. MIL did this the other day - picked up an anniversary card in which DH addressed ne as ‘Sugar Tits’ 🤣🤣 Oh well, her bad!

I have never put a card in my bedroom nor do I intend to. Thankfully my friends and family are not so rude as to start picking up cards and reading the inside.

I am shocked by the replies, it's unbelievably rude to read people's private cards!

"display" would mean the inside framed and hanged on the wall and then yes, bit weird it wasn't for people to look at.
Cards in the privacy of your own home? People can look at the outside, but read them? It's just as rude as rummaging through a pile of papers put on the side to see what's in them.

Not everybody writes a boring "merry christmas from", many cards are personal, WHY would anyone even think it's acceptable to go through them?

I despair of the lack of manners and respect if people think it's a free for all.

Imagine having the kind of relatives that force you to hide all your cards and lock everything for privacy, completely ridiculous.

I only ever read the inside of others cards if they personally tell me to. Often a funny card in a pick up the in with a pig in from aunt carol hilarious and the cat one from your uncle omg! You won’t believe what he wrote.

I wouldn’t go over and pick it up and open it to read. Just like I wouldn’t take a postcard off the fridge to read the back. The picture is shared the message is private unless offered.

Nosey rude people go around snooping on the inside of cards, flipping postcards, checking whats written on others calendars and so on.

Of course it's ok if they're on display! To the poster who compare it to a pile of post on the coffee table.... they're not on display!

I agree with this.

I went to a friend's house and waited while she went to make tea. She had cards on display. I looked at the pictures but it didn't feel right to read what people had written to her.