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Original poster

Christmas cards - have you received any this year ?

37 replies

TheTecknician · 31/12/2023 11:03

I normally get a handful but the only one I've had this year was a hand-delivered card from our local councillors! They never disappoint. I wonder if this dearth of cards is because they are slowly going out of fashion or because of the poor Royal Mail service recently ? Maybe a bit of both ?

OP posts:
TeenDivided · 31/12/2023 11:04

How many did you send?

We sent around 40 and got about 35 back.

ichundich · 31/12/2023 11:05

Sent 0 and got about 5.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 31/12/2023 11:06

I was ill in the fortnight before Christmas so didn't send any. We received 15. I am sending new year cards instead.

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Coastalcreeksider · 31/12/2023 11:07

Sent 28, got over 30 back.

Browncupboards · 31/12/2023 11:07

Sent about 35 got about 30 back, some hand delivered mostly Royal Mail though

EmptyYoghurtPot · 31/12/2023 11:09

We got about 20. We haven’t sent any for years - most friends and family know that we give extra to our Church in December instead.

MaryActsLikeSheDontCare · 31/12/2023 11:10

I received 2 by post, maybe 20 more in person (we had a large gathering at our house just before Christmas)

I also sent two

I used to send 20-30. I now do what most other people do and send a WhatsApp.

Original poster
TheTecknician · 31/12/2023 11:10

I haven't sent Christmas cards for decades - that's another story - but I still normally receive a few nevertheless. Maybe it is a Royal Mail thing round here.

OP posts:
idontlikealdi · 31/12/2023 11:10

Sent 0 received 9

tokesqueen · 31/12/2023 11:12

Received six so sent six back (mostly elderly rellies). Will probably stop it next year.

titchy · 31/12/2023 11:13

Sent 17 received 15. Certainly a lot fewer than in previous years. A combination of people now saying they're no longer sending cards (which I read as 'please don't send me any either'), elderly rellies dying off and the outrageous cost of postage.

deepsea9 · 31/12/2023 11:13

Sent 0, received 4 I think.

ANightmareBeforeChristmas · 31/12/2023 11:14

Received 9.

WYorkshireRose · 31/12/2023 11:15

I think we received around 35-40, but most of those were for DC from their classmates. Others are a mixture of family who we don't see very often/live at a distance, and neighbours. We only sent a handful.

doggiedude · 31/12/2023 11:15

Gave out/ delivered and posted about 25 .Received about 30ish .

YourNameGoesHere · 31/12/2023 11:19

I wrote about 20 all hand delivered as and when I've seen people and got approximately 20 back. I sent precisely one card by post to a relative who lives too far away to see. I'm genuinely surprised so many people are sending 30+ cards in the post, even using second class stamps that's £20 quid to just send the cards.

AppleKatie · 31/12/2023 11:22

Sent about 10 recieved 40+ they just kept coming! Some are from DCs school, one from the local takeaway 🤣

maddiemookins16mum · 31/12/2023 11:24

Sent 1, received 3. I clearly recall back in the 80s us getting dozens and dozens, 108 was our best haul ever. Miss that time.

PuffyShirt · 31/12/2023 11:25

Sent 0. We received maybe 10. I shove them in a drawer.

Thehandinthedark · 31/12/2023 11:26

PuffyShirt · 31/12/2023 11:25

Sent 0. We received maybe 10. I shove them in a drawer.

Ah, the spirit of Christmas.

TrashedSofa · 31/12/2023 11:27

A smattering, but don't send them and the numbers tend to thin every year.

Topseyt123 · 31/12/2023 11:36

I sent only about half a dozen and those were mainly the walking distance ones to local neighbours. We posted four - three to to DH's aunts and uncles and one to his sister in Australia.

We received a very similar number though I didn't count.

I stopped doing the hundreds of Christmas cards to wider family and friends thing years ago. It was a total pain in the arse, expensive on postage and, funnily enough, writing them seemed to be largely wifework. 🤔😠

The year I said I was no longer going to do the chore of writing them was very liberating. 😃 DH was horrified and swore blind that he would do it. He never did and that was almost 10 years ago now. He just moonpigs the four to his aunts, uncle and sister in Australia, and usually leaves that until virtually the last minute too.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 31/12/2023 11:39

Posted one, to my Mum. Hand delivered three, to neighbours. Got back:

One from Mum, posted (we live hundreds of miles apart)

Two from neighbours, one didn't respond, first time ever

One from a former friend who clearly set up a Christmas card mailing list 20 years ago and hasn't updated it since - the card comes in an envelope with a printed address label (fair enough) but the card itself has a printed greeting (i.e. they order them from a printer with the greeting already printed on) and not a single handwritten word anywhere on the card, no letter enclosed, nothing - I haven't seen or spoken to her for over 15 years and I have no idea what's happening in her life now (I'm not on Facebook). I haven't sent her a card for at least five years so she has no idea what's happening with us either. Odd. Must be a very expensive tradition to maintain, given the cost of stamps now!

Lowest number of cards ever. The tradition is on its way to dying out from a combination of all of the following, I'd imagine: people keeping in frequent touch using social media, texts, WhatsApp, so not bothered about having an annual catch up; price of stamps; dire state of postal service; cost of living crisis; younger generations growing up hardly ever needing to address envelopes and buy stamps, so finding the idea odd and offputting at Christmas; people moving around more so friends and family not always having their address as phone and email are the primary ways to contact them.

TheThingIsYeah · 31/12/2023 11:43

Send and receive less and less every year, in the main it's because stamps have gone up this century from 27p to £1.25p.

DinoDays · 31/12/2023 11:45

This was my best year yet.

Sent 0
Received 4

1 from sex matters
1 from hairdresser
1 from random friend
1 from dc which had an IOU written in it.

All are now in recycling.

Have never seen the point of them!!