about Christmas card etiquette?

[boschy]

We have only had 3 cards so far this year. None were charity (tho one was M&S, which has some blurb about recycling and the Forestry Commission).

One had a computer generated label - ok, I can live with that, just about. But inside was printed "Merry Christmas and lots of love from The Smith-Jones" (pseudonym). Our names were handwritten, but no other signature etc.

Now, in my book, cards MUST be charity, and should be brought from a proper charity, eg a charity shop or stall or via mail order, not those boxes you get in WHS which say "20p of this £4.99 will go to 200 different charities".

And you should also write a personal signature and preferably message. Round robins are a whole other subject...

AIBU?!

How silly... mind you Christmas cards in general are a fairly silly waste of time, money and paper IMO, except ones to the old and lonely...

Can you believe a first class stamp is 60 PENCE? You can't send two cards for a quid! OK you can be a bit more organised and use 2nd class, but even still.... (mutter mutter)
I think that, more than anything, is what is making Christmas cards seem like an outdated luxury. I will be sending them to aged relatives and putting them with gifts to people like the pre-school teachers. But that's it.
Honestly, in this day and age, if I were getting all seasonal and sentimental and thinking "I wonder how old thingy is doing" I would facebook them (did that this morning in fact). It's a pity, cards are nicer. but 60 PENCE EACH?!!!

Apart from people that live a long way away I don't send cards at all.

I don't send charity cards unless I like them. I buy cards based on the appearance and message. I've noticed an increase in charity cards this year in the ones we've received and it's added a whole new dimension to my display protocol as there is one charity that I won't even advertise. I am turning into Scrooge as each year passes

"I never realised there was so much analysis of Christmas cards until I joined MN."

To be fair, I never realised there was so much analysis (and judging) of all kinds of ordinary things, until I joined MN :). I'd like to think it's not representative of the general population.

YABU to decide that other people ought to follow your decisions.

You make your choices. Other people make theirs. They may have reasons for their choices which you would agree with if you understood them. Or maybe not. But it is their choice where to buy Christmas cards and what to write/print/stick into them.

Rosie, I think in this thread the OP is the one doing most of the analysing!

YABU. I think you have too much free time if you are bothering over this. This years christmas cards have been my slackest yet, but I think people should appreciate the thought. I dont expect one in return, and I'd be surprised if we got many this year as we have moved and not really handed out our new address!

We do homemade cards. We do write names in them but no lengthy messages. I hate writing letters! Oh and we only send to close family - did suggest stopping but my dm said no as everyone loves our cards and keeps them! I think I've made a rod for my back.

Rosie I was being tongue in cheek. However an RSPCA card won't make it to the display :)

Charity cards arent a good way of donating to charity because only a fraction of the cost of the cards actually goes to charity. Youre better off buying cheapo noncharity cards and giving the money youve saved to xharity. What charity cards are good for is improving the image of the sender. "Wow, X is such a caring, generous person, she bought this card from x charity." But actually the most generous givers are quite secretive about it, I imagine.

I think it depends really. I but the RNLI ones because I tend to like the designs and think they're good quality. If they weren't for the RNLI I'd probably still buy them because I like them. It doesn't make any difference how much I donate to charity though- I'd have to buy the cards anyway.

I bought some Oxfam ones this year because I liked the design, but probably won't next year because the inside of the cards is very slippery (I write in fountain pen).

YABU, fuck all goes to charity from charity cards
we don't buy charity cards, okay we bought one pack but the majority weren't, we buy in our budget.... and always write a personal message... and give a HUGE percentage of our earnings to directly to charity so who are you to judge us for not buying charity christmas cards?

We have reached the stage that, with more than 200 people on our Christmas card list, I've written all our cards but will not post them until 18 December. Any card received that is postmarked after, say, 19 December will not receive one from me next year because theirs had been a 'return' rather than sent because they want to.

Some of our prospective recipients send us an e-mail Christmas greeting and I will accept that as a 'Christmas card'.

The more you communicate with people, even if only once a year, the more they remain your friends.

We don't necessarily buy charity cards because they cost more than those from supermarkets which I buy after Christmas. We love to keep in touch with people who have been something in our lives.

When we choose cards, we choose those that have a proper Christmas meaning. Those that have a manger or stained glass windows or shepherds or angels or a star etc. Sooo hard to find these days.

Yule you might want to move that posting date forward

YABU. Charity cards are a con.
Even those where 100% goes to the charity named. It doesn't. They have manufacturing and marketing costs just like WHSmith do to produce the cards and only a tiny percentage goes to them in profit.
I say send any card you wish and if so inclined, give money direct to a good cause but even then a percentage gets sucked up by the charity's admin costs.

YANBU

The only cards that get sent in this house are the ones the kids send to their school friends, and they are boxes of 30 little ones from Poundland

Well I managed to cost some of my friends £1.19 when I didn't put enough postage on a few of my cards this year, so I think I win the crap etiquette award

There was a little pompom on the card and so the bastards have obviously classed it as a 'large letter'

Oops, I meant YABU

Gee, we make our own cards and write a message inside each one. We do this because we enjoy it, and my son loves arts & crafts, and posting things.

We don't care how anyone else does their cards, buys their cards, signs their cards or anything! We're just happy they thought about us!

Merry Christmas!

YABU.