To think it's Bah Humbug to not send cards and say you're giving card money to charity

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How much does a box of cards cost - £5? I suggest sacrificing a bottle of wine and giving wine money to charity then ..

MrsDV

YABU btw, it's up to the person what they spend their money on. Personally think cards are a waste of money, charity is far more befitting.

It is a tradition in that it has been around since Victorian times. Whatever the reason for it beginning, the practice of sending cards was eagerly taken up and has continued until present times.

Obviously new technology has taken over from the postal service and many people don't need to send letters/cards any more but, for special occasions like Christmas and birthdays, it is nice to have tangible good wishes, I think.

I have told everyone for years that I don't want Christmas cards, I don't give them to my children, or in work.

I disagree with the wastefulness of our Western lifestyle, recycling takes resources, as does the initial production.

If, we, in the West wasn't demanding cheaper and excess goods, life would be better around the planet, as would the environment.

I was in Asda with my DD on Saturday and if left to her own devices, she would if spent at leat £50 on shit we do not need (me and my other two DD's).

Everyone is stressed because we have houses full of shit we do not need, we work excess hours to pay for this shit, then buy into needing holidays/theme parks, to relax, because we are stressed by either over working (paid or in the home), or not having enough money.

We have everything we need in the UK, even on benefit levels, if we don't buy into the lifestyle that we are being sold.

How anyone is justifying Secret Santa's etc, whilst we have pictures if children in Syria freezing to death, people starving and dying from treatable disease, I don't understand.

We all go

In short, YABU, I give people time and support, I get involved in community/political projects, I don't give cards, why is that Bah Humbug?

the box of cards is a pound. The sodding stamps are 50p each.

I do like cards (not presents) but the cost of postage is getting ridiculous.

puffinnuffin - goats give milk. Which is quite healthy. And people in countries where food does not fall off supermarket shelves don't have the choices that you do.

It's not so much the cost of the cards that bothers me but the bloody stamps it takes to send them all. Personally I think cards are nice enough but they just end up in the recycling bin so I'm more than happy not to send/receive them.

Cards are a waste of money (though can be great for covering up the holes in the hall wall). I send them, enclosing a letter, only to people I just don't see during the year.

I don't even use them for making gift tags - because a marker pen works just fine on wrapping paper.

YABFU.

Does a piece of card in an envelope mean so much to you, you'd rather you got it than a charity getting the proceeds? Why? Are you a competitive card-receiver?

Grow up.

And puffinnuffin, how is someone in your friendship group "forcing" you? Is s/he holding a gun to your head.

Bloody Christmas.

"It is a tradition in that it has been around since Victorian times"

It was started so people would make use of the new Postal system, ironically at the height of the Workhouse system, wealthy people would send these cards with pictures on them of the Poor being "administered" to.

Hopefully enough of us no longer believe that people are poor through "fecklessness" and don't be fooled into thinking this unnecessary stuff is what makes Christmas.

YABU at 50p a stamp and less than 10% of the outlay on charity cards going to the charity, it is a very inefficient way of giving!

I could see the point pre FB and pre email but frankly I would much rather send/receive an electronic card with news from friends I see rarely and/or a message on FB and a chance to get their news that way. If you are thinking of people near enough not to need stamps then what is the point of a card? Wish them Happy Christmas/ go for a drink together/ ask them about their plans/ fetch them a coffee/ suggest attending the work's or your local Church's carol service together / anything other than a pointless card to be thrown away.

Christmas cards were a tradition that worked well in the 20c but their time has passed. Happily we have better ways of staying in touch and spreading goodwill now we have the internet.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Exactly what MrsD said. My son died in November 1998 I didn't send cards that year, nor any year since. I hate the thought of excluding him (and more recently my daughter) from my family on cards, my husband and children include them in cards between us, anything outside of that is just too horrible to contemplate. I donate money to 2 charities associated with the causes of my childrens deaths instead.

Bah fucking humbug indeed.

It depends how you choose to shop. I shop locally (not big super market chains) and my charity cards are for local charities. It is my way of giving to those charities.

Some of the charity donations we are being made to give to instead of sending cards are for things like Music lessons in Africa. As a music teacher and with family connections within Africa I find this ridiculous.

I have never done Christmas cards. If you think I'm bah humbug, that's fine but I'm not. I refuse to buy anything at Christmas that is remotely superfluous and cards are in this category for me.

I'm actually pretty generous and buy too much stuff for people at Christmas, but not one single thing that will ultimately wind up in the bin.

Sorry this thread has moved on since I posted. I am so sorry for people who have lost children and can quite understand why Christmas cards are in appropriate.

Birdsgottafly, you are so right about the waste and artificial need that drives it. There was a thread a few days ago about the archbichop of canterbury suggesting we cut our christmas spend by 10% and I thought it a very good idea, but unsure how to actually do it. Then I realised I do stockings for our adult children, mostly stationary and such like which they will never miss and often don't use, and costs more than you think, so that is going to stop this year and the foodbank will benefit instead.

Regarding cards, though, I do send cards as I enjoy having them and it's often the only contact I have with some people each year. Local ones I try and send by Scout post, so they get the benefit. I used to make the cards myself but buy from charities now instead.

So sorry Mrs Devere.

who is making you give charity donations, puffinmuffin?
and why are music lessons in Africa ridiculous?

YABU. Christmas cards are for school children

In my old office it was asked that we all chip in and give a donation to charity rather than give xmas cards to each other and I thought that was a great idea- seems wasteful giving cards to people you see every bloody day anyway!

However I do like to send and receive cards to friends and family who we don't see a lot. It's a nice way of keeping in touch and I often send include picture of kids to relatives etc.

I too want to say how sorry I am to those who have lost children . I literally can't imagine your pain.

Should we also abandon Christmas trees, as another wasteful tradition? And do we really need all that indulgent food?

Moderation in all things surely - not lots of cards to people who mean little to you, but some to those who mean most.

Has anyone ever pulled a cracker and thought "oh, I really needed that plastic eye glass (insert whatever crap was in it)? Or is the whole box just a donation to the land fill, in some far distant land, which will then turn their arable land into unfarmable soil, so they will need charity come 10 years time? Or the production of those unneeded goods have redirected and polluted their water supply?

"I don't want to donate to religious charities and as a vegetarian I don't want to pay for blinking goats. (I don't expect anyone to understand that though!). "

So you eat animal products whose food is probably grown in the country that needs charity because more and more of their arable land is used to grow grain to feed our farmed animals and grow our Coffee, but you think they shouldn't be able to have animals that give milk? (I am Vegan and have researched what we are doing to cause poverty around the world).

Tbh, we are no better than the Germans who sold water to the Jews on the way to the Concentration camps. Do we need half of what is produced for the pound shops and do we really need only pay a £ for it?