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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you send Christmas cards?

131 replies

Happyhappyveggie · 10/12/2017 13:54

Sorry if this has been done already on here. I normally send cards but no-one I know is this year and wondering if it’s just becoming less popular as to be fair, I am in touch with a lot of people regularly via WhatsApp groups etc so can just directly message them (but it’s a bit soul- less too)
I like sending them but am thinking maybe my money would be better served going to charity instead?
Aibu to not send any? Who still sends them here?

OP posts:
stargirl1701 · 10/12/2017 13:59

No. We aim for #zerowaste all year round. The cards are generally only recyclable.

Whoyagonna · 10/12/2017 14:02

I never have, but have fond memories of one evening every year in December as a child being devoted to this particular thing. (I think my job was licking the stamps or something). They were sent to next door neighbours as well as to far flung emigrants. We loved receiving them too. I think older generations would love them. My grandmother lived for the sound of the post-man arriving. It was a real measure for her of how popular she was bless her (RIP).

This year I've just bought person specific ones for family. Mother/Father/Sister/Daughter etc.

It's a dying tradition.

SadTrombone · 10/12/2017 14:07

Nope. Used the money to buy toys for Christmas at women's refuge instead
#humblebrag #smug
(Seriously though a much better use of funds if you have a refuge or organisation local to you. Apparently Paw Patrol and Spiderman are the most requested).

Whoyagonna · 10/12/2017 14:08

We actually had strings hanging across the ceiling with them all hung up. We weren't alone in that! Every family had! I think secretly the mothers were counting up how much more each had lol.
Another part of my job was picking out holy ones for older people and Santa Claus ones for people with kids.
The ones we received from abroad included letters with updates on their lives.

It's all d'internets now. *Sobs

DramaAlpaca · 10/12/2017 14:09

I send as few as possible, just to elderly relatives mainly.

hidinginthenightgarden · 10/12/2017 14:10

No we don't. It just contributes the mounds on card and paper needing recycling on boxing day.

Sparklesdontshine · 10/12/2017 14:11

No I can't stand them!

Whoyagonna · 10/12/2017 14:11

I'm going back to times before landlines even here though........

EB123 · 10/12/2017 14:12

Not really, I give them to family and we have an elderly neighbour who loves to receive a homemade one from my children but that's about it. My mum still sends them though.

I remember rush having loads of them up in our house when I was a child.

Passmethecrisps · 10/12/2017 14:13

I don’t anymore. I have a very large family and I just found it got out of hand.

At work we donate to anchisen charity and right a message of goodwill which gets hung on a wee Christmas tree. One of the admin staff types up all the messages and sends it out to everyone.

One year I just stopped sending to family. I never see many of them and it simply doesn’t bother me.

Dh does send to his friends and family though.

I have noticed a huge reduction in the cards we now get which suits me fine. I have a 5yo though who I imagine will want to send cards to her new classmates so we will help her with that

fantasmasgoria1 · 10/12/2017 14:37

I usually send to those I am close/related to. But end up sending more because I get given them and feel obliged to send back!

LunasSpectreSpecs · 10/12/2017 14:38

I don't send any. We make a charity donation instead. RNLI this year.

Sleepyblueocean · 10/12/2017 15:21

Only older relatives and a few friends from university who are not on Facebook.

PrincessoftheSea · 10/12/2017 15:23

No I can't stand them either

FuzzyCustard · 10/12/2017 15:25

We send lots (about 50 posted ones and another 20 local ones) and love to get them in return. I'd be very sad if people thought a quick "happy Christmas" on Facebook would suffice!

We do recycle all cards afterwards.

TeenTimesTwo · 10/12/2017 15:28

Yes we send them.
They make the room look festive.
I'm not a fan of facebook etc.

paganmolloy · 10/12/2017 15:31

Cost me £67 in cards and postage last time I sent them. No more I’m afraid. I donate to charity instead, perhaps sending odd one to those not online

TrinitySquirrel · 10/12/2017 15:36

None. Total waste and really damaging.

Bunchofdaffodils · 10/12/2017 15:39

Yes I do. I love to receive them because it makes me smile everytime I look at them. I’m reminded of friends and family’s love for several weeks, not just a few seconds when I read a text message/email. Some traditions are worth keeping!

ThomasHardyPerennial · 10/12/2017 15:42

I still send them, but the number has reduced over the years. After advent I cut up the cards I receive, and use them as gift tags for presents the following christmas Smile.

FuzzyCustard · 10/12/2017 15:42

Emotionally supportive! After a horrible year we are really pleased to get messages of support and good cheer from friends and family. It means a lot to us.

I suppose the only disconnect comes if a "card receiver" gets upset at not receiving a card from a "card denier" or vice versa.

ThisIsNotARealAvo · 10/12/2017 15:42

I only write a few for colleagues, I generally do a small present and card with a thank you message for everyone in the key stage.

Grrrrrsnarl · 10/12/2017 15:42

Funny this has come up. I've just had the annual row with DH about cards.

Every bloody year he goes through the address book and writes and sends card to old work colleagues that he hasn't seen for over a decade, friends that were never that great in the first place.

It fucking pisses me off

We never get a card back from any of them (why should we as he / I haven't spoken to these people in years) and it costs bloody fortune to send them.

Every year is the same, same argument

Amanduh · 10/12/2017 15:43

We send lots and receive lots.

makingmyway10 · 10/12/2017 15:43

I do! I buy from a charity I support and send to all family and close friends. Every year we get less in return though as people tend to send a message via Facebook or text. I love receiving them but hardly get any now. As a child I loved looking through the hundreds my parents received every year, the pictures made me feel festive. My DD1 is in her first year at Uni and no one sends them and DD2 who is 15 only got a few this year last year she still got lots. Their friends all message on snapchat and instgram. I do think it is a dying tradition sadly.