To ask if you send Christmas cards?

[Happyhappyveggie]

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?

Should add, that good friends / family do get cards

Yes - DH and I send about 100 - not to people we see every day but we have lots of friends around the country/overseas and it is a lovely old fashioned way to keep in touch.

Neither of us are FB users so we really enjoy sending and receiving cards and hearing peoples' news - we receive about 100 back as well .

I work in retail and our shop sells Christmas cards, certainly no sign of people stopping buying them, have had to restock twice this year.

And for anyone who says 'why don't you give the money to charity, we do give to charity, throughout the year and not just at Christmas.

I do - friends and family. I can't imagine a Christmas without cards!

I'm writing mine right now (all bought from a charity, since you ask).

I'm always amused at this "we send money to charity" lark. There are a whole load of things you could give up at Christmas and send the money to charity instead - the turkey, the mince pies, the cake, the chocolates, the alcohol, the tree, the extravagant presents under the tree. Yet mysteriously the thing people always decide to give up is the mildly tedious chore that brings pleasure to the recipient rather than the sender.

No. We are all grown ups. They are a waste of paper. If you want to wish someone happy xmas call them, text them, Skype them. X

I still send them but I’m gradually reducing the number as we don’t always get them in return! So far only have ten or so this year 😱

Agree hackmum and I suspect many people don’t actually make the donation!

hack Yet mysteriously the thing people always decide to give up is the mildly tedious chore that brings pleasure to the recipient rather than the sender.

^^this.

Send lots & receive lots, then I cut them up and use them as gift tags. Love it.

Excellent point hackmum

I do. We have older relatives who don't use email or social media, and not sending a card would be seen as very rude. I also send them to a few scattered friends and some of the neighbours.

The people I send cards to really appreciate a card. It is more personal and shows more thought than a generic Merry Christmas on Facebook.

I buy my cards direct from charities and am sending fewer and fewer every year.

I don't send cards to work colleagues or people I see day to day.

I don't I buy for the local food bank instead

No, I stopped sending them years ago.

Christmas cards are a waste of time, money, effort and trees.

I send them. I love getting them back, because people tell me all their news, and it's lovely to know if things are going well for them. And it tells me they're not dead

I've always sent them in the past and I enjoy receiving cards; it's a nice way of staying in touch with friends and family. But it's becoming so expensive, with the ever increasing postage costs.

I like the idea of using the money to buy toys for a local refuge.

I have just written the ones that need posting.
The others can be delivered by hand.
Haven't sent for a few years, but this year I had time and was in a shop with cards, so bought some.

Yes, I do. But I don't buy piles of shite plastic tat, or most of the additional non-traditional "traditions" peddled at this time of year. So I'm just as smug as those claiming to solve poverty with their unused Christmas card money.

argymargy well said.

We send and receive about 15-20 a year, but I think I’ll stop after this year. It’s starting to feel like a waste of paper and some of the cards we send have to go by post too, which I don’t feel great about.

I send the odd few to family and friends but only ones bought from work which area made by kids in an orphanage in India we work with and 100% of the profit goes back to them —humblebrag—

But otherwise I wouldn’t bother I hate cards.

Yet mysteriously the thing people always decide to give up is the mildly tedious chore that brings pleasure to the recipient rather than the sender.

The mystery here is the assumption that cards automatically bring pleasure to the recipients.

As is made clear every time this is discussed, some people like receiving cards and some don't (and unlike eg your decision to eat turkey, there's no suggestion of reciprocity- you not eating mince pies won't mean anyone else feels obliged not to).

Both views are widespread enough that they really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, and odds are there are people of both views in your circle. So just pick the approach you prefer, and don't delude yourself that it'll bring more or less pleasure to anyone else than you doing the opposite.

Yet mysteriously the thing people always decide to give up is the mildly tedious chore that brings pleasure to the recipient rather than the sender.

Exactly.

I don't, I buy for the local food bank instead.

It is possible to do both - and incidentally, do check with your local food bank first - our's is inundated with donations at Christmas and we actually have to pay for additional storage space, would much prefer donations spread out throughout the year.

Yes. I love them. Like birthday cards, they show you are thinking of someone.

I didn’t know people had stopped sending cards. I can’t imagine not receiving cards. I get loads. I posted about 20 through the doors of neighbours this week. Then do all the family and get ones for the kids to do for each other and grandparents etc. I also don’t refuse to buy my kids presents they want on the grounds they are made from plastic though so think I’m in the minority on mumsnet.