To be pissed off with people saying 'I am not sending any Christmas card this year, I am donating the money to charity.'

[chrisinthesun]

Just admit you can't be arsed to send any.

And is the charity you are supposedly donating to, going to go wild about the 1.99p it would have cost for a box/pack of 50 Christmas cards? 🙄

I suppose some people will come on here and say they send at least 2 dozen cards out by post/abroad etc, and that costs them £50-60 in postage, but most people don't do this. Most people just send them to neighbours, close family, acquaintances, and work colleagues.

As I said, just admit you can't be arsed, and bore off with the sanctimonious 'I am not giving out any Christmas cards this year, I am giving the money to charity' line. (I bet most people who say this, don't even give anything to charity 'instead of sending out Christmas cards.')

I give £20 to a local charity every Christmas, instead of sending cards. Not sure why that bothers you op? I recycle all the cards we get by Dec 28th, it's such a waste of time and effort all round in my opinion, I'd far rather charity got some ££ to be honest.

It's not just £1.99 for the cards, though, is it? Actually, I don't know where you get 50 cards for £1.99, but they don't seem to cost that where I live - most of the cards I come across are charity cards and they cost a couple of quid for 10 or 20. And then even a second class stamp is 56p now, so if you're sending out 50 cards that's over £25.

So why not save some trees and give a donation of £30 or more to charity?

We send Christmas cards to the people we don't see and who we think will appreciate them - older relations, relations living abroad who are not on social media etc. We then send a charity e-card to everyone else we know.

You think they're vertue

I think it's sad if people stop sending cards.

My mum who is in her 90s gets around 100 cards every Xmas. Each one means something to her- her generation don't use the internet, e-cards or texts (very often.)

She gets cards from people she was at school with in the 1930s and this is their only form of contact- exchange a few lines of news on the card.

Maybe it's a generational thing. I send card to people I used to work with 40 years ago and who never see but the Xmas card is a means of keeping in touch, in a casual way. These are people I ^care' about- not people I simply knew, but close friends who relocated , re-married, whatever- and who it's not practical to meet now.

I try to buy cards from small charities or our local hospice where I feel the money will be really useful.

@camelfinger

I like getting handwritten things in the post. The cards look decorative when put up. I have quite a limited list, the number received dwindles each year. If we really wanted to save paper we could not bother wrapping presents I suppose.

I do get fucked off with a generic Facebook message that goes something along the lines of “I am so very touched by all of the wonderful cards that I’ve received from my amazing friends and family. This year I have decided to donate to charity instead. Happy Christmas Everybody”. I usually interpret that as someone who likes feeling wanted but can’t be arsed to reciprocate.

Yeah this. ^ This pisses me off too.

@ontopofthesunset you can get 40 to 50 cards ANYwhere for 2 or 3 quid ... You do not have to buy 'charity' ones.

@ski4130 I have no issue with people giving to charity instead, but why tell everyone about it? Why does everyone need to know?

So why not save some trees and give a donation of £30 or more to charity?

Many cards are recyclable so it's not going to waste.

You can do both; you can give money to charity at any time of the year not just Xmas!

But looking at the way charities abuse their funds so much (so much negative press about this) my first thought is the pleasure the card will give to the recipient. If I want to raise money for a charity I'd do that separately.

@QueenOfTheNights

I agree. It is a shame that some people have stopped sending cards.

And that is up to them. But putting a message on facebook or whatever, saying 'I am giving to charity instead' is just really sanctimonious.

Also agree with how many charities are dodgy now, and much of the money given does not go to the people its meant for...

I never give to ANY charities now.

I do my bit for society and my community. I know some people won't believe that, but I do. Not saying what I do, as it's potentially identifying.

lmao

Can we please stop with the “virtue signalling” nonsense?

I’ve never been a card person and gradually stopped sending them over the years. Everyone I’d send them to is on Social Media so I send Christmas wishes that way. I do a few Christmas donations for the money I would have spent on cards and gifts but don’t announce it as an “I’m not sending cards” thing. Not because I don’t want to “virtue signal” but because my charitable giving is probably of no interest to my friends.

On the other hand, my mum stopped sending cards and posts a message linked to a charity close to her heart. It isn’t laziness, it’s the fact her arthritic fingers struggle to write. She raises the charity link not merely to say she’s donating, but suggesting she’d be happy if anyone who would send her a card would drop a few coins to the charity too. It is possible to openly want to make a charitable donation without it beng any kind of signal. People are too quick to judge.

I have elderly friends and relatives who I know enjoy receiving cards.
All the ones we receive are passed on after Christmas and cut in half. The message part is put into the recycling bin, the picture part is used to create a new card by a scheme for adults with learning difficulties who sell them next year to raise funds. I don't have a problem with that at all.

@sheworebluevelvet

I like cards.
I like seeing what people chose to send out and what type of cards we receive. It's nice people put effort in. Shows they care.
I hate trite messages on social media for exactly the same reasons.

This. ^

@MiddlingMum

I have elderly friends and relatives who I know enjoy receiving cards. All the ones we receive are passed on after Christmas and cut in half. The message part is put into the recycling bin, the picture part is used to create a new card by a scheme for adults with learning difficulties who sell them next year to raise funds. I don't have a problem with that at all.

This too.

Recycling is not as good as not manufacturing though, is it? I don't tell people that we're giving to charity instead because we're not - we give to charity throughout the year and our decison not to send Christmas cards to most people we know is more about the pointlessness and wastefulness of it. We only send cards to people we want to write a special message to.

I don’t send cards. It’s not about the money for me so I don’t feel I need to tell people that I’m doing something else (more virtuous!) with the money. I think this is what you get pissed off at and I’d say you’re not not BU.

It’s not about the money for me. It’s the wasteful consumerism. Bits of paper that just go in the recycling bin. Think of everything that goes into making a card, in terms of the energy, fuel, water etc and then again for sending it and then again to recycle it!

I don’t proclaim to be Super Sustainable Sally! But I try to make continuous small changes and this has been one of them. I call people, message them, have neighbours and family over at Christmas, go and see people on the birthday and so on.

Ontopofthesinset Yes! You put it much more succinctly than me!

I usually just lurk and read. I think you are being unreasonable. After my first year on a Biology degree it scares me what we are doing to our planet and the production of Christmas cards is a contributing factor no matter how small. I donate to charity rather than send cards now because i can't see the point in wasting resources that will be in the recycling shortly and it adds up year after year - if every person donated the Christmas card money instead of buying cards imagine how many charities would benefit. I believe that people are not saying to say 'look at me' they may be letting people know to prompt them to do the same. If you are concerned about an elderly relative then speak to them on the phone, message or visit them; with many years of working with the elderly they would prefer this to receiving a card.
Letters, cards etc were popular because there was no other form of communication but now this is not the case and we have so many ways of wishing people a Merry Christmas and ensuring they do not feel lonely if you really do care for that person. For the sake of feeling valued for a few days because you received a Christmas card the environment is suffering (yes we know there are far bigger issues) but like plastic it all adds up and it all effects our environment in so many ways, that are not always obvious.

We send our to the oldies, but quite frankly I can’t be arsed to send them to everyone. I detest them in my house, and they are such a waste of money and paper. I donate more than I would have spent on cards and postage

I had not RTFT before commenting and think comments aimed at @Buzzlightyearsbumchin shocking I'm so sorry for your loss

Ponder :

Is it not equally "virtue signalling" to claim The High Road because you've made the effort to follow an archaic, dying, time consuming tradition rather than doing the modern equivalent - a generic Facebook message

, @Trainsanddoggers what about texts/ecards

@chrisinthesun do digital cards count in your books?

I wouldn't mind as much if I get to choose my own charity. Unfortunately I never get to.

YABU. Lots of people spend £30+ on cards and postage. We do. One year we thought that money would be much better used in a charity. I was worried about judgey uncaring people like you but I thought what the heck. Everyone was very positive.

Well I certainly do, how nasty and cynical