If someone sent you a (nicely) handmade Christmas card, would you think…

[FestiveFruitloop]

YABU: that they couldn’t afford to buy ‘real’ cards?
YANBU: that they just liked making Christmas cards?

Assuming the card has clearly been made by an adult and not a child. Context to follow, just curious. (Regular member, not a journo. 😄)

Christmas cards can be picked up really cheaply. I'd never think a handmade one was sent due to finances.

My dd makes her own cards and they're always well received. She hasn't bothered this year because she works longer hours atm but i've got last years because i usually keep them so have told her not to bother.
I love them as so much work goes into them.

Also OP why mention 'not a journo'? Who cares if you were? It's not a sensitive or exciting to gossip about subject.

Yeah, I stopped making them. Sold very few and when I gave them for Christmas/birthdays the reactions were underwhelming.

I switched it up a bit and included loose items such as Xmas tags, that they could use if they wanted to and included a little pack of neatly trimmed off cuts in case. Then they could have a go themselves or personalise what I gave them. Nope....still nothing.

I just accept, that for me at least, the joy is in creating it rather than receiving it.

I love making cards to try to cover costs. I do try to sell some, but there are so many doing the same, so it's hard to get sales. However, it really helps my MH from which I have a lot of issues, including depression, PTSD, anxiety, etc, and my partner knows it really helps me. I can lose myself in making cards, all mine are one of a kind, never repeated, so I like to think carefully about what to make when I am sending them. I know, for instance, my sister and my niece love dogs, so I made them dog cards; my cousin is a churchgoer, so I designed her a lovely card with a vintage-style church image.

I’d just think the person has a lot of free time on their hands!!

I used to sell mine for £4.99 each with no issues. Raise your prices and you will attract the right customers.

Bloody weirdos! I'd be impressed. My mum has done knitting, sewing and embroidery and is now into cross stitch, and I have lots of lovely things she's made over the years, my friend does cross stitch, she made me a Pusheen card for my birthday years ago with cross stitch that I've kept, as well as pictures for me and DS, and my other friend does sewing, knitting and crochet and made a cardi and a hat for DS.

To answer your question op, I would assume they like to make an extra effort for friends and family.

I have made my own cards and love doing it. In fact I intend to go back to it once we've got our loft space sorted and I've got room to work!

We get a handmade card every year from one of our friends. We love to receive it and it takes pride of place.

I would think that os lovely.

I bought 5 Christmas cards for a pound. I would never ever never think that someone making cards would do it to save money.

I would also never ever think that they had too much time into heir hands. Some people just enjoy doing that stuff and therefore prioritise it. I would genuinely just think it is lovely.

Some people do. Why is that an issue? Why do people mention free time like it is a bad thing. Free time is a good thing!

Hand made cards are likely more expensive! You can get charity cards for less than a £1/card, whereas if you think of buying the paper, the envelope and whatever they used to make that card - and their time - it’s going to be more than that for sure.

That it was nice of them to take the time and effort.

It was a thoughtful look and a sort of 'Oh, right...' followed by something like 'Well, waste not, want not...' It's come up twice as DH was joking about the cracker paper on another occasion and friend seemed to look a bit thoughtful again and didn't seem to have a ready reply to trot out, which is very unlike him. I have a feeling it was about the cracker paper in some way, as in 'blimey, times must be hard' maybe, but I could be wrong. Not trying to overthink things here (although I will say, the friend in question has a tendency to), it just made me mildly curious if he thought I was down on my uppers or something. Not that it's going to stop me making cards and using whatever works well to make them. I might stop talking about the provenance of the materials, though. 😄

I once read an agony column letter in which, if it was real, someone who took a great deal of pleasure and care in making cards, was sent a cheque from a friend, with their Christmas card, for a small amount of money 'so you can buy some cards to send next year'. 😧I've always hoped someone had made that up as it's so depressing!

Much much more expensive to make your own! What planet are you living on!!

I quite like homemade Christmas cards but one I received this year was a bit pathetic. Just a folded sheet of paper torn off from a pad of vaguely festive writing paper, with a teeny tiny cardboard Christmas decoration stuck on the front. Just for info, they are very wealthy. It won’t stand up on my mantelpiece, it just droops and slides off. 😂

I find crafting helps my MH too, there's just something so calming about it.

Rubbish about not being able to afford "real' Christmas cards. They're cheap as chips.

I make mine with linocut - it’s a nice project for me and I only send them to those who I feel will enjoy them. It’s a very limited run. I do it over quite a long period of picking it up then leaving it for a while when life gets busy. It starts with thinking of a design, rejecting ideas, landing on one that will work, making working drawings, trialling it in gouache, working out the different colour blocks then carving the plates, sometimes doing a recut, then printing up colour by colour - usually 3 block ( or using one block by the reduction method ) I find it meditative and relaxing, doing it to the accompaniment of a good audiobook.

The ink is expensive, the paper is expensive, my beautiful Swiss cutting tools were an (expensive ) present , my hand press was an investment. In terms of a hobby overall - not expensive.

I’m delighted when I get handmade cards, including when friends have turned a painting or a photograph into a run of cards or if they have done something like pierced cards, which was a new one on me. I’m looking at 5 beauties on my bookshelf atm

Duty cards that I send or give get a nice charity card.

Sounds like they were running out of materials 😄 You'd think they'd have been more organised right before Christmas if so, though!

Buying all the stuff to make cards probably costs more than shop ones.

I receive a couple of handmade cards annually from friends. They are beautiful and show that the person has taken a lot of time and trouble to produce something.

This one 🙂 It's definitely more expensive! I'm just not sure if people in general realise that. 😄

I love a home made card