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Ethical living

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so lots of people don't send xmas cards .....

16 replies

nappyaddict · 19/10/2007 00:14

does that mean you don't send birthday cards either?

OP posts:
mamazon · 19/10/2007 00:16

i try not to. unless i am going to be unable to speak to the person or i think they would be offended if they didn't recieve one.

nappyaddict · 19/10/2007 00:21

see i generally ring or email people to say happy birthday. i just don't think a card is necessary aswell.

OP posts:
Minum · 19/10/2007 17:19

I send some birthday cards, thankyou cards, good luck cards etc etc but usually something reused from what I have already - I have a pile of pretty postcards etc I've gathered up, and never seem to get to the bottom of it

DS helpfully forgot to write in the card he gave me this year, so made a perfect one for SIL !

LadySnotAlot · 19/10/2007 17:34

Oh wow!! For years everyone has thought I was an old miser. I just can't bear the thought of wasting all those trees! I only send cards if I absolutely have to. Yippeeeeee are there more like me out there?

portonovo · 20/10/2007 14:34

We are as green as we possibly can, but we do send cards for various occasions and that's one thing I don't think we would stop. I just think it can mean so much both to give and receive a card.

I don't think it's particularly 'un-green' either. We make most of our own cards - we've got huge boxes of craft materials, some bought and some recycled or scavenged. My own 3 kids put such a lot of effort into making their cards, one does a lot of cross-stitch, another is into more scrapbooking techniques.

Any cards we do get are re-used. Some for the traditional gift-tags, others we keep and use to make more cards or calendars or similar.

It just sounds a bit sad to me, the thought of never sending cards. I know you can ring etc, but it's just not the same. A lot of my relatives live hundreds of miles away, some of them on their own, and I know that they love to display their cards and have a tangible reminder of someone's birthday wishes. A phone-call is in addition to that, not instead of.

An email just isn't the same to me I'm afraid. Although I must admit, I don't like cards where someone has just quickly scrawled the quickest message possible. I make sure when I write mine they get a bit more 'message' or preferably a separate letter in there.

That's another thing isn't it? Do you all just send emails and never letters? I do use email, it is a quick and easy way of keeping in touch, but again it's still not the same as writing or getting a 'real' letter.

I don't think being ethical or green is always that black and white, I suppose that's where we're all trying to find our own ways of doing things and balancing different issues.

nappyaddict · 20/10/2007 17:33

never send letters. i always email or ring to say thank you for presents and to catch up. usually email photos of us to people s othey can catch up on what we've been up to but i do send paper copies to the more elderley generation.

OP posts:
HUNXXXX · 20/10/2007 17:55

i send birthday cards

NO xmas

nappiesLaGore · 20/10/2007 18:05

i always feel guilty about not sending xmas cards. but i still dont (head in sand about responsibilities rather than ethical decision)

birthdays i give cards. i love cards.

re the ethical thing; i was under the impression that managed forests (which give us trees for paper /tissue/ furniture /etc industries are actually essential habitats for whole ecosystems and great swathes of wildlife. if the market for these things dried up, they wouldnt plant and maintain these forests. would the land then be left wild? or would they then find a less nice way of making money out of it?

nappyaddict · 20/10/2007 18:15

cod and nappies

do you send no cards whatsoever? not even to say mum and dad, dh and dc?

i always feel too mean to not even send to those people.

OP posts:
Ceolas · 20/10/2007 18:27

I am going to ditch it this year. Only sending a cheesy photo of the kids to far flung aunties.

Using the fact that we've just had our 4th as an excuse but wn't do it next year...

Minum · 21/10/2007 07:22

Last Christmas I made a slide show of highlights of the years photos with music, and some bits from the news to put it in context, and emailed the link to everyone we know as a Xmas greeting. I know some people hate the round robin idea, and they could just delete the email, but most loved it, and I was really proud of how well it came out.

I do send paper cards to relatives not on PCs, but that is shorter list each year, as we lose the older generation, and the luddites come online.

lljkk · 21/10/2007 10:36

Send B-day cards to older family who would feel bothered if not got one, don't send otherwise in general.

nappiesLaGore · 21/10/2007 10:59

na - those are the people least likely to get cards.
ime, if you give someone a present and a card, they open the card to be polite and barely glance at it. and b/c youve had so much else to do at the time of writing, all it says is 'happy crimbo, love xxx' so hardly worth pondering over, is it? so its a waste. unless the card is witty or lovely or got a nice message in...

no, the guilt i feel is at not getting it together to sed to all the (mostly older) rellies who dont neccessarily know i have thought of them at all at christmastime and who i donr really keep up contcat with throughout the year either.

nappiesLaGore · 21/10/2007 11:00

what i mean is, they get pressies, which kind of says 'happy crimbo' on its own... so they dont need a card too.

FluffyMummy123 · 21/10/2007 13:08

Message withdrawn

Lulushmulu · 29/10/2007 11:14

I send Christmas cards but I buy charity ones and do a fair amount of recycling. I write a letter in each card to make it worthwhile. I hate round robin letters. It means I have to start in November though ...
I save all the cards we get from other people and cut the pictures up to use them as gift tags the following year. The backs go in the recycling bin. I'm also intending to get my 3 yo to make her own Christmas cards for her preschool friends by sticking last year's scraps on blank cards. Making 16 cards will keep her well busy ...
Basically I think sending cards is OK as long as you buy charity cards, and reuse as much as possible. It's creative as well as saving money and helping the environment.

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