It's that time of year, lots of parties for DS (who has his own, and lots of his friends' birthdays this term) and as usual, I am already swamped with remembering cards/ invites/ thank yous gift wrap etc...
Then I got a copy of a Phonenix catalogue from a friend and thought perhaps I should just bite the bullet and order a mass quantity of things to see me through the whole year.
However there is just a little niggle that stops me, and I think it is that when we or DS has ever received a Phoenix card (and it happens quite often these days...) I secretly feel it's a bit of a cop out. Somehow they are never quite as nice as 'real' cards,not quite a 'personal', not chosen specially (e.g. Nemo for a disney fanatic, Bob for a budding builder etc) and I sort of feel it would perhaps have been better not to bother at all, rather than simply opt for the 'generic'. (Actually I feel a bit like this about cards in general!)
I always imagine a Mum pulling it out of a dusty pile in a drawer thinking "oh, this one will 'do'!"
Also, as I say, there are SO MANY phoenix traders around now, we always seem to get 2 or 3 of exactly the same ones for a birthday, or party etc.
Anyone else feel like this?