Maybe not totally gone but seeing how few in our friend group send them currently, I think we will be getting 2 - 3 max someday in the future where we get ~15 now.
Ugh, I hope so. I’ve seen several friends just post a digital “photo card” on social media instead of mailing it out.
If you think about it, the carbon footprint of sending a physical piece of paper to dozens of your friends and relatives is pretty ridiculous when we have the ability to do this electronically.
Before social media was big, it was nice to see news and updates, and maybe an updated picture of people’s kids. But now I see that on Facebook all year round.
This year we’re only sending out maybe 10 physical cards, mostly to older relatives who don’t do social media.
This is our 4th Christmas in our current house. There were several owners who lived here before we bought, and 100% of the Christmas cards we get are for various owners prior to 2019. There is absolutely no need to send a card to someone that you clearly don't know well enough to have their current address.
One that we have gotten every year comes from England. I think the first year I tossed it, the second year I put return to sender. Last year I put return to sender and on the back wrote "addressee no longer lives at this address". I have no idea if Canada Post puts in the effort to actually send it back to England, but I have thought about the manpower and carbon footprint required for that single piece of paper every year.
I would keep their card then mail them a card from your address and become friends at this point!
I get way fewer that years ago. I haven't done a mass mailing in years. I will send 2 friends and my 88-year-old aunt cards I pick out individually for them and include a short note.
Even my younger friend's kids will no longer submit to the posed family photo on vacation except for my cousin's kids who scowl and look annoyed. I have one friend I see several times a year who hands me a card when we go out together on NYE which is sort of weird-- she makes a card with pictures of her dive trips, her kids and their families (in their 30s) and her cats. DH's old boss and another friend of mine send an actual newsletter with pictures from their travels and updates on their adult children.
The USPS is pretty corrupt, but please keep sending cards so they stay in business (but don’t tip them, they’re federal employees).
I send about 40 cards. I don’t know if people care, but it’s my way of sending a little holiday hug. I usually do a collage of pics with a note from the year.
My wedding month group from the knot still sends cards to each other. About a dozen of us participate.
We also stopped sending them a few years ago, because I was doing most of the work to organize the pictures, ordering etc and I just got burnt out by it. Even if we just buy regular cards it's still insanely expensive to mail them to all our family and friends internationally. I've noticed we get fewer too. I don't think people will stop sending them, but I have noticed a lull that may be revived when the kids are grown and we have more time and disposable income. Who knows?
We also stopped sending them a few years ago, because I was doing most of the work to organize the pictures, ordering etc and I just got burnt out by it. Even if we just buy regular cards it's still insanely expensive to mail them to all our family and friends internationally. I've noticed we get fewer too. I don't think people will stop sending them, but I have noticed a lull that may be revived when the kids are grown and we have more time and disposable income. Who knows?
I think the postage cost in Canada has killed the desire to send cards, too. It’s been a while since I sent a card domestic, but it was ~$1.25. The one envelope I mail to the US every year is over $2. If we had a card list, half of them would be international. It would probably be close to $100 in postage alone. No thanks!
We also stopped sending them a few years ago, because I was doing most of the work to organize the pictures, ordering etc and I just got burnt out by it. Even if we just buy regular cards it's still insanely expensive to mail them to all our family and friends internationally. I've noticed we get fewer too. I don't think people will stop sending them, but I have noticed a lull that may be revived when the kids are grown and we have more time and disposable income. Who knows?
I think the postage cost in Canada has killed the desire to send cards, too. It’s been a while since I sent a card domestic, but it was ~$1.25. The one envelope I mail to the US every year is over $2. If we had a card list, half of them would be international. It would probably be close to $100 in postage alone. No thanks!
Right? It's insane! 4 years ago we paid around $150 to send to everyone because we have lots of friends across Europe and throughout the Americas, plus H's family in the US. It's just not worth it to spread holiday cheer. I can only imagine prices have gone up since.
Add me to the list of loving them and displaying them as part of my holiday decorations (I hang them on a garland on our bannister). We get family photos taken every year (in part because we've had four kids over the past 11 years and always have tiny kids that are changing a ton year to year - maybe I will do less frequent photos as the kids get older and don't change as much year to year). I love designing a card and sending it to friends. DH and I have lived in multiple states on both coasts and have friends who now live overseas, and I love sending and receiving cards as a way of staying in touch. One family we see once every couple of years included a letter with their card this year - and while I used to think holiday letters were hokey, I really liked reading about what was going on with them.
ETA - this post prompted me to count - we’ve received 14 so far. I’ve sent nearly 100.
So far we've only gotten two cards I'm hoping for more as we get closer to Christmas! Both were handed to me in person, none in the mail yet. To be fair, I still have my holiday cards sitting here with addresses on but no stamps. I've handed several out in person though!
Does anyone pass them out at work? I always give them to some coworkers and so does H, not sure if others do that too.
Yes. I don’t send cards. I buy myself a photo magnet for the year and get a copy for our parents and siblings. Everyone else gets a picture of it posted on social media.
We have gotten significantly fewer cards this year! We haven't done cards in years - maybe that's why. But.... even just from last year to this year, a lot fewer.
But I also feel like people are so much busier this year, I could also see where doing cards feel to the bottom of priority lists this year.
We just started sending cards last year, after our son was born! I feel like I've only started receiving cards in the last 5 years or so, as my friends have had kids. My philosophy is to only send the type of cards I most like receiving - photo cards and/or cards with a personal note. I do photo cards and write a short message to each recipient. We only send about 50. I expect our generation will do them while kids are young and then they will fade out, which is fine with me.
We haven't received any yet, but I also haven't ordered ours yet. We do them as New Year's cards, which I prefer in general, but also gives me more time before they're late