Christmas cards: Now it's personal

A year ago I published a post, 6 Reasons to send a Christmas Card, about the benefits to you, the sender, and your friend, the recipient of investing a little time in this activity. As I dropped my remaining cards into the postbox last night, I wondered whether these envelopes of joy were yet seeing a resurgence in popularity or were truly dying off.

Well it seems that following the same trend as coffee, tonic water and beef burgers, the much heralded decline of the Christmas Card has been stemmed by going upmarket. The Telegraph just reported that whilst sales of individual Christmas cards are on par with last year in terms of volume, we are spending more per card - up to ￡18.95!

Getting Personal

Whilst this pricing is at the extreme end, what it does show is that in a digital age where so much communication is generic and impersonal, people value even more highly a handwritten note, something that has real meaning between sender and receiver.

I was glad to see my own approach of writing a few words that sum up a friendship with someone come back to me this year. A few weeks ago, after a particularly long and tiring day, I burst out laughing when I came home and opened a card that read:

1. Acqua di Parma
2. The Caribbean
3. Soho House
4. Big Time
5. Unprintable here!

Had this been written on my Facebook timeline, it would have been long forgotten by now. The fact I have the card here in front of me as I type this post means a lot more; the physical and tactile elements of communication, which once so commonplace and are in danger of becoming lost.

One group that is getting in on the Christmas card resurgence and being really personal with their cards, are the police in Northern Ireland. As part of Operation Nutmeg (BBC, 2016), they have sent cards to known shoplifters to remind them that they are being watched this Christmas! Now that's the spirit :)

Go on, just send three!

The good news is that if you haven't quite gotten around to sending cards yet, that tomorrow, 21st December, is the last day for first class. So go out today and buy three cards, three stamps and write three one-word memories to three friends... oh and do remember to actually send them! I promise it will bring a smile to your face and to those of the recipients. Go on, it's Christmas.