How To Simplify Greeting Cards

Posted on November 4, 2009 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Holidays,Simplification

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Photo by Gare and Kitty

While I am not a great believer in “Hallmark holidays”, I do enjoy sending and receiving cards for birthdays and anniversaries.

This can complicate my life. I must go to the card store, find a card, and mail it, all within a time frame to reach the recipient by the event.

Let’s look at the cost next: let’s say I have 12 family members and we’re doing birthday cards only. That’s 12 * $3.00 for the cards. That’s $36.00 a year, and that is before gas and time are added in. If you figure it takes an hour a month to get to the card store and pick out a card, that adds up to 12 hours out of my life.

It’s time to simplify. There are three ways that I simplify card sending:

Stock Cards

I save the cards with blank insides sent to me by various charities. These can be customized to fit the recipient and occasion. Some of these cards have a theme already; I keep the birthday cards at work so that we can quickly pass around a card for a co-worker. The scenic cards work well for condolences or get well.

If you are stuck for what to write inside, a quick Google search for appropriate messages usually turns something nice up.

American Greetings

(Please note I am not paid for this endorsement…)

Many card manufacturers have online sites that allow you to create and print your own greeting cards. There are also many software packages that do this as well. With high-quality paper (available from an office supply store or Amazon), you can create very nice customized cards.

I like American Greetings online because they have a large number of cards available, along with other types of projects. They add new cards regularly, and you can get licensed characters like Spongebob and Dora for children’s cards. You can customize their cards by modifying the text and adding photos. A bonus with American Greetings is I can share my subscription with two other people.

Printing is easy, with a wizard that walks you through setting up your printer so that you know exactly how to put the paper in to get the card out. It can do 8.5 x 5.5 cards as well as quarter-sheet cards.

If you truly don’t want to print, you can have American Greetings print and mail the card for you for a small fee.

Make Your Own

I am fairly crafty, but I do not do fancy greeting cards. I do make invitations myself, though. With some card stock and a couple of rubber stamps from my local craft store, coupled with some crayons or colored pencils, I can make simple cards quickly and easily.

All three of these methods will save you time and money, and simplify sending out greeting cards.

Photo by Gare and Kitty