Effortless Christmas Card Tips: 17 Practical Strategies for Stress-Free Sending!

Sending festive greetings is a lovely thing that we want to do each year, but can be overwhelming to say the least. These Christmas Card tips and ideas will help make it less stressful.

My parents used to get photo Christmas cards each year to give to friends and relatives. My dad was a printer by trade, and so he could create them pretty easily.

Problem was – this meant that the three of us kids would have our (usually dressed up in matching clothes and then printed in black and white or sepia) faces plastered over every mantelpiece we visited in December (not to mention around the blackboard in all our teachers classrooms as well!).

Embarrassed much?!

Although I cringe at the thought of this (especially as it lasted well into my teenage years) – I get that sending a personal message to their friends and family was an important part of the lead up to Christmas.

So – is it possible to get the balance right of sending cards to who we want, while not wasting time and money in the process?

I hope I can save you and your kids any future red-faces!!!

First things first – Should you even send Christmas Cards?

The Royal Mail stats are interesting on this – stating that “72% of people who celebrate Christmas would prefer to receive cards this Christmas. Only 6% would prefer a social media greetings, and 10% a text”

So – people obviously LIKE getting a holiday card, but I know that a lot of us are less inclined to send them out – for various reasons.

Where do you fall on this?

If you’ve never given it much thought, maybe these pros and cons will help!

The pros:

• Perfect way to say that you’re thinking of someone over the holiday season – especially if you aren’t seeing them or sending a present
• A lovely way to keep in touch, and a Christmas card message can be a lot more personal than a text or message on Facebook

The cons:

• Create lots of paper clutter
• Lots of waste after Christmas
• They can feel less than personal – especially if pre-printed inside
• They take a long time to write
• They cost quite a bit to post (the average household sends 50 cards a year)
• We probably send to more people than we really need to

And for the sake of the rest of this article, let’s assume you ARE sending some cards, in some form, to some people….

What is good Christmas card etiquette?

So, you’ve decided that sending Christmas cards is still something you want to do – the next step is to do it properly (if there’s such a thing!) – so let’s explore that next…

• When to send one – around the first week of December is pretty perfect as it properly feels like the start of the festive season. Not too early to feel over eager, but early enough to be enjoyed and not felt like a last minute thing. It also gets it out of the way at a reasonable time for you.
• What makes a good Christmas Card? – Personal to the recipient, and this will be a different level for lots of them (business, family friends, etc…).
• Personal cards – maybe include a family photo (a holiday photo theme for extra points!) or a letter, or a special custom Christmas card design. Maybe even a handmade card, but definitely something hand written with a nice message

What To Write In A Christmas Card

If you’re stuck for what to write (it can be tough!) – here are a few great options to choose from (and I’ve written a large post with more options HERE if you want to take a look at that as well): –

• Happy Holidays from our home to yours
• Christmas Love from Us to You! With many good wishes for Christmas and the coming year.
• May you have a wonderful Christmas, making precious memories that will last a lifetime.
• Wishing you a very merry Christmas filled with fun and laughter!
• Hope you have a magical Holiday Season.
• We hope you’re having a magical Christmastime! 
• When the magic of Christmas fills the air, we hope you find it everywhere.
• Have a brilliant and relaxing Christmas, followed by a New Year filled with wonderful adventures.

Tips To Help You Sort Out Your Christmas Cards More Easily

Christmas Card Money saving tips

Try and get all cards sent by 1^st December to avoid first class post charges.

When you’re sending 50-100 cards (the average of a lot of people) then the postage charges add up!

Add cards to any presents you’re sending

This will save postage completely.

Send an e-card

Or a digital Christmas card – to save on postage

Don’t send cards at all

Let people know you’re donating to charity instead this year. You can donate less than you spend on cards so you save a little cash as well.

Christmas card time saving tips

You can print out your address labels on stickers

To save lots of time addressing each envelope

Have printed address labels for your own address

So you can add this to the back of the envelope to ensure people have your current address – but more quickly than writing it out each time!

Buy pre-printed cards, with your greeting in them already

And only sign your names in them.

Write a few cards each day

Although this doesn’t save on the overall time you spend writing them all, it DOES feel less daunting to do a few when you can.

A great idea is to carry a few around with you for when you’re waiting around during the day (in the car at the school run, in a queue, waiting for an appointment etc…)

What to do with your Christmas cards After the holidays

Create tags for gifting next year

You can cut out the designs on the front of cards (I like to use a cutter like THIS) – and then hole punch and use twine or string to make gorgeous looking tags for a fraction of the price of buying them. Recycling at its best!

Save a few that are sentimental

Or take photos / scan them to keep a digital copy.

Check that everyones cards have the correct info.

In your own address book / Home File.

For instance, some people may have an addition to the family (baby, animal etc…), or a loss (it would be awful if someone else wrote a card next year and addressed it to the person who wasn’t there any longer….), or they may have changed address, divorced etc…

Check whether there’s anything you need to reply to

Maybe someone sent a letter and you want to reply, for example.

Check that all the cards you received also had a card sent to them.

Every so often one may have slipped through the net – and these need to be added to the Christmas Card list for next year (or at least acknowledged why they’re not)