The first Christmas card was sent in 1846 by Sir Henry Cole, the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum. I wonder if he realised what kind of a monster he was creating. Over a billion Christmas cards are now sent in the UK every year- 17 for every man, woman and child in the country. Most of them end up in the bin.
If you’ve received a wheelbarrow full of cards this year, do something productive with them.
First, go through them with a pair of scissors and cut out any nice pictures, design elements, and shiny bits that can be re-assembled to make new cards for next year. Making your own cards will save money and save trees. They’re also more interesting to receive.
Second, bundle up all those cards and take them to the nearest WH Smith, Tesco, Marks and Spencer or TK Maxx. You should hopefully find a Woodland Trust card bin there. The Trust will take them off your hands, recycle them, and plant trees.
While we’re on the subject of cards…
… I got married this year, and I learned a thing or two about cards. I was amazed at how many cards are involved in a wedding. First you get the engagement cards. Then you send your wedding invitations, (which are technically cards but don’t count) and get back invite acceptance cards. At the wedding itself you get another round of congratulations cards. After the event you get further cards from people saying how much they enjoyed themselves. In turn, you send thank you cards for all the presents and cards. We actually had some cards back saying thank you for the thank you card!
Being of African origins, and male (85% of cards are sent by women), I had no idea this was going on. The UK is the world’s largest market for greetings cards – 2.87 billion of them are produced every year, so it’s a pretty serious cultural phenomenon. Apparently, as I am regularly informed by my wife, it’s really rude not to take part in this exchange.
I think I can live with that. Bearing in mind that most cards say little of any significance, and end up in the bin within days, I personally think that the greeting card culture is a bit odd. If I have something to say, surely it’s more meaningful to say it in person. To buy a card is just outsourcing our affection to Clinton’s Cards, a kind of commodified sentiment.
I’m not anti-cards, I’m just a little puzzled by them. But what do you think – are they an expensive waste? Or an important way of saying we care?
The Earthbound Report 
If I am not mistaken, you were married last year, not this year… Check with your wife, she would remember. I might, or course, be mistaken…
Cards. We have just celebrated 33 years of marriage, and in that time we have not sent any Christmas cards. We decided on that policy before we were married, and have kept to it. I have to admit to sending the occasional engagement or wedding card, or new baby card. I am female, you see.
It seems to me that cards have become an element in the social oil that keeps friendships alive in an increasingly socially fragmented society. Our lifestyles require us to be mobile, and we are frequently very distant from people who are important to us. A card is a way of acknowledging significant events in those people’s lives, and keeping the acquaintances alive. I see no harm in that. Indeed, I think it is is important for people to know that they are remembered and cared about by those who are far away. It helps to maintain that vital but only semi-conscious sense of being significant to others, and part of a wider community.
What I find very distasteful however is the commercialisation of sentiment, and the rampant profiteering of the ‘card’ industry. Sadly, some people will fall for the commodification of emotion and measure concern by appearance or otherwise of a card, and its size or cost.
There are other ways to register one’s care for those far away. It is much less costly and wasteful to send an email or a text message to people you want to remember, or to take the trouble to ring them and chat, and properly catch up with the news. A hand-written letter can be a rare jewel; someone has taken the time to sit down take pen to paper and put down their thoughts. When a card really is appropriate (- and I maintain that there are occasions when it is)then home-made cards always mean a great deal more than bought ones. I boast no great measure of artistic skill but even I can stick bits and pieces together and write a few words with a gold pen.
There are other alternatives too. Sending Christmas cards to people one sees regularly seems rather pointless. Our church provided two very large cards this Christmas, for every one to sign for everyone. That way all who wished to send a written greeting to their friends in the church could do so without the waste of individual cards.
No doubt there are many other good ideas out there. I look forward to hearing about them.
Erm, yes in fact it was last year. Always takes a while to remember its a new year.
There is a place for cards, and I probably send three or four a year myself. Like all these things they can become a matter of duty or social convention, in which case they’re a little meaningless. You’re right though, they probably are a symptom of a fragmented society, like facebook.
You forgot ‘Save the Date’ cards – what to send out after booking a wedding date but before the actual invitations!
I don’t see the point in a lot of Christmas cards, we’ve cut back dramatically by emailing a photo that we’d added a personal message too.
How ever the card I do take care over are sympathy cards, because they do mean a lot to people who have been bereaved, so long as they are personal.
I’m very similar: I send a few cards to say “thank you” or with a message to some-one I don’t see very often, but I don’t send christmas cards. And I’m very puzzled about what I should do with christmas cards I receive.
I’m with you on the environmental issues,I promise, and I will recycle my cards! But I must admit, there is a cultural pressure out there – or at least there is for me. If I got few or no Christmas cards, I’d feel like no-one loved me! Sad, but true I’m afraid… I would also worry my friends would think I didn’t care about them – obviously you wouldn’t (or didn’t!oops, sorry, but I guessed how you’d feel about cards)but many people would I think.