Is this is end of traditional Christmas cards?
While 58% of GH readers love sending traditional greetings cards, more eco-friendly digital messages are quickly taking their place. Two writers debate which is best.
"Paper Christmas cards are a waste of effort, I prefer digital cards" says writer Polly Jean Harrison.
Up until a few years ago I diligently sent out paper cards each year, and the first time my now husband and I decided sent joint cards remains a milestone in our relationship. But each year, I noticed fewer and fewer cards coming through our letterbox. Of course, you don’t give just to receive, but after spending a small fortune on stamps and cards and burning through fancy pens at an alarming rate, it would have been nice to feel our efforts were rewarded. In 2021, we didn’t get a single card and I was really upset to think that not one person could be bothered to send one back.
So, the following year, I decided to try digital cards instead using the online design website Canva. I mocked up a quick (and free!) design, including a picture of my pug, Percy, in his latest Christmas outfit, and sent it out over WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
It was so much better being able to design something personal than having to choose from stock Christmas scenes. But the best part was that I got even more replies to my digital cards than I ever did to all the paper ones I so painstakingly posted out. It’s really only my parents and grandparents who still send paper cards. Being millennials, my friends have busy lives starting families and becoming parents, so they have enough to think about without worrying about postage dates. But e-cards are much easier, so now I send them every year and get replies from everyone – even my busiest friends.
Sometimes it’s just a short note of festive wishes back to me; other times the e-cards spark a full catch-up with a friend I might not otherwise have spoken to. It’s amazing how going digital has conjured such a sense of connection and community.
And surely both digital cards and paper ones let the person know you’re thinking of them anyway? More than 1bn paper cards are thrown away every year in the UK and not all of these are recycled, making digital much better for the planet, too. It wouldn’t surprise me if in 10 years’ time, Christmas cards didn’t exist at all and it was just digital or maybe even holograms!
While I enjoyed the card-writing sessions with my husband, we’ve simply moved on to a new way of spreading festive cheer in a more personalised, modern way that works for us. Besides, the best traditions are always the ones that adapt with you. So, this Christmas, I’ll be keeping an eager eye on my inbox, rather than my letterbox, and I hope you do, too.
"E-cards have no soul, 'real' cards are the only way to show you care," says author and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin.
Christmas is one of the only times of year when I truly look forward to the post arriving. The array of brightly coloured envelopes landing on my doormat is a welcome sign that the festive season is here. But while I used to receive so many, now I’m lucky if I fill one mantelpiece. Part of this decline is to be expected: the absence of an envelope addressed in black spidery handwriting is a reminder of the loss of my much-loved godmother, for instance. But there’s another reason, too – and that’s the stream of digital festive messages (whether an email, picture or e-card) that clog up my inbox and make me feel weary and sad every time I click on them. They just have no soul.
Surely the point of a Christmas card is to demonstrate the fact you’ve put time and effort into writing it? Selecting a moving GIF of a dancing Santa and pressing send on WhatsApp just doesn’t cut it. For me, the business of choosing a card, hunting for the correct address, hand-writing a personal message and sticking on a stamp (preferably a festive one) is what really matters.
Cards are a staple tradition of the festive period. I wrote a whole episode of the TV series Victoria (starring Jenna Coleman) about Prince Albert becoming an early adopter of the Christmas card. The new ‘Penny Post’ meant that cards could be sent anywhere in the country for the same price and, in a rapidly industrialising society where families were often separated for work, Christmas cards took off. The tradition of personalised cards with family photos started much later, in America, but soon found its way here. I know one family who hires a photographer every September to shoot the clan (including pets!) in matching pyjamas.
For me, Christmas cards are a way of engaging in mindfulness when you write and receive them. They’re a reminder that social connections are like muscles – use them or lose them. I’ve even gone as far as making my own cards. When the children were small, I hand-printed each card using a potato and thought the results were charmingly individual – until everyone presumed they were the work of my toddler. Now, I buy all my cards from a charity I’m patron of, The London Library, which not only helps raise money but also gives me a sense of virtue amid the overconsumption of Christmas. According to the Greeting Card Association, more than £50m is raised for good causes through the sale of cards and for maximum benefit, I always buy them directly from the charity itself.
So, this year, be grateful for the cards you do get. It doesn’t matter who it’s from, the sending and receiving of cards is proof that society is more than a collection of group chats. As I’ve got older, I’ve begun to think of human connection as a spider’s web – even the distant strands help hold the structure together. It’s such a small thing, but think of it as a protest against the digital soup in which we’re in danger of drowning.
Pick up a pen and write a card–it doesn’t matter how illegible your handwriting is; take pride in the fact that you’re showing how much you care.
Diva by Daisy Goodwin is out now.
You Might Also Like
