Best Etiquette Tips When Sending Your Christmas Cards

It’s a well-known fact that the Christmas season happens to be the busiest time for the U.S postal service. The same case applies to nearly all the post offices around the world. But then where did this Christmas tradition of sending Christmas cards begin? For decades now, people have been sending and receiving letters and Christmas cards when celebrating Christmas. Well, interesting enough, sending Christmas cards started in England in the 19th century and soon spread to the whole world.

How did it exactly begin? Well, back in the 19th century, the British students had a habit of sending to their parents their progress reports. These reports used to be sent a few days before Christmas. The young students would brag about their excellent grades, and to show their prowess in penmanship, they would take their time to write poetic messages to their parents and family members. There is even a composition related to this: “The Complete Christmas Book” (F. Watts, Inc., 1958). The poetic letters were used as an enticement so that their parents and family members would gift them presents and money during the Christmas season and New year. However, it was until letter that Christmas cards become popular when people started referring to them as Christmas cards and them being printed as cards.

The letters from the British students were both like the Christmas newsletter and seasonal greetings cards. They had the aspect of bragging about how good a person has been throughout the year and, therefore, deserved a token of appreciation in the form of presents and money. Well, now we have plenty of beautiful and unique collection of medical Christmas cards to pick from when you are looking for an excellent Christmas card for a loved one.

But then as we continue to uphold this beautiful tradition of sending our loved ones Christmas cards, it’s important to make sure that we do it in the most respectful way. Just like any form of communication: written or spoken, sending a Christmas card has some etiquette that most of us tend to overlook when sending or receiving these beautiful seasonal cards.

Christmas is less than fifteen weeks away, so you have limited time to start preparing your medical Christmas cards. Just like any other holiday season we celebrate each year, Christmas has its traditions and excitements. Apart from the many bills from buying gifts, the part of receiving Christmas cards from family, friends, and even business associates makes Christmas livelier.

Etiquette Tips:

However, as we all prepare our mailing list for this year’s Christmas cards, it’s important to take into consideration the following etiquette tips when sending your medical Christmas cards. These tips will guarantee you a Christmas card that will offer a well-articulated cheer to the recipient.

1. Family Cards

When sending cards, it’s always good to make family the priority in your mailing list. The Christmas cards that are being sent to your family members should be unique. After creating your list it’s good to decide early enough which cards you will be sending to your family members. Some people make the mistake of posting to their family members generic Christmas cards. These generic cards: Seasonal or Happy holidays cards, might serve the purpose but then it will not have a personal touch between you and your family members. When it comes to family members start early enough, come up with customized medical Christmas cards. Most families when celebrating Christmas tend to hang the cards on the mantles, therefore, make the display worth it by getting something unique. Another thing to take into consideration when sending cards to relatives is whether they celebrate Christmas. In your mailing list only includes those relatives who celebrate Christmas in their homes, there is no need to send cards to relatives who don’t celebrate Christmas. Also, if a family member is in the military, you will have to send your Christmas cards like 4 to 6 weeks before Christmas so that they can receive it on time. There are patriotic cards that you can take into consideration; this will make your cards have a more personal touch to your family member in the military.

2. Mailing Time

Have you ever heard of the “Christmas Cards Rush”? This is the time when everyone is so overloaded getting and receiving Christmas cards and gifts that people are too busy to remember to check the mailbox for Christmas cards. Your Christmas card can stay in the mailbox till past Christmas. So how do you avoid your Christmas card being forgotten? When it comes to mailing your Christmas cards, make sure the mailing is done early enough. This means that you should start ordering your Christmas cards 1to 3 weeks before Thanksgiving. This will save you from potential delays and any high cost of last-minute shipping. Also, if you wait till after Thanksgiving, you might find the affordable Christmas cards are now more expensive due to the holiday season fees. However, the cards should not be received a week before people celebrate Thanksgiving since your card will be forgotten when people celebrate Thanksgiving. For instance, this year’s Thanksgiving will be on 22nd of November, the best time for you to start mailing your Christmas cards would be immediately after Thanksgiving. This means your recipients will begin receiving cards in the first week of December. Don’t let your medical Christmas cards be caught in the madness of holiday work experienced by most postal offices. The other beautiful aspect of sending your cards early is that you give your recipients ample time also to send you Christmas cards, imagine receiving a card on the 20th of December, that’s too late to reply to the sender of the card.

3. Personal Handwriting

Is it really important? Yes. In your mailing list, you will have to prioritize which people will receive handwritten cards. Of course, you will have a long mailing list. And so many people in your mailing list might have to accept pre-printed Christmas cards. When it comes to close family members and important business associates, it’s good to have a customized personal message that is handwritten. It will be rude to send your spouse a preprinted Christmas card. The same case applies to a business associated you have known for more than ten years. Including a handwritten message and your signature, adds a personal touch to your Christmas cards. If you have time you can make it more fun by adding some fancy calligraphy in letters: this is extremely creative especially when dealing with kids. There is nothing beautiful like surprising your daughter or son with customized Christmas card that looks like a piece of art: you can even include their favorite animal, action figure, etc.

4. A Return Address

It’s good to consider the Christmas cards like any other formal mail you will be sending, and, therefore, it’s important to include a return address. What are the benefits of having a return address on your medical Christmas cards?

• Acts as a form of identification and tells the recipient who sent them the Christmas cards.

• A reliable way of making sure that the recipient has your updated mailing address.

• The sender will use the same address when sending you a Christmas card also.

The return address should not be plain, make it more creative and fun. For instance, you can wrap around your return address. This will make your Christmas cards have a certain level of uniqueness compared to the other Christmas cards your recipients will be receiving.

5. What About Christmas E-Cards

We can’t deny the fact that technology has made a lot of things easier and more straightforward. But when it comes to sending Christmas cards, you might be in a dilemma on whether to send someone an e-card or send them the traditional paper medical Christmas cards. Sending e-cards isn’t very popular, and that’s why it’s important to understand your recipient. If a person sends you an e-card as a Christmas card, then it will be okay for you also to send them an e-card. But if they take their time to send you an actual Christmas card, then the best thing to do will be for you to get an actual Christmas card and mail it to them. Christmas cards are very affordable and sending them is also affordable. Therefore, it won’t be a big hustle for one to buy and mail cards to their loved ones. Also, Christmas cards vendors like Ziti, provide their customers with discounts depending on the number of cards you purchase from them. In addition to that, they have predesigned Christmas cards, or you can have them make for you customized Christmas cards. Don’t dim the Christmas light by sending your loved ones Christmas e-cards. Remember one cannot hang a Christmas e-card on the mantle or Christmas tree.

6. Sending Christmas Cards to People in Your Area of Profession

Well, festive seasons are the best time to connect with your clients, business associates and people in your profession. Sending them medical Christmas cards is the best way to cement your professional relationship and also invite them for an end of year company celebrations. However, many people face the dilemma on how to go about coming up with the most appropriate Christmas cards without breaking the formalities that define the relationship they share with the recipient. The following pointers will guide on how to go about sending Christmas cards to your business associates:

• First, never send them Christmas cards to their residential address (unless they are the type that works from home). Keep the Christmas cards professional by sending the cards to their office address.

• Have you met their family? If yes, then you can include a small message for their family. If Not, it’s best to leave a message that is more general, use words like “loved ones” and avoid being specific about their family status or members.

• Avoid fanciful decorations, keep it simple and sleek.

• Use the cards as a formal invitation to any official event you plan to have during Christmas.

• Keep your message very short and clear. There is no need to be wordy in your Christmas card. You will make it irrelevant to the recipient.

• Be professional when refereeing to your recipient, this means using the correct title and using their surnames. Avoid using their first names. Using the proper titles shows respect.

• Don’t include any family photos, even if they were in the family photos. Let the family photos be included in the medical Christmas cards that you will be sending to your family and friends.

• Make sure you include your names and titles, also the Christmas cards should be signed so that your recipient can know who sent them the Christmas cards.

• Always include a return address.

• The Christmas cards to business associates can be sent through the whole festive season that’s why it’s good to include also a New Year’s message since you will not have the chance to draft other seasonal cards for New Year’s celebrations.

The above tricks should help you draft a simple but classic message on your Christmas cards for your business associates.

What about Colleagues at Work?

When it comes to sending Christmas cards to colleagues at work, you will have to go about a little different from sending cards to business associates. With colleagues at work, you will have to send the medical Christmas cards to their home address. You are not obliged to send every co-worker a Christmas card, that’s why sending a Christmas card to one’s home address, will be more appropriate. It will save you the agony of having to explain why you are not sending Christmas cards to the other coworkers in the office. Avoid handing out Christmas cards in the office. Well for employers, it will be easier to send one big Christmas card for the whole staff, or if you have a small staff, you can issue each staff member a Christmas card.

As you anticipate the coming Christmas, don’t forget these crucial Christmas sending cards etiquette. Send all your medical Christmas cards with confidence and share the spirit of love and celebrations with your family, friends, clients, colleagues and business associates.