Plan for Holiday Cards
During our recent vacation, I watched the movie About Alex. It ignited in me a fierce commitment to stay better connected to the people who have formed the patchwork of my existence.
When I was in my twenties (and a much cooler person than I am now), I used to send out monthly Friends & Family updates via e-mail. I would share the highs and lows of what was going on in my life. They were a great way to stay connected with folks from all over the world.
Over time, I fell out of the habit of sending them. I was writing a lot about my life via this blog, and I was also using Facebook to update people. However, social media isn’t the same. Sending out pithy updates (that may or may not show up in someone’s news feed) doesn’t really help me maintain a truly strong connection.
Although I’m not interested in returning to monthly updates, I do think a yearly update makes sense. Since it’s going to be a yearly thing, I think it makes sense to send it out as a holiday card. I searched Etsy and found a variety of options:
The idea is that we would use instagram photos on the front and my letter would be on the back (those would be for my friends–Matt could send his own version to his friends). I’m going to have them printed via Costco in order to reduce the costs. I was compelled by reading this review of their service.
I’m not sure which one I’m going to choose yet (we’ll definitely customize it to say Happy Holidays or Happy New Year rather than Merry Christmas out of respect for different people). As soon as our Halloween costumes are made, I’m going to start working on these cards. The last thing I want is more stress around the holidays!
2 Comments
Jennie
Genius! I'm definitely stealing this idea for Christmas cards for all of our relatives this year!
Kelsey
For the past couple of years I've been designing my own card and ordering through Overnight Prints, they are so cheap! You do have to make sure that your image is saved in the exact recommended specifications but so much more affordable that going with other card companies. It sounds like you might have a good solution but you might check Overnight Prints prices as well. I was also thinking of doing a collage like this for this year, so thank you for gathering inspiration!