history of christmas/holiday cards?

[RedHot]

I was recently thinking why are christmas/holiday cards sent?

I did a brief google and had a return that an early one was sent around 1850. But I'm thinking they had to start before telephones when sending a letter/card was the only form of communication to someone outside of your own town.

Then when telephones/telegraphs came about they were both expensive including for long distance calls with international calls being incredibly expensive. Even fast forwarding to the 1970s and 1980s when long distance calls were still expensive and many people use the service Sunday nights when rates were a bit lower.

Now come ahead to 2007 where so many of the world's people have email and moble phones. In the U.S. at least, most land-line phone providers give unlimited long distance calling with their basic rates and moble phone providers include free long distance as well. So why are we still sending christmas/holiday cards when we often email with relatives and friends throughout the year and a long distance phone call, and many international calls, are either free or just a few cents per minute instead of a couple dollars per minute?

Granted some parents put their kids on their card and that's nice and all, but I'm sure they also email pictures or have a web photo sharing site for people to view throughout the year. Yes not all people use computers and some older grandparent-type folks may not use a computer.

And businesses are trying to be "hip" and also or instead sending a Thanksgiving card to thank people for their business. That's fine until a lot of companies start sending Thanksgiving cards.

I'm sure the holiday/christmas card industry sells billion of $ in cards, but we are sending the majority of them to relatives we either see, email, or phone call frequently throughout the year. I think I'm going to create a JPG "card" to email to computer-user relatives and send a paper one to those that don't do email as a more environmentally and cost-effective manner of addressing the issue.

Any other opinions on the matter? :cool:

[justincase724]

From an environmental and cost-effective standpoint, it would be better to send off "jpg cards" to those family and friends who frequent the internet. However, from a tradition standpoint, I don't think there's any replacement for a card that's received in the mail. Additionally, everyone (almost) likes to have something that they can hold in their hand, place on the mantle, or whatever, even if it is thrown away a week after Christmas. And these days when probably 95% of the mail received is either bills or junk mail, it's kind of nice to get something different and special in the mail.

That's just from the outside looking in. As for myself, I would probably just send off an e-card or something like your jpg card idea. My wife is way into cards and she usually buys this box set of handmade cards that they sell at Costco. This year I gave her the idea of making our own Christmas cards out of some of my pictures (not portraits) and sending those out, but she somehow already had those cards from Costco, so no sense in letting those sit for another year. Maybe next year.

[rklepper]

I have to have something to hang in my house to remind myself that it is the season and that I am loved.

[Moppie]

Christmas cards are one of the most consumerist, un-planet friendly "traditions" of this wonderful time of year.

Only about half the christmas cards made are ever actually sold. Most of what doesn't sell then ends up as land fill as most cards now days are packaged with a lot of plastic, which makes it impossible to recycle them.

They serve no practical purpose, other than to make people feel good, which can be best accomplished other ways.

The same is true for any greeting cards, they are coke and pepsi of the pen and paper generation. Consumeristic fluff.



However, if you do love them, for what ever reason, then please only buy the cards that are sold with out any plastic on them.
This should help decrease sales of cards with plastic content, which should decrease their production, which will mean more paper and card based cards which are easier to recycle.

[RedHot]

Most of my family members seem to keep all the christmas cards they get in a pile and not display them at all - even before christmas.

Yes there are traditions, but sometimes you have to step back and think about what you're doing indpendently of what has been done in the past.