Holiday greeting cards are racing through the mail—a holiday greeting that reminds recipients that someone, somewhere, is thinking about them and wishing them well. Experts say they're a rarity in this age of emails and text messages, and there's something special about this expression of goodwill that can strengthen relationships and create feelings of warmth and appreciation.
“Receiving a card with real handwriting on it is more meaningful than other forms of communication,” says Sarah Tobabin, director of Hallmark's writing and editorial services studio. “A card is a tangible reminder that can be kept. It can be re-read. It can be displayed: we see it on bulletin boards, and people create it or keep it on the refrigerator.”
Tobabin, who, in case you were wondering, says working at Hallmark is like “living at Christmas 12 months out of the year”—loved sending holiday cards to friends and family long before she made a career out of it. She realized that there was an art to making them both thoughtful and memorable. With that in mind, we asked the experts how to create the perfect holiday card.
Decide what kind of card you want to send.
The first step to sending a good card is to decide what you hope to achieve: Do you want to spread overall holiday cheer? Express gratitude for the past year? Reconnect with old friends? Tell your extended family what's going on in your life? Chat with someone who's had a rough year?
“Your goal will determine the tone, length, and format you want,” says Nick Layton, co-host of the etiquette podcast. Were you raised by wolves? (He receives thousands of holiday cards each year, many from listeners, and responds to each one.) You can choose photo cards as more casual cards, he suggests, or a long family newsletter for all the aunts and uncles you haven't kept up with during the year. You can also use an old-fashioned handwritten card. “The sky's the limit,” he says. “I always send a classic folded card with a handwritten note inside – and it's just my own note, there's nothing pre-printed.” While no one format is necessarily better than the other, Layton stresses that whatever you choose should be sincere and thoughtful.
Personalize it
Even if you're sending cards in bulk, you'll want to personalize each one a little. You can keep it short by jotting down a quick sentence: “I’m writing this while the snow dances in the backyard,” suggests Layton, or “I can’t stop thinking about your barbecue last summer!” You can also add a short and sweet statement that shows you care about what's going on in their lives: “We hope your new job is going well!”
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If the right words elude you, use what has inspired you throughout the year. Gretchen Anthony, who loves holiday cards so much she wrote a novel Evergreen news from the Baumgartners about Christmas letters from a domineering matriarch, recommends getting into the habit of remembering your favorite quotes, the funny things your kids said, and the most touching song lyrics you've heard all year. Share one or two on a card and the recipient will smile just as much as you did when you first heard them.
Have some fun
When Ellie Trebino Kelm, senior art designer at Mixbook, which sells holiday cards and photo books, visited the company's print shop recently, she got to admire some of her clients' creations. Her favorite: “Someone sent out a holiday card from their parrot,” she says.
Others wrote their cards from their dog's perspective or included a favorite recipe. New parents preferred photos of their babies with a light-hearted note like, “Silent night~ish.” “Your holiday cards should never be buttoned and polished,” says Kelm. “It’s always nice to add a little personality.”
Layton agrees: last year he sent all his greeting cards from the United Nations, which has its own postal service. He also sent a packet of postcards in a large envelope to the North Pole; the postmaster will forward them with a North Pole postmark. “Then people get a letter from the North Pole,” he says.
Add a surprise
Place a small photograph, a child's drawing, or a dried flower in the postcard envelope. Tobabin often adds bright fall leaves from her Kansas City home or a fortune cookie note she saved because it resonated with her. Sometimes she throws in a couple of extra stamps, and it's “a good way to justify the idea of staying in touch.”
Adding something to your card is a “special surprise,” she says. “It’s unexpected, and it just adds to the tangibility.”
Include date
Jennifer Young realized the “timeless magic” of cards in 2021 when she visited her parents' house and found a box of letters she had saved from childhood. “Holding those letters and seeing the handwriting and little trinkets inside the envelopes, it was like the world had changed,” she says. “Time stopped and I became a child again.”
This inspired Young to create Expensivea program that helps instill a love of letter writing in young people. One of the most important elements of a good note that she always takes home to the children: you must include the date, including the year. “I don’t get too hung up on formatting, but I think it’s important to include the date,” she says. “If anyone comes back to it later in the future, it would be nice to have a link to when it was sent.”
Decorate (or scent) the envelope
Your work isn't necessarily complete once you finish your card. The envelope is also worth considering, although people often overlook the possibilities it provides. Tobabin likes to add decorations, such as stickers, or a slight scent of pine or cinnamon. You can even use it as a “bonus space” to add an extra sweet note for the recipient. “This will make your card memorable before it's even opened,” she says.
Insert it correctly
Resist the urge to just shove the card into the envelope without thinking. There is a right way to do this, although Layton often sees people get it wrong. The fold should always be facing down, he says, and if you look at the back of the envelope, the front of the card should be facing you.
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“If you were holding the envelope in your left hand and pulled the card out of the envelope with your right hand, the orientation would be correct to read it as soon as you pulled it out,” he says. This helps ensure that checks or other surprises hidden inside the card don't slip out, and that people using letter openers (like Layton) don't have any problems with it. “This is the right way to do it,” he says.
Double check the names
Perhaps the biggest holiday card mistake is getting the recipients' names wrong. This includes the assumption that the newlyweds share the same last name. If you don't know how to address someone, ask, Layton advises: “People should be addressed the way they want to be addressed,” he says. “If you don't know, it's okay to reach out and ask, 'Hey, how do you prefer to be addressed in text messages?'”
And he implores you to remember one of his pet peeves: When you write to families, there is no need to use apostrophes to form names in the plural. “This is The Leightons,” he says. “Not at the Laytons.”
Don't worry if you don't receive it on time.
Layton likes to start working on his holiday cards right after Thanksgiving, writing five at a time and getting them all out by the first week of December. If you're feeling like there's too much work to do during an already chaotic season, there's nothing wrong with sending a New Year's card (or a Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day card). “I have a friend who sends out Groundhog Day cards, and it’s an annual tradition,” he says. What really matters is the thought, not the arrival date.
No matter what, don't let sending cards stress you out. “It should be amazing,” Layton says. – “So let's remember why we are doing this.”
