I just had to start a new thread about greeting cards. I think you’re in one of three camps:
Hallmark, every time.
Value cards, it’s still a card but doesn’t break the bank!
Post it note/sheet of paper with words and a little illustration with do!
I definitely fall in #3. I personally have no appreciation for the actual card itself. I look at a $4-5 card and think - "wow, I could buy a chai latte/light lunch/wash my car twice! with that money! What I DO appreciate is the words inside. If you give me a card with just your signature, I am TOTALLY disappointed. Write some words on a post-it note and I’m thrilled! It’s the words that matter.
I occasionally act as a #2 - for the right occasion I will splurge on a .99 Trader Joe card (IMO, the best card value around! Adorable they are!).
It’s a very rare card that I save. Most cards will be kept for a very short period of time on the refrig or a table and then they get trashed. Just being honest!
I know others feel much differently. SOMEONE is keeping Hallmark in business!
Whether you’re on the giving or receiving end, what are your thoughts on greeting cards???
I usually send cards made by an artist or photographer friend. I am much happier giving them money than Hallmark and the cards are beautiful and unique. It is especially nice if the recipient knows them, too. The cards are blank, so I do have to write something.
I’m somewhere between #1 and #2. I hate spending more than $3.50 on a card, and prefer to spend less. Sometimes I get cards at the dollar store, but more often, I get them at the supermarket or CVS, but only when they have coupons (buy2, get1free; 20 or 25% off at CVS).
The extended family decided a couple of years ago to no longer give birthday gifts to the nieces and nephews, so our gift to them now is only the card, so spending $3 on a card isn’t such a big deal.
DS is my role model here. He has never bought a card. He will call or text or send something thoughtful (best gift buyer in the family by a mile), but will not spend 1 cent on a commercial card, or try to re-create one.
I’m with him in spirit but too cowered by convention to follow him in practice.
I like sending cards. I buy made in the USA greeting cards specific to the occasion and blank cards. Which I send depends on my mood and how much I intend to write. I never just sign them, so space can be an issue.
Hallmark is barely staying in business. Hallmark, by the way, is a family friendly, diverse, community supporting privately held company peopled by employees who are trying to make a living.
I grew up with a mother who thought greeting cards, especially Christmas cards, were a ridiculous waste of money and effort. I will occasionally make a card, if I’m inspired. If someone sends me a card I will sometimes cut it up and make a different card with it. I used to like those cards that play popular music but I would usually change the front of it to say something else. But I don’t give or make cards very often.
I once asked a Hallmark employee if Hallmark would have a problem with my changing their cards and he said, “Hallmark doesn’t care what you do with their cards as long as you buy them.”
Maybe it also depends on who you are giving it to. My mom always saved her cards and appreciated how pretty they were. They were part of her present. For her it was Hallmark. Same with my dad. Everyone else I cheap out on…
My mother is the worst gift wrapper of all time. If it wasn’t in a square box, forget about it. Gift bags were her savior. Many gift bags come with little to/from cards attached. My mother now recycles the bags, and just crosses out the name and adds the new one.
It’s sort of a History of Christmas every year.
I’m not in the ‘pay more for the card than the gift’ camp. I never really appreciated the musical or pop-up cards.
I buy a boatload of Current cards for all occasions so there is almost always a card in the house for kids going to a friend’s party or lately quite a few sympathy cards have been needed sadly.
I still have Printshop on one of my work computers - I just really liked the format for signs, labels, etc.
I was into sending ecards for awhile. I did a yearly subscription at one time to the Jacqie Lawson (??) cards and did the free Hallmark ecards. That drifted off my radar too!
I love cards. I always buy Papyrus cards, which are my favorite. They are beautiful and I love to send them to friends and family. Life is short, enjoy lovely things.
^^ Right. But a greeting card would never be received by me and get the thought “this is so lovely!” - the words yes, the card no. Give me a stem of gerber daisy, that’s lovely!!
Some of the most careful people I know will never open an e-card because it might actually be malware. After all, it’s an e-mail attachment of uncertain origin. So I don’t send them anymore.
@alwaysamom I shop at Papyrus. I will buy the cards on sale. For example, I purchased my holiday cards after Christmas for next year. I end up getting things 50 to 75% off. I love their boxed notecards and buy them on sale. I know my family appreciates the cards that I send them and my mom saves them. I appreciate a beautiful card.
I love a good Valentine or Mother’s Day card, but can’t get all that excited about birthday cards. At Christmas, I love to get photo cards and save most of those.
I read an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek last fall that recapped what @Wellspring said. Hallmark’s card business is dying. They are putting most of their new investment into the Hallmark television channels. I buy their 99 cent cards for about half of my card purchases.
We used to have several different Hallmark stores within a pretty close drive. We now have one left. I think one reason for them closing…the other “stuff” they carried was excessively overpriced…unless it was on clearance. All those little gifts things. Some were nice… it geez.
And I don’t need to go,to a Hallmark Store to by Vera Bradley things!
The latest thing that caught my eye are the new paperpop cards that were promoted on Shark Tank. These 3D cards are truly unique. https://www.paperpopcards.com/
I do buy cards at Papyrus, but also like to shop when they have them on sale. Trader Joe’s is my go to for cards. TI still send cards to my mom and her sisters because they all love to get them. I have one Aunt who is battling cancer at 79 and it is not looking good for her, but I try to send a cheerful card at least every other week since she is across the country from me.
