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According to the Greeting Card Association, Americans buy more than 6.5 billion greeting cards each year.
With holidays now contending with an increasingly virtual world and the lingering effects of the pandemic, those cards are even more important for showing families and friends love and attention on special days of the year.
For those in need of some ideas, here are the four best holidays for sending out greeting cards as well as some tips for personalizing them.
Crowned the king of holidays, Christmas is responsible for the sending of 1.6 billion greeting cards annually, so it’s easy for recipients to forget a stock Christmas card with an obligatory reindeer on the front. If you want your yuletide greeting to stand out, you’ll have to step up your game. In particular, holiday photo cards featuring a photo collage and year-end review of family milestones are much more personable and memorable. Be sure to open with a compelling sentence that makes your friends and family want to read on — and keep the humble bragging to a minimum.
Mother’s Day is the third most popular holiday (after Christmas and Valentine’s Day) for sending out greeting cards and outsells Father’s Day by more than 30 million cards. Honoring moms with pretty stationery is particularly popular in the Hispanic culture, as it sits atop the list of days with most cards exchanged. With mom being so popular, she really deserves a special card, so pass up the cheesy Hallmark greetings and instead opt for something more personalized and classier.
Sending a card in honor of the patron saint of Ireland may not be at the top of your March to-do list, but celebrating this holiday is actually widely popular amongst Americans of Irish heritage, which constitutes about 34.5 million people, according to the U.S. Census. The holiday of St. Patty’s Day has come to celebrate the Irish culture in general and is most popular in northeastern cities like New York City and Boston. Sending a quality St. Patrick’s Day card is all about the color green and symbolism, so cards with Celtic knots and Claddagh are surefire winners.
Birthday cards remain the top-selling everyday card (followed by weddings and anniversaries). Interestingly, in the U.S., Sept. 9 is the most popular day on which to be born. In fact, mid-September is the most birthday-packed time of the year, with Sept. 9 and Sept. 20 boasting nine out of the top 10 birthdays. Sending a quality birthday card is all about making that friend or family member feel special, so pick out one that appeals to their interests and likes. Of course, you’ll want to personalize it by recounting your favorite memories or traits of that person.
As society continues to face more and more challenges when it comes to face-to-face interactions, the simple and sincere act of sending a greeting card is one small act of showing others that we still care. Whether it’s a year-end Christmas letter, a special photo card for your mom, a friendly celebration of St. Patrick, or a personalized birthday card, greeting cards can go a long way in making it seem like we’re not all that far apart.
