With the Help From Shutterfly
There is an unspoken rule–or more accurately, an imaginary deadline for when you can still mail holiday cards to your family and friends and not look like a total bone head for having them arrive after December 25th. In my mind, that day is more like a window: no earlier than 2 days before Turkey Day and no later than 5 days after (or Dec 1st).
Whether it contains a “Christmas Letter” bragging about how wonderful your life is, a goofy picture of your dog, or you and your hubby in front of Big Ben in London–a holiday card is the best way to stay in touch. Maybe you do not want to write a heart-felt letter during the year and perhaps you are not interested in sending a birthday card because in the end, what would you really say…? “Hey! Happy Birthday! Hope your life is great…I am just guessing you’re still alive because you NEVER send me a birthday card…” Yeah, that probably would not go over so well.
When in doubt save up your money; stash away your forever stamps; and continuously update your address book starting January 1st. I like to collect the holiday cards that I receive and cut out the return address corner of the envelope and make sure their address matches up with what I have on file. Sometimes I get a holiday card from someone out of the blue, in which case they have earned their right to receive a holiday card from me the following year (unless I get their card early enough in December for me to pop an extra one of mine in the mail to return the holiday wishes).
Every year as people move to new homes or get married or add new additions to their families, I update last year’s list of Christmas card addresses and names. I re-save the file with this year’s date and by the time Turkey Day comes along, I’m ready to purchase my holiday cards. I am confident that I know exactly who I am sending my holiday cards to and what everyone’s correct address is.
My favorite holiday card to send every year is one that has an insert for a photograph of my choosing. The Christmas after my London Honeymoon, I used a photo of me and my husband in front of the Big Ben. What better way to show all of our friends and family how much fun we had on our international trip than with this picture?
The next year we did not do have any special travel plans so I decided to use a photograph of my dog, who is an adorable black Basenji. I tied a red ribbon and bells around her neck and positioned her on a chair in front of our Christmas tree. It took many clicks of the camera as well as treats to the pup to get the right picture, but the end result was fantastic.
This year, I plan on using a picture of me, my husband, my mother and his mother in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. We planned this trip for over a year and we have a great group photograph to show for it.
For the London & Basenji Christmas cards, I used the holiday cards with a precut insert, but this year I want to select one of the designs from Shutterfly where they actually print the picture directly onto the front of the card. I have seen this style used many times, but have never done it myself. Why not start now? Here is the photo I would like to use:
And here are some of the designs from Shutterfly that I am considering:
All of these designs and many MANY more can be found in the Cards & Stationary section of shutterfly.com. This site is super user friendly. After clicking “Shop all Christmas and Holiday cards>>” you can filter exactly what kind of cards you are looking for using these choices located on the left hand side:
- Number of Pictures
- Format (Flat vs. Folded)
- Paper Type (Premium Card Stock vs. Photo Paper)
- Card Size
- Price
- Color
- Designer
Even after filtering out exactly what kind of photo-card you are looking for, you will discover that there are still thousands of cards to choose from. If you are looking for a different type of holiday card, invitation or even ornaments, Shutterfly to the rescue:
I was surprised that shutterfly.com offered ornaments that you can personalize, which immediately gave me even more ideas for gifts for my family at Christmastime. I think that my Basenji would look great featured in an ornament on our tree this year, don’t you?
Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly http://bit.ly/sfly2010
