Holiday E-Cards vs. Paper Cards

[Venus193]

Paper holiday card volume is declining:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/09/business/la-fi-holiday-cards-20101209

I freely admit that writing out cards is my least favorite Christmas task, but there are people on my list I can't send e-cards to.  How do you all feel about it?  Do you see e-cards as being easier, less polite, or less in any other way?

[Lynnv]

I will probably, sometime in the next year or so, start asking people on the list to drop me their email addresses if they would prefer an electronic card to a paper one.  Then keep a "paper card" list and an e-card list.  People who accepted an e-card would be more likely to get a personal note of some sort attached to the card and the e-letter. 

The e-card is easier for me.
It is cheaper for me.
I can spend time and effort designing it rather than making up address labels and signing the cards.
Hand-writing is what caused my wrist problems in the first place and, despite two surgeries, it still makes my wrist ache.  So an ecard recipient will probably get a personal note with their card.  A paper card person is likely to just get the signed card and the newsletter. 

But I won't cut off anyone who doesn't want an ecard.  It will just be an option for folks.

So I guess my answer doesn't really appear up there.  Ecards-yes.  But not divided by age, just by what people prefer.  Based on them telling me what they prefer.

[Bluenomi]

I don't send out many cards and pretty much all the people I do would expect a real paper card. I prefer paper, you can't keep e cards!

Plus I'm always a bit suspecious of e cards, I've had too made hoax/virus emails come in e card form!

[hkkatie]

The past ten years or so, I have been fanatical about sending out handmade Christmas cards, some years making over 100 of them. This year, there was absolutely no way that I could do it. I'm nearly 30 wks pregnant w/ twins, plus we just moved, and I do not have the time or energy to do it this year. I made about 20 to send to my family/in-laws/aunts & uncles, but everyone else will be getting a mass email. I'm not happy about it, but for my sanity I have to do it. Next year I hope to go back to paper cards, but with two little 9 or 10 month olds dictating my life, I don't know if I'll be able to.

[Danika]

I used to send paper cards to everyone.

About 10 years ago, the postman was delivering mail and hit my parked car causing $1000 of damage to my car. A neighbor witnessed it. When I called the post office and had some workers come out to see my car, they looked at me and said "sue us." Because it would have cost more to hire a lawyer, I paid to fix the car myself. After that, for a few years, instead of paying for postage, to "recoup" my costs, I emailed all of our holiday cards.

But eventually, I realized that I like to gather all the photo cards we receive and pin them up on a corkboard in the kitchen so that I can see all my friends' smiling faces throughout December and January. And I like to see how their kids grow from year to year. I can't see their smiling faces as often throughout the day when I receive e-cards. So, for now, I prefer paper cards.

[Harriet Jones]

Plus I'm always a bit suspecious of e cards, I've had too made hoax/virus emails come in e card form!

^^ This.  It's not so much that I'm a traditionalist, but that there are still potential issues with e-cards.

[JonGirl]

I like paper.
I just helped my son write his cards for all his school friends and even added little candy canes with them.

[atirial]

Plus I'm always a bit suspecious of e cards, I've had too made hoax/virus emails come in e card form!

^^ This.  It's not so much that I'm a traditionalist, but that there are still potential issues with e-cards.

Agreed. Even the ones that are genuine often harvest the emails for marketing lists. I'm not enamoured of sending e-cards and accidentally signing myself and my relatives up for spam.

Does anyone make their own with photoshop or something similar?

[Outdoor Girl]

I just wrote my cards out last night.  I send few enough that I can get them done in one evening - worked steadily from about 4:30 to 9:00, with a dinner and a snack break.

I won't ever send e-cards.  I just don't like them that much.  If I receive an e-card, I don't mind it, but I'd rather have a paper card.  They become part of my decorations and I save the picture ones from year to year of my friends' families.

If someone asked me to stop sending them a paper card every year, I'd just stop sending them a card at all.

ETA:  The only thing I don't like about paper cards?  The herpes of the craft world.  Why on earth did I buy cards with glitter on them???

[StuffedGrapeLeaves]

We normally send only paper cards, but I'm going to look into doing a combination of both next year.  A lot of our peers send electronic cards now, and virus and spam hadn't been an issue so far.  We will still continue sending paper cards to those who send us paper cards, and also to people who don't use e-mail. 

[Danika]

Does anyone make their own with photoshop or something similar?

I did, when I sent greetings via email. In fact, I still use Photoshop to make the photo cards that I send via snail mail. It's a lot more affordable than ordering photo greeting cards through a company that does them for you. That way, I can just order photo prints from Winkflash at $0.08 each, or even $0.25 for 5x7s. And I buy the envelopes in bulk online.

[otterwoman]

I prefer to send and receive paper cards, but if someone is sending me an e-card, then I might switch to e-cards for that person. My mom has stopped sending paper cards, and sends me e-cards. Yuck. So, I switched to e-cards for her.

Thinking harder about it; e-cards are so fleeting to me. I watch them once, then I close the page and *poof*, they're gone. A few mintues later I'll probably forget all about it. I hang a pretty cord across the wall and hang all the paper cards we get on it. The cards become part of the holiday decorations. I see them daily. They have more staying power.

[Lynnv]

Does anyone make their own with photoshop or something similar?

I did, when I sent greetings via email. In fact, I still use Photoshop to make the photo cards that I send via snail mail. It's a lot more affordable than ordering photo greeting cards through a company that does them for you. That way, I can just order photo prints from Winkflash at $0.08 each, or even $0.25 for 5x7s. And I buy the envelopes in bulk online.

I use PS to create ecards (really, just an email with a "card" attached-so no danger of a problem from some ecard site), and will do so when I start sending ecards for the holidays as well.  I like doing them, it is much more personal, and I won't mind spending the time on that that I am NOT spending on the paper card process.

[Wittyone]

Thinking harder about it; e-cards are so fleeting to me. I watch them once, then I close the page and *poof*, they're gone. A few mintues later I'll probably forget all about it. I hang a pretty cord across the wall and hang all the paper cards we get on it. The cards become part of the holiday decorations. I see them daily. They have more staying power.

This is exactly how I feel.  An e-card will get looked at once then be forgotten, but physical cards get displayed, looked at, and remembered.

[MrsCrazyPete]

Thinking harder about it; e-cards are so fleeting to me. I watch them once, then I close the page and *poof*, they're gone. A few mintues later I'll probably forget all about it. I hang a pretty cord across the wall and hang all the paper cards we get on it. The cards become part of the holiday decorations. I see them daily. They have more staying power.

This is exactly how I feel.  An e-card will get looked at once then be forgotten, but physical cards get displayed, looked at, and remembered.

This exactly. I love to make the paper cards part of my decoration. Plus, my DH is a mailman so I like to support the USPS as much as possible.