I thought I might have some fun on our last day before break.
The holidays are upon us. Christmas and Kwanzaa are just a few days away and Hanukkah, as of this past Wednesday, has finished. With the holidays comes many festivities, including gift-giving and sometimes even writing greeting cards. This is what I want to discuss today. While greeting cards are still a big seller during the Christmas season, writing greeting cards, much like letter-writing in general, has become a bit of a lost art. Nonetheless, I make a point to include a nicely written card with any gift I give to family and friends. You don’t have to make anything big or elaborate, as long as they mean something special to whomever you address them to. Gifts are one thing, but some nice words during the holidays can make a difference for some people between a happy holiday and a crummy one.
Thus, I would like to give just a few of my tips on writing greeting cards. If you just so happen to write your own cards to go along with your gifts, I have some advice on picking out cards and what sorts of content you could include.
DISCLAIMER: ALL TIPS GIVEN ARE A MATTER OF PERSONAL OPINION AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH. That said, you may still be questioning my credentials on this, but I assure you I’ve worked at Barnes & Noble and a Hallmark store, both during the holidays, so my greeting card game is pretty strong:
First and foremost, handwritten, homemade cards always trump store-bought cards. Personalized is better.
If you fancy yourself an artistic or creative person, you might already make your own cards. If you don’t, you might consider it this year.
In the past, I’ve found myself frustrated with the types of cards they sell in stores. We will get more into this later, but generally, greeting cards fall into two categories: sentimental or humorous. Depending the person I’m buying a card for, It’s hard to find the right words in a greeting card when working with these two constraining categories. For example, when buying a card for my Dad a few years ago, I couldn’t find any cards that conveyed the right words, finding too many clichés and not enough real sentiment.
Rather than purchase a store-bought card, I opted instead to make my own and craft my own personal message to my father. To this day, I think it’s still one of the better cards I’ve made for family and, what’s more important, my Dad absolutely loved it when he got it. He still keeps it even all these years later.
This goes to show how much impact a homemade card can make. Even if you’re not the most artistic person, these days, there are so many online and desktop publishing programs available that finding a way to make your own card, incorporating complimenting images and words, is a cinch. I use Microsoft Word or Publisher personally because I fins them the easiest programs to navigate. Adobe InDesign is another option if its available to you, but as I said, you can search online for free greeting card design websites that are often comparable to any of these programs.
If you buy store-bought cards, go for humor first, sentimental last.
As I said above, greeting cards generally fall into two categories. You have your humorous cards, usually drawn with cartoons and containing a setup and punchline to make for a good (sometimes cheesy) laugh. On the other end, you have your sentimental cards, usually containing heartwarming messages of love and family togetherness, etc.
Sentimental cards are all well and good, but I tend to go for humor over sentimentality. It’s easier to find a good humorous card and write your own personal message inside. In addition, humor is much more universal in my opinion. If everyone can have a good laugh over a humorous card, it results in much more interaction and togetherness oftentimes.
Again, this all depends on the person you are buying the card for. For older relatives, some humor might go over their heads, so a sentimental card might be better for them. It’s all a matter of taking the time to looking for a card that you think will connect with that person the best.
When it comes to writing your own personal message, even in a humorous card, it’s always best to write personally and share some honest sentiment in your writing.
When writing your own message, follow the 3 P’s : Positive, personal and precise.
Like all writing, a good note or greeting card message takes time to create. I often write a rough draft of my greetings on paper and then re-write them on the card when I’m happy with them. The more time you spend on crafting your messages, the better they will be.
When crafting your words, there are 3 points I like to remember, all conveniently starting with the letter P:
Positive: This should go without saying, but make sure what you write, whether to family or friends, is positive. Focus on what is good about your relationship with the person, and put yourself in that mindset when you’re writing. You’ll avoid any awkwardness and will make everyone feel good about themselves, which is what is most important.
Personal: work to make each card’s message a personal one. It is definitely easy to copy and paste a response in each card, but it won’t connect with your reader as well as a personalized message. Think about who you are writing for: what sorts of things do they like? Is there a special memory you have with them from the past? What do you wish or hope for them in the future? These are sorts of questions you can think about that make for great, personal content in your greetings.
Precise: your messages should be meaningful, but should still be concise, when we’re writing in greeting cards, we have limited space on the page, and we don’t want to run out of room. Therefore, it’s important to write, but not ramble. This is why I always encourage drafting your message on a separate piece of paper before you start writing. Not only will it ensure you are writing precisely, but it will allow you to look at your writing and edit it down to the best content (Yes, I am saying you should edit your greeting cards). It might seem like an unnecessary step, but in the end, it will make the difference between a good greeting card and a great one.
That’s my last bit of advice before I get too deep into analyzing the fine-tuned psychology or greeting card composition. If I had to sum this all up, I’d just say a personal card is better than something impersonal, so keep that in mind as you write to family and friends this year. Finally, to reiterate, giving a gift is all well and good, but the gift of kind and thoughtful words during the holidays can make everyone feel a little brighter.
Hope everyone enjoys their break and has a happy holiday. See you in the new year!
Read. Write. Grow.