With more than 1.5 billion holiday cards still being sent out in this era, a lot of people are spending a lot of money on postage to celebrate with loved ones. IF you’re looking for a way to cut back on your spending, cheap Christmas cards are the answer you’re looking for.
There are so many ways to cut corners and cut back on your Christmas card spending to ensure you don’t go overboard just to say “Happy Holidays”.
Here are four things to try when you’re thinking about saving money on your holiday cards this year.
1. Try a Digital Card
Sending out an e-card is all the rage these days. While they’re not quite as sentimental as a physical card that you get in the mail, it serves most of the same purposes.
With an e-card, you still get to send out that latest photo of your family all dressed up in your holiday sweaters. You also get to save money if your budget is tight this year.
While some people want to give an extensive update on everyone in the family, it might not fit on your printed holiday card. Instead, you can get everything to fit in an email and create your annual family letter. Costs could add up quickly if you’re sending out a letter with a card, so save yourself the money with a digital version
You get so much more with digital cards that you can’t get with print as well. You get the chance to attach multiple photos or a slideshow. You also get to record a video and send it out to everyone in your family, wishing them a “happy holidays” on camera.
A digital card can be just as thoughtful as the one you get in the mail. It just takes a little bit of extra effort. You could even create a Spotify playlist and add the link to your friends and family and let the digital card last for weeks or months.
2. Shorten Your List
If you’ve noticed that you’re sending out holiday cards to people who you don’t even know your association with anymore, why not trip your list. While it might hurt someone’s feelings to be taken off the list, the fact is that those people who you know the list may not even remember.
It’s nice to get a card from someone, even if you barely know them, but if you don’t get one, it’s hard to hold that against them.
There are people who you may not have heard from in years or who may have moved. If that’s the case, don’t feel beholden to keep sending them cards.
If they run into you and mention it, then you can add them back to the list, but the likelihood that’ll happen is pretty slim.
Make sure you have a list of addresses for cards that have been returned to you in the past. There’s no point in continuing to send cards to people who don’t get them.
All you’re doing is wasting money on printing and handing it over to the postal system.
3. Be Your Own Mail Carrier
If you’re usually licking stamp after stamp to get your cards out to your friends and loved ones, think about whether or not that’s the most economical idea. If you send a lot of cards to coworkers or people who you see on a regular basis, skip the postage and just hand them over.
If you get together with most of the same family members on Thanksgiving who you’d send holiday cards to, why not time your whole game a little better? Have your cards printed in early or mid-November so that they’re ready to be handed out on Thanksgiving.
Bring them and hand them out and you’ll be sure they land in the right hands. You’ll also save yourself a few dollars on postage.
Don’t try wasting the gas money by delivering them door to door by driving them around. That won’t be cheaper than buying stamps.
But if you’re going to see people at the office, PTA, or anywhere else you all meet at, bring them along.
4. Make A Photo Card At Home
If you have a little bit of digital design prowess and access to a printer, you could print up your own cards on your own. There are dozens of great programs online to help you design cards with all the help you need.
Photo cards are quick and simple to design. You can create them in the style of a postcard and pay for even less postage than you would for a letter or an envelope.
They give the personal touch that people expect from a holiday card without any of the frills that no one will miss. On top of that, they’re just so much cheaper.
If you don’t have a quality printer, call up the local print shops in your region. They often have a deal that allows you to get bulk discounts or print at smaller sizes.
When you make a 4×6 print, you’ll be able to fall under the limits for a postcard. That means your postage costs are going to suddenly get cut in half.
Call a few different printers in your area and see what kinds of deals they offer. They might even have a special deal available for photo printing that’s out just in time for the holidays.
Once you’re done, go to this website to make a stamp to print your address on them all with.
Cheap Christmas Cards Are Easy to Make
If you’re thinking of taking on all the work yourself, you can make cheap Christmas cards that still look professionally made. Take a look at a card that you’ve gotten or that you’ve seen online and try to steal a few elements from it to make yours really pop.
If your list is short enough, check out our guide for making some handmade cards.