So I have the Greeting Cards, Now What?

Tips & Tricks to Send. Them. Out. On. Time!

This blog post is dedicated to two of my friends who recently told me “I have a confession” and then proceeded to tell me about their drawer full of cards and their forgetfulness in giving them to their loved ones!  You are not alone and the struggle is real ladies.

Having greeting cards on hand for upcoming occasions is half the battle… and trust me, it can be the harder half.  But sometimes, it’s not.  Sometimes, having the card is the easy part (and certainly it’s the easy part if you have a subscription with Greet on Repeat, but I digress) and actually doing something with the card is the hard part.  

Why is it so hard to get a card?  Why is it so hard to send out the card?  It’s not hard to do it, it’s hard to remember.  There’s a million and one things in life and forgetting to send a birthday card is normal and happens (I mean, it’s why they sell belated birthday cards).  But, if you want to do your best to avoid any forgotten events or a last minute hustle, here are some tips to help you remember.

Do a greeting card check regularly.  Look at the events you have coming up.  Think about more than birthdays and anniversaries, are there any weddings, baby showers or other events?  Do an inventory check.  Do you have all the cards you need? If not - add it to your shopping list (or use that as a sign to subscribe to Greet on Repeat).  Then, while you’ve got the cards out, fill ‘em out.  There’s no better time like now, and it’ll make sure you actually get it done. If you are adding money, a gift card or a check (my go-to for my nieces and nephews), don’t forget to slip it in the card.  Address the envelopes, throw on a stamp and it’s ready for the mailbox (or if you’re like me with a PO Box, a trip to the post office). 

How often should you do a greeting card check?  We recommend doing it once a month.  Once you get in the habit of it, it’ll be second nature.  The trick here though as doing anything new, is making it a habit.  Here are some different times you could consider:

• You could do it on the first of every month.

• You could line it up with when you sit down to pay your bills each month.

• Aim for any other time of the month that repeats the same time each month that you will remember.

But how do you remember to remember the greeting card check? Here are some options:

• Use your phone calendar.  Make it your best friend… tell it everything!  It’s a lifesaver for remembering anything and everything with reminders you can set to pop up at specific times.  You can create an event on the first (or whatever day you decide) of the month.  Go ahead and title it “Greeting Card Check” (or whatever your little heart desires). Set it recurring and make sure it’s set to monthly.  Then just make sure you have the alert set to get the reminder to pop up.

• Take that phone calendar one step further.  Don’t just put the monthly reminder on there, input all your loved one’s birthdays and anniversaries.  Remember to set that to yearly recurrence so you don’t have to do it each year… and you can customize how far in advance you want to get reminded about the event

• Go old school. If phone calendars aren’t your thing, get a physical calendar. Put it in a place you look at often, like the fridge.  Everytime you go to the fridge for a snack, Grandma’s birthday reminder will be staring you in the face.  Unless, of course, you don’t have it written on the calendar.  So get a physical calendar AND write birthdays and events on it (pro tip, put their age or anniversary year in parentheses so each year when you copy over the events for the next year, you can add a year and keep track!)

• Don’t love calendars? Have you seen those decorative wood hanging birthday signs? Each month has a hook to hang wooden disks where you can put the person's name and day of the month of their birthday. It’s a lovely reminder and looks neat.  You could scan down the row under the corresponding month for a quick and easy visual of who’s birthday is on deck.

• Follow us on Facebook or Instagram… or both.  We post the first of each month reminding you of upcoming holidays or occasions that might be relevant as a reminder to get those cards in order.

We’d love to hear from you, how do you remember to send out greeting cards on time?

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