Holiday cards can set you back a small fortune if you have a long holiday list. There are a number of things you can do to reduce the expenses associated with sending holiday cards.
The best way to reduce the cost of sending holiday cards is to not send them in the first place. Take a look at your list and see what names on the list you can email holiday greetings to instead of sending a physical card. You can find
free email cards by doing a doing inputting "free Christmas cards or "free holiday cards" in a search engine. You can also find a lot of
free holiday images and backgrounds to create your own holiday emails by inputting "free Christmas graphics" or "free holiday graphics" into a search engine.
Also seriously consider making a surprise phone call to the person instead of sending a card. Pick up a discount phone card that will give you long distance calls for around 5 cents a minute. That will allow you to make 25 minute call and still pay less than a $1 holiday card plus postage. It's a good bet that your friends and loved ones would much rather have a nice holiday chat with you than receive a card in the mail.
If you you feel that you need to send something physical to send, you can create a holiday letter using the same free graphics as above, print it out and send it. While this doesn't save you on postage, it does save you the cost of purchasing the holiday card.
Another option is to send holiday postcards instead of full cards. Postcards cost less to send and can be purchased for less than regular holiday cards. Another (earth friendly) option is to reuse your prior year holiday cards as holiday postcards - simply cut the cards in half if the back side is free of writing or cut up the cards to make your own holiday collage.
If you need to send a full card, this is one of the few times that it doesn't usually pay to buy them early. You can start to find holiday cards being discounted at the beginning of December. Also avoid shopping at the card specialty shops where cards will be much more expensive that at discount stores. You will also want to purchase them in box sets rather that individually which will reduce the per item price.
To make the most of savings, hit the same discount stores the day after Christmas where you will be able to find holiday cards at up to 90% off their regular retail price. By doing so, you'll be set for all your holiday cards next year at a fraction of what they cost this year.
Reduce The Costs Of Sending Christmas Cards
