21st Century Holiday Greetings

by FrugalBabe on December 7, 2009

I just finished making our first holiday e-card, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out.  We always send out photo cards, but the cost of postage and the cards, combined with the time I always spend addressing envelopes, made me decide to try an electronic version this year.  Nearly everyone we know is online these days.  We have just a handful of elderly friends and relatives who don’t use email, and for them I will still mail photos of our family.  But for everyone else, I created a digital scrapbook page with two photos, some simple text, and a few holiday-themed embellishments.

I’ve been scrapbooking since 2001, but had never tried digital scrapping.   So I turned to Google and found more information and free template downloads than I could ever use.  Nearly every digital scrapbooking site has free downloads that you can use, some are just there for the taking, some require that you sign up for their newsletter.  I made my layout as an 8.5 by 11 page, and it fills a computer screen nicely when the recipient opens it.

Zero time spent addressing envelopes, zero dollars spent on cards and postage, and a really cool-looking scrapbook page as our holiday card… what’s not to love?  If people want to hang our greeting on their wall for the holidays, they can easily print it out.  But I think most of us store our photos digitally these days, and our e-card will be easy for people to store with their digital images.

Anyone else going the electronic route when it comes to holiday cards?

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  • http://lifeinmetal.blogspot.com Zella

    Nope… the only people we regularly send holiday cards to are the ones that aren’t online. I only send 5 or so per year, though, plus a copy for my mother to put in her keepsakes.

    Also, I just use Facebook to post my holiday photos for the online relatives.

  • Kelly

    This is a great idea!! I didn’t know about these templates. What sites did you use to find the free templates? Are there any that you would recommend? In the past we’ve just created a photo card on PowerPoint saved it as a jpeg and sent that — but I’m intrigued by this template idea! Seems like it might be nicer.

    Thanks!

  • http://frugalbabe.com Frugal Babe

    Kelly,
    It seemed like nearly every digital scrapbooking site I visited had some sort of free templates available, so “shop” around and see what you find. This site has a downloadable program that doesn’t require you to have PhotoShop:
    http://www.scrapbookflair.com/index.aspx

    And this site is awesome if you do have PhotoShop:
    http://www.shabbyprincess.com/default.asp
    The Shabby Princess site has a tutorial that will take you through making a scrapbook page using PhotoShop, and lots of free templates that she will let you download for personal use.

    Have fun! That’s what it’s all about, after all :)

  • http://www.grovesfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com/ Kelly

    Cute idea. I am just skipping the cards all together this year. It isn’t the cards, but the postage that really gets expensive. I thought about doing e-cards since hardly anyone isn’t online, but I don’t think I am going to. Too lazy I suppose!

  • http://www.gogreenstreet.com Tara @ Go Green St.

    Mine are going out via email as well! I found some really cute holiday templates and have been working on it for a few days.

  • Aurie

    awesome idea. I’m totally getting on board this train. =)

  • Kat

    I, on the other hand, am kickin’ it old school this year. I’ve made a huge effort to send a real live snail mail Christmas card to everyone I know. Receiving cards in the mail used to be such a wonderful part of the season and for the past several years I find I receive fewer and fewer. I just think that’s sad. Yes, cards can be expensive both financially and in terms of time. And I reserve the right to change my mind next year. But this year I am doing my part to keep this tradition alive!

  • Tera

    Thanks for the tips. By the way, your blog is such a motivation!

  • Kelly

    Thank you so much for the link to the templates and the tip about doing it as an 8 1/2 X 11 size! I can’t wait to start this and am so excited about how much this will simplify our holiday greetings this year! I enjoy your blog so much! Happy Holidays!

  • Rene~

    Hello,
    In some ways I agree with you about sending cards online, but to me (even though I’m very frugal)That idea seems so impersonal. The thought of opening a file to see a Christmas card seems rather cheesy. I admit I did send out Christmas cards this year as I have every year, but I feel it’s one expense that I won’t overlook. I think it feels nice to get a Christmas or even a birthday card in the mail, just the idea of a real card verses a card from the net is much more personal and thought provoking. I know lots of elderly people who never touch a computer and want nothing to do with them..my parents included. I agree the cost of postage is ridiculous, so ridiculous that I’m sure at one point in the near future I won’t send any kind of card through the mail, except to my kids and parents only. But I do find it rather exciting getting a card or letter in the mail, thats when I get very nostolgic for simpiler times of days gone by

  • FrugalBabe

    Rene, I agree with your observation that some older people don’t use computers at all. I went through our Christmas card list before I sent out the e-cards, and found eight people who are older and don’t use computers or have e-mail addresses. For them, we ordered hard copies of a family picture. Shutterfly added a holiday greeting to the card for no extra charge (all we paid was the cost of the prints), and I sent them out with cards that I had purchased at a thrift store a couple years ago. It was inexpensive and didn’t take much time, since there were so few cards.
    We’ll definitely continue with the e-cards (we got a ton of positive reactions from our friends and family), but I’ll also continue to send pictures via snail mail to our friends and family who don’t use computers.

  • Pingback: Keep Life Simple and Stress-free Around the Holidays

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