When to Send Your Cards?

Years ago I watched a television show set in the 1940s where the mother spent all Christmas eve trying to get her Christmas cards addressed and to the post office for them to be postmarked with December 24 on each one. For her, this was a significant part of her holiday traditions, and for her, the postmark was more important than the date the card arrived.

Have you thought about when you would like your Christmas cards to arrive? Is the postmark important to you, or a specific time you would like them to arrive? Do you want your Christmas card to be the first one to arrive after the Thanksgiving holiday? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is now time to go to your calendar and mark down which day you want to mail your cards.

If a specific date is what you want, that is an easy one, but if you want them to arrive at a certain time, it can be a little trickier. Where you are mailing the cards, will dictate when you need to send them and, as a rule, the further away you are sending them, the more time you need to allow. My rule of thumb is one week before, and normally, I am pleased with when my cards arrive.

If you do not have a particular time or day to mail your cards, mark on your calendar the last day you want to have all your cards to the post office.  Seeing the “due date” on your calendar can serve as a reminder to complete and mail your cards, whether you are sending them out in small batches or collecting them to send all at one time once you are finished.