With the rise of technology, especially in COVID times, it’s more important now than ever before to be sending snail mail. If we stopped sending snail mail, how will our children know what mail is? While I understand that some people would rather send an email card for simplicity and ease, there are some benefits to snail mail! Maybe you think it’s not worth the time, effort, or money. On top of all of the other things that society tells us we “need” for the holidays, sending cards is another one added to the list that can add up in your bank account quickly. We like to save pennies when we can, but sending a card is of value to us and so each year we’ve spent money on stamps, ink, and cards to make it happen. The best deal we found for holiday photo cards was our #1 favorite store…Costco. It was just under $20 for 75-holiday cards with envelopes. If the Costco price has not convinced you enough keep on reading and maybe you’ll align with one of the reasons. The whole family can benefit from snail mail. Especially the kids.
- It keeps the holiday spirit alive in such a simple form. Every year I get excited when holiday cards arrive in the mail, but this year it’s even more exciting. With being “isolated” in the home I sometimes forget it’s the holidays. I’m sure there’s others out there who are on my level, too. Receiving a card in the mail brings a smile to my face putting me in the holiday spirit. This can definitely be the same for your children. Bills and junk mail aren’t addressed to “families” but holiday cards usually are! Every day on our daily walks I’ve been looking forward to checking the mail afterward in anticipation of a holiday card awaiting us!
- It teaches basic skills of what sending/receiving mail means. By sending holiday letters you are helping a child to understand the process of sending a letter. Writing the letter, stuffing an envelope, sealing it, addressing, stamping. It’s a process your child can take part in! (I mean…this year Rory slept and ate through it but we will try again next year!)
- It helps keep us connected to friends/family by showing “I’m thinking of you”. Sure it’s easy to post a photo on social media and have friends/family “like” the photo but it’s also as easily “likable” for some random Facebook friends to like. I admit, and I bet others do too, that you have Facebook friends whom you don’t even know WHY you are Facebook friends with them, you can’t remember where you met, maybe it was a random drunk bar friend from college, random person you met at a networking event, etc. Snail mail shows a genuine “I’m thinking about you” gesture.
- It shows children there is more than meets the eye than a COMPUTER SCREEN. Rory is being raised in the age of technology. He’s meeting family and friends on the computer screens. Kids are online schooling this year. Kids are getting more screen time than ever before. Sending snail mail teaches children history, it shows them what people did “back in the day” and it gets them off the computer screen. It’s relaxing and refreshing to curl up on the couch writing letters and licking envelopes.
- It keeps people employed. Maybe your child is a future mail carrier! Jobs have been cut enough this year, let’s keep the postal workers employed by continuing to send mail.
- Receiving real mail is more fun than junk mail or bills. Let’s be honest, as adults, the most mail we receive is never that exciting. Receiving mail from an old friend or family member once per year is way more exciting than receiving mail from your internet provider or coupons to a fast food restaurant nearly every week.
- It’s tangible. It’s much more meaningful to smile at a real photo than “like” a photo on Facebook. In addition to sending a “holiday photo card” we send a real letter every year (yes, we are that old school. We’ve been doing this since 2016 and we both love this tradition) Yeah everyone can come to this blog, or see Facebook/Instagram but I believe a letter brings more value and shares something new maybe you didn’t already know from social media.
- Because when else do you send mail to people?! The only other times we send mail on a regular basis are for our Menards rebates and for the water bill and occasional birthday cards.
- It becomes holiday decor in your home. We don’t go wild decorating for the holidays. To us, holiday decor doesn’t seem super practical. It’s something that you set up once per year and need to store it. Maybe as Rory gets older I will see more practicality in it and it will become a family tradition, but for now, our holiday decor is basic. I love adding family/friends photos in our home to bring holiday spirit in. It’s so simple but it reminds us of the people in our lives that we love, and that’s what the holidays are about after all.
- You can turn it into a book! Turn your holiday cards into a book for your kids! To be honest, I usually keep holiday cards up in the house until about April and than they seem to find their way to the recycling or sit in a drawer collecting dust. Now that I have a child I am going to turn the cards we receive into a book. This will be a book with REAL photos of REAL people in Rory’s life. Try it out with your cards this year…I bet your kids will love it!