Failed Attempt at Saving Holiday Cash #1: I waste money so you don’t have to
Posted on November 19, 2007 12 Comments
I love holiday cards. I love the sparkles, the illustrations of happy faces, snow-covered landscapes and elaborately decorated trees. I love the simple pleasure of opening a card from a far-off friend, and cozying up to read greetings and view pictures that help me stay in touch. I love the tradition holiday cards have become for me, serving as the official kick-off to the Christmas season.
The downside of my card obsession, however, is the cost. My card list currently numbers about 80 contacts, and it grows each year.
So this year, I decided to make my own cards. I went to a Paper Source store and designed a card layout. I worked with the salesman to select the right pens, cards, ink and stamps. I even learned how to emboss using a glitter powder. Walking home from the store last week, I was giddy with excitement for how sparklingly beautiful my holiday cards would be.
Making the cards, though, was not as easy as I had hoped. Two hours into making cards, I had only about 15 done. They all looked painfully amateur and I wasted a lot of material making small errors. Some turned out OK, but I needed a 100 percent success rate on this project, not 75 percent.
Also, I realized that my ink was too dark for the embossing powder I bought. The snowflakes, each one tediously created by stamping, glittering, wiping away the excess, embossing with a heat tool and waiting for them to dry, didn’t even sparkle! They just sort of faded into the dark blue ink.
In fact, after two hours, the only thing that sparkled was my apartment. I have glittery powder all over my couches, my carpet, my table and me. I think I just saw a flash of flamboyant glitter on my cat, too. Sheesh.
So two hours into my flashy experiment, I packed up my workstation. With nearly 65 cards left to design and then 80 to label, sign and write, the process wasn’t saving me any time or money. Looks like I’ll be headed to the Hallmark sales rack next week.
I’ve seen a lot of really beautiful homemade cards. Generally, those involving photos look lovely and appear very professional. I was going for something different, and unfortunately it didn’t work.
After my failed holiday card attempt, my recommendation is to skip making your own cards if it’s your first time trying. Better ways to save cash during the holidays exist, and cards bought on sale can cost the same as homemade ones. Of course, not everyone should follow my recommendation.
Make your own holiday cards at home if:
- You’ve done it before, and you’re familiar with the techniques you want to use (i.e. stamping, embossing, dye-cutting)
- You have time to spend making cards
- You’d like to send out photo-based cards
Skip it if:
- You’ve never attempted card production before, and you’re using new techniques for the first time (the holidays are too busy to learn a new craft)
- You have a lot of people to shop for, and you’re low on time
- You don’t really have anything personal to share on a card, like children. I don’t think anyone wants to see my annual office head shot on their holiday card
- You don’t have crafting space in your place
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12 Responses to “Failed Attempt at Saving Holiday Cash #1: I waste money so you don’t have to”
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November 19th, 2007 @ 2:44 am
I’m a total pre-planner, and one way that people can save money on holiday cards is to buy them after the holidays for next year. They don’t have the largest selection available, but I’m always able to find pretty cute ones. I just have to remember where I put them each year.
November 19th, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
I’m with Christine. I used to always get lots of cards on sale in January. I admit, they aren’t the nicest quality sometimes, but now I rarely send out a full box’s worth of cards and I have to be careful not to repeat. I went from about 150 cards in college to less than 20 now. No regrets! Now, how do you save on postage? That’s the real trick!
November 19th, 2007 @ 7:13 pm
Even if you know what you’re doing the chances are you’ll spend more money on homemade cards than on purchased ones, especially if you purchase in the post-Christmas sales. I make my cards every year but its a huge challenge to get them in under budget. The last 2 years I’ve had postcards made out of pics I’ve taken and that seems to be the best financial choice.
I don’t have kids but people see a LOT of my pets.
November 19th, 2007 @ 8:06 pm
I think you can do a quick photo Christmas card through Walgreens.
November 20th, 2007 @ 4:40 am
Not to be a humbug, but don’t those things end up in the trash after Christmas anyway? I stopped sending out Christmas cards when I realized that I was contributing to waste…
November 20th, 2007 @ 4:48 am
Good point on the trash thing. Not all end up in the trash; I save mine for a long time after Christmas, and especially if there is significant correspondence, I’ll keep it…basically forever. The other ones I recycle.
November 20th, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Last year I started a new tradition, making a video card of my daughter singing, that I sent to all my loved ones and the money I would’ve used to buy or make the cards, I donated to the local Children’s Hospital. I felt pretty darn good about my choice. You might want to make something funny that your family and friends would enjoy over the stressful holiday season.
Best,
Mollie
http://www.msmollie.wordpress.com
November 20th, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
I think the best bet (as many stated before me) is to buy your holiday cards right after the current season. Making home made cards isn’t always the easiest (I went to Paper Source to make Bachelorette Party invitations and ended up spending way more than I would have just buying them… but it’s the personal touch). I agree you should only do homemade Christmas cards if you have the time (like my grandma) or only have 10 to make.
This year when I buy 2008′s card my goal is to find some that are printed on recycled paper, because like some others mentioned they do contribute to so much of the holiday waste!
Happy holidays!
November 21st, 2007 @ 4:13 pm
OMG! We are in our late 20′s and we still don’t send cards, we still see ourselves as kids… sad!
November 21st, 2007 @ 4:41 pm
I think my answer about creating waste was kind of lame, so I’m doing some research on buying recycled cards and recycling cards after the season. Look for a follow-up post. Thanks for the smack of self awareness
November 21st, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com
Learn some great techniques and get some easy card ideas. I’ve been stamping for years and it’s not as easy as it looks. It’s also not as budget friendly as you might think once you get into it! Eke out your holiday cards throughout the year. Try making 5 a month and you should have at least 50 by Christmas!
December 3rd, 2007 @ 6:47 pm
As a 31-year-old who remembers the flurry of Christmas cards my mom and dad received when I was growing up, I figured everyone sends out cards.
I’ve done so for a few years now that I have two small kids, but find that many of my friends– even those with little ones– skip the tradition.
Call it going green, call it laziness, call it a sign of the digital times, but to many in my circle of friends, Hallmark might as well be nonexistent.
This year I haven’t decided if I’ll send out a card or not. If I do, chances are it will be a New Years card….and I’ll spend way too much time at Target deciding if I should send the barfy $5 for a pack of 30 cards or the $12.95 cards for 8 of the faux handmade variety (kudos for trying!!!).
http://www.startribune.com/kablog.