When Should You Mail Holiday Cards

Thank you so much to ShutterFly for sponsoring this post

It’s that time of year again! Holiday cards are a fun and simple way to send a little bit of cheer to your friends and family. My family has done a holiday card for years. It’s always sweet to go back and look at them through the years.

Today, I’m sharing some of my tips and when you should mail holiday cards.

Pick the Perfect Photo

Selecting a photo is the first step. You have two options, schedule a shoot with a photographer or use a photo that was taken throughout the year.Photos are pretty when everyone is wearing coordinated clothing BUT its not necessary to have a “perfect” look for a holiday card.

Select a Design

Once you have a photo narrowed down, the next step is to go online to start creating a card design. I have used ShutterFly for the last several years and I have been happy with our cards each year. ShutterFly has so many options, styles and designs to choose from.I also love that their website is very user friendly. Making it easy to customize your card. The best part, once you submit your order, it comes straight to your door step.

Work on a List

Before your cards get delivered to your home, start working on getting a list together of everyone you would like to send a card to. If you have a list from the previous year, that’s a great start. If not, I highly recommend putting a list together before you sit down to get cards out in the mail. Making sure you have correct name spellings and addresses. I use whitepages.com to help with getting names and addresses I don’t have or ones I need to double check if correct.

When to Send Out Cards

If I had to recommend a timeline for holiday cards. This is what I would suggest to make it less stressful:

October: Have family photos taken with a photographer (optional, you can always use any photo taken from the year)
November: Select a design and order cards online
December: Label and mail all cards by the 1st week of the month