I have lived in several different places throughout my life, so I have many friends that I don’t get to talk to on a regular basis. I love to send and receive Christmas cards. Many times, it is the only time that I am able to catch up on what is going on in my friends’ lives, and they are able to catch up with my family. On average, I send out about 60 cards a year. So, that would be a LOT of work to address all the cards.
About 5 years ago, I decided to create a simple database in Microsoft Works Database (a free program that came on my computer) to create address labels that I could print out each year. I try to make the labels as personalized as possible by adding a cute digital picture to plain labels. Basically, the fields in my database are split into the following:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Address 1
- Address 2
- City
- State
- Zip
- Country
- Comment – like “Need new address”, if I know they’ve moved, but I don’t have the new address
- Date updated – so I know when I’ve updated a new address for the next year
- Then 1 column for each year and a Y if they’ve sent me a card that year
When I’m ready to send my cards, I’ll do a mail merge in Microsoft Word to create address labels and stick them to each of the envelopes when I’m compiling my Christmas cards. It’s much easier than writing everyone’s name and address each year.
I also use the database to keep track of who sends me cards each year. Since the card, the letter, envelope, label and stamp all cost money I try to condense my list each year. If someone does not send me a card year after year, I might delete them from my list. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. I might not ever get a card from someone, but they are special to me (like an aunt) or I know I may never get a card from a single guy, so I won’t cut them. Each Christmas card that I receive, I will keep the envelope and update the year column as well as check the return address against what I have in the database to update any mistakes that I’ve made or any new addresses.
My database works for me in making my Christmas season more sane, so I can keep the focus on Christ, while still sending out Christmas cards. How do you make it easier on yourself to send Christmas cards?
For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in My Dryer.
Corrie is a "cents"able wife and stay-at-home mom of 2 boys.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I didn’t know you had a blog. Nice to see you around the blogosphere.
Great tip! My Christmas list is very haphazard and it seems like every year I leave someone out! I’m a database admin in real life, so you’d think I would have done this by now. I’ll be doing it now! Thanks!
Hi! Great tip! I do something very similar and am always trying to cut down my Christmas card list, too (with my own exceptions as well!)
What do you do with the Christmas cards that you receive every year? I’m trying to find a good, creative solution. On the one hand, I hate to part with them, but on the other….that’s A LOT of Christmas cards to hold on to!
Just thought I’d get your thought on the subject. Thanks!
I was just thinking yesterday about organizing some kind of Christmas-eque/card-sending/gift list thingy…this will help me move on the right track! Thank you!!
Happy Gardener,
If it were up to my husband (who likes to keep EVERYTHING sentimental), we’d keep them all, but I can’t deal with having all the cards from every year hanging around my house.
I keep the pictures, and make a scrapbook page each year, so I can see how my friends’ kids have grown year-after-year. I also keep the letters that people send me, and staple them all together in a pile by year. I keep the homemade cards, in case I want to use them as inspiration (if I ever make homemade cards again). Then, I throw the rest of the cards away after Christmas is over.
I hope that helps you!