Maaaybe you receive greeting cards more then you send it out yourself, maybe not. But nevertheless, as we use Greeting Cards today to give that personal touch, there is a question of etiquette. Whether it’s for a family kinship, personal relationship or business rapport, some sensitivity should be shown.

To clear the distinctions, here are 10 things to note when sending out Greeting Cards.

1. Ecards are a No No!
   Sending a Greeting Card is a personal and sincere gesture, sending an ecard takes that away.

2. Get a head start
   Give yourself ample time to prepare your namelist and what messages you’d want to include. This allows you to be thorough, avoiding mistakes like typo’s, mismatched names and that overall rushed vibe.

3. Applying creativity
   You employ creativity in your card design, which is awesome; but also pay attention to your choice of photos when personalizing. Ensure the photos are appropriate and complementary to your card’s theme, otherwise it might come off as confusing, lazy or worse, rude.

4. Fair judgement
   Apply a little fair judgement in selecting your cards. Family cards don’t have the same pizzazz as cards for business associates.

5. Seal the envelope!
   Yes it is important and it is a pretty big deal. Not only does it let the receiver know that they’re the first to grace your card but it also secures it from prying eyes. Plus you save it from being lost in the mail.

6. Check postage and stamps
   Speaking of lost in the mail, make sure that you’ve got the right amount of stamps on. Some post offices measure in weight, some in size and some are seasonal.

7. Return to sender
   Including a return-to-sender address is a pretty good idea. It let’s your recipient know who sent them the greeting card easily and allows them to respond to your current address; and the post office would obviously return the card back to you if the recipient has moved or maybe you got the address wrong. It’s okay to use a stick-on label for return to sender address only or just use a different coloured pen.

8. Make that difference
   While it’s quick and convenient to have your messages professionally printed on a personalized greeting card, there are just some undeniable people in our lives that deserve a few extra minutes of our time. Although formal greetings for business associates should be more friendly than heartfelt, personal greeting cards for close friends and family deserve a hand-written message.
   It’s also a great idea to hand-write all the addresses, as opposed to having a pre-printed address. This would require a little head’s up time frame. *See point #2.

9. Drop your John Hancock
   Speaking of handwriting, regardless of a formal or a friendly Greeting Card, always sign your cards. It tells the recipients that you spent some time on it, that’s it not just another name in a mass send-out and makes it memorable.

10. Always respond
    Last but not least, always respond to all the cards that you receive. These are people who have invested some degree of time and money to wish you, so it’s only polite to reciprocate.

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