Sending Paper Cards
It’s fun to buy presents for friends. But what if it’s a friend whose home is already too cluttered? Or what if they have as many cool mugs, plates, vases, etc. as I need.
A solution? Cards! That is, cards in the sense of birthday cards, only blank ones that you can use for anything, including just a letter. They always come with suitable envelopes.
Consider all the benefits:
- Good ones are not easy to find, but not so hard to find that you just get frustrated, so shopping for them is fun.
- Choosing which card to buy, and which card would be good for whom, is a fun way to exercise your aesthetic sense and contemplate what would make your friends happy.
- They are gifts, so they don’t clutter up your own house.
- They’re inherently ephemeral, so they needn’t clutter up the recipient’s house.
- Nearly anyone can find a use for a nice card. Their own friends appreciate getting real cards; they mean a lot more than email.
- Often you are supporting real artists, sometimes even artists you meet in person at craft fairs selling their cards, or even people you know personally.
You can find interesting and pretty cards at fairs such as The Cambridge River Festival, or at book stores, especially independent book stores (which, in the face of web commerce, need all the help they can get these days).
July 25th, 2010 at 11:11 am
That presumes, of course, that your friends are the kind of people who are willing to send snail mail to *their* friends.
BTW, these are known in the trade as “blank cards” (as distinct from “blank card stock”, which are playing cards with blank fronts).
August 7th, 2010 at 3:11 am
Yes to writing cards! Pitch for local arts: An amazing artist working at “Sleep-a-Rama” on Mass. Ave @Ellery St. in Cambridge sells absolutely lovely cards with his art on them at the store, and I was just about to send a round of thank-you cards on them to all the people who helped me this month when my apartment was flooded. I believe his name is Kenny. He’s very talented and very sweet. Go check him out if you’re looking for unique creative options! (P.S. Dan I need your snail mail so I can send you one.)