The Death of Christmas Cards?

By Eilene Lyon

Did you receive a big haul of cards this holiday season? Yeah, me neither. Of the seven cards gracing our windowsill, only two are from family. The remainder came from organizations we’ve donated to, or companies we’ve done business with.

How many cards did I send, you ask? Well, just five, it turns out. There were some years when we made and received photo-greeting cards (which are nice).

I tried electronic cards one year. And whatever happened to the once-ubiquitous holiday brag letters? The bottom line is that each year we send and receive fewer cards. Is this a general trend?

Part of it is that we have fewer family to exchange cards with (we are getting older, after all). And with friends, it seems that we just avoid getting into the card “trap.” Send a card this year, they don’t. Next year they do, we don’t. Yikes!

In a completely unscientific survey, it appeared to me that this year there were abundant boxed cards on display in every store—cheap! And they collected more dust than buyers. Are holiday cards going the way of the dinosaur?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated back in March 2025 that the greeting card business is actually booming. Of the 6.5 billion cards purchased each year, 1.5 billion are for Christmas, followed by Mother’s Day cards (though birthday cards are the biggest non-seasonal seller).

Hallmark and American Greetings dominate, with a combined 80% market share. However, the growth sector is found in the other 20%. Quirky and more personal messages are on the rise.

The BBC recently reported that Christmas card sales in the U.K. are down 22% this year, due to postage costs and the increasing cost of living. Hmm. I suspect that electronic greetings are more likely a factor.

Though Christmas has been around for literally millennia, Christmas cards are a relatively recent phenomenon. Cards arrived on the scene in the mid-19^th century as printing processes and industrial papermaking made greeting cards affordable. They streamlined the holiday greeting process, particularly for public persons and businesses.

Do you still send holiday cards? If so, what type do you send? Do you write form letters or insert personal messages, or do you simply write “Dear…” and “Love [or not], …”?