By Lisa Rowley
It’s that time of year when people who you have not seen for months, or even years, get in touch with Christmas greetings. With social networking sites, such as Facebook, or even email, it’s so much easier nowadays and an instant way to send your festive best wishes.
I must admit I find myself on Christmas Day getting in touch via Facebook with friends I have lost addresses for or because I have been too late to put cards in the post. But I also think it’s important to make an effort to write and send Christmas cards. There’s nothing like coming back from work to find you have post. And although often it’s the post – usually bills – that you don’t want, it’s nice at this time of year when you open up a card sent from a friend.
This year I’ll be drawing up my list with enough time to send my Christmas cards to my friends and family across the UK. The cards have already been bought, as well as the stamps.
And to ensure that your mail arrives in time the Post Office recommends posting it before the Christmas cut-off dates. For second class mail this is December 18 and for first class mail December 20.
There’s other things I’ll need to make sure I do and one of the most important is checking I’ve got full address details, including the postcode, on the envelope.
There’s always the postage and making sure I have the right stamp to avoid the recipient paying a charge.
It was 170 years ago that Sir Henry Cole started the annual tradition by sending a Christmas card by sending one to his grandmother. With Royal Mail expecting a massive increase in post, boosted by the festive season, over the next few weeks, millions of items of mail will be landing on doormats at households and businesses around the world.
Independent research commissioned by Royal Mail found 72 per cent of people said they would prefer to receive a traditional card.
While 78 per cent of those asked said they always sent a traditional card.
It will be interesting to see whether those figures increase or decrease over the years. For me I’ll still keep the tradition up and will be endeavouring to send out my Christmas cards each year.
J&PR are a Shropshire PR agency covering Shrewsbury, Telford, north Shropshire, south Shropshire and parts of Mid and North Wales. As well as working with businesses, organisations and events across the region on PR campaigns J&PR run regular DIY PR Training Courses and DIY Digital PR Training Courses at venues in the county.
