I love the idea of always getting Birthday cards sent out to family and friends but so far I haven't been very successful. I was wondering if any of you have any tips of how you stay organized with that and how you remember to get them out on time?
I do have dates written on the Calendar and I usually make all of my own cards, I have some made ahead of time or I have the stuff to make one quickly. The issue I have is getting them in the mail and also turning the calendar up for a new month and then remember that my Mother-in-laws birthday is on the 2nd and now it is way to late to send her a card.Anyway, what are your suggestions?
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8 comments:
I used to have the same problem! I signed up for www.BirthdayAlarm.com.
It's FREE and you can have email reminders sent to remind you a week or so before the date.
Hi Abbi,
Looks like Kristin beat me to the punch. I was going to recommend an online reminder system too. I use Google Calendar (it's also free and it integrates nicely with my email, etc.). When entering each date, set your reminders enough ahead so you have plenty of time to get your cards made & sent. Hope it helps!
I found a little notebook made specifically for this purpose a few years ago at a Hallmark store. There's a page for each month where you can write down birthdays/anniversaries, and the pages have pockets to store your cards in. It works pretty well, when I remember to look at it. :)
Thanks for your advice on my site. I really appreciate your input!
I make up my envelopes a month ahead of time (fellow card maker) and put the date where the stamp goes. I can look quickly and see if I have any upcoming birthdays that I need to drop in the mail and since I have the envelopes already made and addressed it's a good motivator!
I do birthday cards as part of my constituent services for my elected official clients. I'm a political consultant. Last year, I sent out over 10,000 birthday cards on behalf of various clients. To scale this down to your size,
I highly recommend preparing all of your birthday cards for the year at one time. If purchase a box or 2 of cards, you can sign and stuff them one night. Then the next night or two, address them.
As Rachel above suggested you can write the date where the stamp goes or you can put it on a post it note and stick it to the card.
Next, sort the cards by date.
Then use some sort of tickler system either electronic like the people suggested above or folders. When you get the reminder, you put a stamp on the card and stick it in your mailbox that morning.
The hardest part is getting all the cards signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered. So, getting that chore done in one fail swoop makes the whole process much easier. (For my clients, I usually do 3 months worth at a time.)
Hope this helps.
I've actually been thinking about this SAME thing....and I think I'm rady to take the plunge - a Family Birthday Calendar. Of course there are little books (I'm fairly certain I would forget to turn the page to look at the next month, same as with my daily calendar!)...but I've seen many of the ladies at church with homemade wooden ones, as well. Make a long, rectangular plaque with your family name, or "Birthdays!" or something, then hang 12 hooks off the bottom. Next, find little wooden shapes and paint or write the names, and birthday, of everyone you need to remember. Finally, screw a hook into the top of each, and a loop into the bottom, and link them to your plaque. Done! This can sit on your wall and remind you, all year. Also, because the wooden pieces are just hooked together, it's easy to add new babies to the list, so that everybody is still in date-order.
I use birthdayalarm.com too and I love it. I actually buy (or in your case, make) all my cards at one time. I'll get one for each member of our family that year and then buy a few extra fun ones for friends that come up. I also stock up in May/June on Mother's Day and Father's Day for a few years ahead. You can buy a card organizer, or I got one free from Hallmark for all the cards I bought at once! It's organized by month with lines to fill in each one, as well as standard holidays like Valentine's, etc.
Thanks so much for all your advice. I think I will do a combination of some of those ideas ~ Now it is just to get it done!
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