Sunday, November 14, 2010

Shutterfly and the Free Cards

Curiously enough, I had a passing thought a few weeks ago about actually doing Christmas cards this year. You know, something really Bahamian and summery looking. To explain how weird that was, you have to realize that I have sent Christmas cards exactly once in my adult life. (I'm not counting the year I did a ten minute video about our year that combined pictures and home video clips set to music - was much fun, but I haven't been able to get myself to do it again.) The year I sent cards was also the year that we had a freak snowstorm in November a few years ago when we lived in Washington. We built a snowman, and while doing so, took this great picture of Wyatt sitting on top of the largest ball. He was about two years old, and it was a fantastically sunny day, so the picture came out looking really good. I saw it and immediately thought, "Hey, Christmas card material!"

So, my thought this year, while unusual, was also probably not going to be acted on. Until I ran across Shutterfly's blogger promotion. Go here if you want to see for yourself, but I'll explain briefly. Basically, I will get a code for 50 free holiday cards (shipping not included) if I write up a post using their guidelines. If you follow the above link, you can apply to do the same, assuming you have a blog yourself.

So, in the interest of getting some free cards so my relatives can actually see what our kids look like these days, I'm taking the time to write up a post. Also, I am doing this because I like Shutterfly. It's been my site of choice for photos for a long time, and I appreciate that they will ship out here for a reasonable price. At this point in my life, that is the hallmark of a good business. I have no idea if they are the best, but I tend to stick with what works, so I keep going back to them.

Oh, before I talk about Christmas cards, I'm adding a link to their photo books. I made one after our trip to Hawaii a few years ago because they sent me a code for a free one. I ended up spending some money on it because I made it twice as long as the code allowed, but it came out pretty nice. The boys still occasionally ask us to read it to them like it was a story book.

Okay, on to Christmas cards. This first one reminds me a lot of the one I sent out last time:


It was a flat card, and I made sure to leave a space on it to add a personal message before I mailed it. I always hate getting preprinted Christmas cards in the mail. I mean, if I'm going to get a card from someone I know, I'd much prefer they actually wrote something to me, even if it's just a two liner. Even one of those Christmas letters is better than a generic, "Have a Merry Christmas! Love, person-you-know".

Actually, looking at this again, I don't think I'll be using this card. Not much space on it, although there is always the back, I guess. However, since I don't like how pen often makes marks on the front, too, when you write, I think I'm going to go with something like this:


 Or maybe this one instead:
I think the main question will be whether to go simple or photo-happy. Considering the huge amount of pictures on my hard drive, most taken just this year because I made backups and wiped the old computer before we moved, I suspect I will end up with the photo-overload card. Also, that gives me more fodder for conversation when I fill them out. Decisions, decisions...

Well, while I go ponder that, I'll leave you with one last link. One of the more interesting thing about photo sites is that you can always find different things to have your photos printed on. I checked out Shutterfly's photo gift page just to see if they had anything new, and found this. It's a little pricey, but I'm seriously thinking about it. My kids would be completely thrilled to have a gigantic decal of themselves on the wall, although the idea of it is making me laugh out loud.

Actually, now that I think about it, this would have been a great gift for them while their daddy was deploying. A pic of the the three of them, life-size. Ah, well, something to consider if we end up heading back to a boat in two years.

1 sonar pings:

MOMSWEB said...

It's been a while since I dropped by and I'm glad today was the day. This sounds like a great idea. I can't remember the last time I sent out Christmas cards, but my mother does it faithfully every year. Thanks for sharing!