Anybody can outsource their greeting cards or birthday cakes. But what a statement of love it is to labor over these symbols yourself, in person, with your own hands!
Do you buy greeting cards for the people closest to you? Why not make them instead? Oh, sure, you won’t create a work of art or make some witty saying like those store-bought greeting cards. But it’s not for art or wit that you are giving the card, right?
A hand-made card shows that you took the time to do something special for your loved one. Let me repeat that with the right emphasis: A hand-made card shows that YOU took the time to do something special for your loved one.
You wouldn’t outsource your hugs. You wouldn’t outsource your hand shakes. You wouldn’t outsource your kisses or your smiles or your phone calls. These are all personal expressions of your feelings toward other people and they are the very last things you would outsource.
Greeting cards are also supposed to be personal expressions of your affection for somebody else. Don’t outsource your greeting cards to some factory somewhere. Make your own and show that they really do come from the heart. From your heart.
Taken from today’s Daily Dose of Happiness.
Update June 2013: It’s not just the greeting cards. It can be any token of your appreciation, love or esteem for a person. A week ago, we set this cake on fire for our eldest daughter:
It was not the first time we went all-out on cakes. We’ve done castles and waterfalls and once we did the Sorting Hat of Harry Potter fame. But it does not have to be so fancy; it just has to be personal.
Who has the time to make a hand made card these days?
that’s right!
i give personalized cards to my loved ones =)
its most appreciated when its hand made since it comes from the heart =)
I make my own cards most of the time, but I don’t always have the time for that.
But ofcourse it’s a great idea and it shows your love. However it soms as much love if your sending a factorized card, it is the thought that counts 😉
Hey!
I started writing a blog myself and was just surfing the net to look for the useful ideas. And accidentally I came to your blog and the post which caught my eyes was this one, about the greeting cards. As to the first commenter: everyone has time to make hand made cards! work less at the weekends, drink less on Saturday night, spend less time in front of TV and you will for sure have a spare hour to make a card!
Anyways, its a grate blog and I am willing to come back. Hope you will have time to visit mine, im writing about self-help. This is my last post where i share exercise which helps me to live in happiness.
http://www.coachteam.org/?p=50
I will buy a standard card, but draw on it, cross out some things and add in details in order to personalize it.
I don`t have enough time to make a card
Amen to that! I remember making more than two dozen Christmas cards for my aunts and uncles when I was a kid. Luckily for me and my mom, my natural artistic inclination helped cut cost(on my mom’s part) while providing a very lucrative and enjoyable pastime after doing tedious homework. But I do agree that nothing personalized simple greetings more than a self-made card. Heck, we don’t have to be Michael Angelo to write a simple Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas. As the adage goes, “It is always the thought that counts.”
It’s an e-card world. Better go for that rather than wasting ur time.
I have grandchildren and I love it when Mom helps them make a card for me. When my children were small they would make card for me and I still have every one of them. As you say would you let someone else give you that hug you need from that special person.
Great idea and I am glad you wrote about it. Espeacial with the price of cards these days.
Debbie
When we give cards wit;h personalize touch this is always special because it includes our seniment.
I couldn’t agree with you more. The cards I have appreciated in my life, I mean REALLY appreciated and remembered, are those that were made by the senders.
I think in our society sometimes, almost always, the degree of excellence of presentation is emphasized over what I would call “heart” content.
Dolly Parton’s song “Coat of Many Colors,” about the coat her mother made from castoff rags, is so touching because the kids at school mocked her because the coat wasn’t store bought. And, yet, Dolly to this day treasures the memory of that coat, as she should.
Again, a reminder about the toysperiod dot com webiste address. Thanks for being there for your readers.
Dr. Ann
Personalized cards from kids is great – you just gotta love what they draw, even if it’s horrible.
@Dr. Ann Voisin
Coat of Many Colors is one of my daughters’ favorite songs. They keep asking, “Why did they laugh at her?” “That’s not very nice.”
I just started making my own cards and actually made both my save the date cards and invitations for my wedding! I never knew I could be crafty!
I think that it’s important to personalize your own way of love to the people who are closest to you! It’s a deeper form of appeciation! With out using personality to express the way one loves the person who is closest to them, he or she might look over the regular card! Gratitude in a deeper way is one of the best expressions a person can give!
I think having the time is less of the issue, it’s more about how important the person is to you. You can always start small so you don’t overextend yourself. Anyway, good post.
Hand made cards are available in the market now, i love hallmark cards
This is not about cards, its about making sure yo ur content is original.
I love when I get a card from my kids. I have a 4 and 6 year old and they are always making me stuff at school. The 4 year old cards are a bunch of scribbles, dried glue, and glitter, but my 6 year old is starting to write pretty well and some of her commentary is heartwarming and hilarious.