Why I'll Never Buy Another Greeting Card Again

Earlier this year, I made an important decision as a consumer: I will never buy another pre-written greeting card from the store again. After more than 20 years of receiving these types of cards, which are intended to convey how people feel about me (and are written by some anonymous author), I refuse the convention in my personal life (if I can help it).

I feel convinced that many people use pre-written cards as a crutch - because either they cannot convey their own sentiments or perhaps they have nothing to say. As a writer, I can appreciate this type of writing that freelancers out there may take up regularly...however, the problem I have is that often, the messages often typify and make broad assumptions about relationships. Is there only one way to feel about a mother, a father, a brother, or your hairdresser? For those who haven't discovered so yet - there is at least 1,001 different kinds of mother-daughter, son-father, brother-sister, granddaughter - grandfather, etc relationships. And what about those of us who choose not to have "traditional" relationships? I can't tell you how HARD it had been to find my boyfriend Mike a decent card that's not prefaced to "my husband".

Why is it difficult for us to break into honesty instead of asking a "faceless stranger" to define the things we value in the people who are in our lives? After having the same message on every holiday, it has certain grown into an empty, numb reaction. And hey, how about a "holiday" card that is not completely created for the Christian audience? Is it really accurate to assume everyone is a Baptist or Methodist? I feel like these "cut and paste" messages have been used for too many years - it's almost to the point where phrases like "I love you" and "thank you" are recycled too much to have the same impact it once did.

I would absolutely applaud the revolutionizing of the entire way we write, sell, buy greeting cards. This is not a call to action for every consumer to abandon the greeting card aisles. I can appreciate that this is a convention that works for some people, maybe it is a better alternative to an wordless card when there's nothing to say to people. But as a creative writer myself, I don't think it works for me to box and label my relationships now or ever again.