This post brought to you by eCards from American Greetings. All opinions are 100% mine.
I don’t know about you, but some months are just packed with birthdays around here! March is one of those months for us. We have one day with 3 on the same day. It’s a month full of celebrations, and as fun as it is, it gets expensive!
We don’t live close to most of our extended family and long time friends, so we either mail a package, or more commonly just send a card. The price of cards shocks me every time. I’m not a very sentimental person and I can’t stand clutter, so when the birthday is over, the cards go in the trash. They only make it to the memory box if there is a very special note written in the card. I have a hard time paying $5 for every card, when I know it’s just going to be pitched in a few days – especially for the number of cards I buy in March!
You might know by now that I’m kind of a techie type and I don’t mind using technology to make life easier. A few weeks ago I was contacted about reviewing the American Greetings new eCards, and they picked exactly the right month to contact me! I was all for it.
My “guinea pig” for testing the eCard was my best friend. I wondered if I would find something she’d like, and I was very happy with what I found!
My best friend and I have one of those stupid humor kind of relationships. When we’re together we are just like two teenagers that stayed up too late and are laughing at the absolutely ridiculous. Yep, that’s us all the time. She’s one of the only people I know who would sincerely appreciate a silly, yodeling birthday greeting with dancing goats singing her name. Yep, that’s our humor.
I know eCards are nothing new, but I absolutely love how technology has advanced even in the eCard industry. You need to check these out. There are so many options to choose from, I can’t even begin to describe it here. There are video cards (like I sent to my friend) which will sing the recipient’s name as well as other options you can choose to further personalize it. You can choose their eye and hair color, their favorite thing to do, and even select their age – specifically or generally.
You know what the best part about these eCards is? I don’t have to mail them! At least not via snail mail. They can, however, be emailed, sent directly to mobile devices, or posted to someone’s Facebook page (which is what I did). Now she can enjoy her birthday greeting whenever she wants with absolutely NO clutter! And, she can play it again and again (like my kids made me do while I was sending it to her).
The cost of membership to send the eCards is incredibly reasonable. At just $3.99 per month, you can send cards to your family and friends without adding more clutter to their lives. I think the real bargains are in the annual and bi-annual memberships though. A one year membership is $19.99 or just $29.99 for a two year membership. The two year membership costs me less than buying paper cards in the month of March alone, not to mention the cost of mailing all of those cards!
There are so many cards to choose from and they are all included in your membership – even the video eCards. I bought the membership, and was happy I did. The eCard I sent to my friend was a big hit. Oh yes, you can even send a gift card along with it if you would like to.
Check out this video and definitely head over to American Greetings to Learn more about their selection of eCards and Make your American Greetings eCard now. Would you like to try it before buying a membership? No problem! They have a 7-day free trial membership.
What a great idea! My crazy month is June! Husband 12, daughter 13, son 14, son in law 20, anniversary 25 and new grandson due on the 14th! Gotta love June!
Hello Ginny, love your blog. And today I took some time to read your post about cards while I was eating since I love sending cards now. I use to never do it, but I learned that we should show kindness now and not wait until they passed away. I have a hard time to keep up with everything also, since I’m homeschooling also 4 of my kids right now. I just have a hard time with ecards though, because I know that I am one of them, that don’t open those emails, because I never have time to read my emails, and when I read my emails, I just read the important ones. Was wondering how you deal with that… and what we should do.
Great point, Anne-Marie! I chose to send the e-card to my friend on her Facebook page so she didn’t have to deal with an email. I know she’s on Facebook and would see it right away without cluttering up her email inbox. Inboxes are VERY hard to keep up with and there is no easy way out. I try to set aside some time and purge unimportant emails as frequently as I can. If you set aside just a few minutes a day it helps to keep it from being overwhelming. That said, some days they can pile up before I can blink my eyes. I love creating folders in my email program. If it’s something I need to deal with immediately, I leave it in my inbox. If it’s something I want to read later, I put it in my “read later” folder. I also keep track of pending emails by putting them in a folder. Once the event (or whatever) is over, I can delete the whole folder.
This is good to know about. I LOVE the idea of cutting down on clutter. You and your friend sound like a lot of fun!
Thanks, Morgan. 🙂
Thanks Ginny for the great advice. I really need to do something like that. With my personal experience, I found out that my friends are more likely to appreciate receiving a real greating card through the mail, it made them smile or made their day better than reading a an ecard while reading a bunch of other stuff. It made also kids love receiving something through the mail at their own NAME… But I LOVE your idea on organizing your inbox into folders. That is awesome. I don’t have much time to go to stores to buy that stuff either but found a company on internet that does it all for you so I can send my real cards from home and not having to go to stores or post office. That is the only reason why I do it that way and it’s a lot cheaper than store’s cards. But again, you are awesome, and so many great advices. Love your site. Keep up the good work Genny.