The benefits of sending out holiday cards to your customers are clear: you remind the clients you are out there during one of the prime shopping seasons, and you strengthen your relationship with customers because of the personal attention. However, while you may know that sending holiday cards is a good idea, selecting the specific card to send can be a bit more of a challenge. Fortunately, here are some tips that can help you to pick the perfect cards.

Choosing the Right Holiday Cards For Your Business

When you choose holiday cards for your business, the first thing to decide is whether you want to buy generic cards from the store or whether you want to print or purchase cards specific to your business. Some companies will send out a picture of their staff around a Christmas tree, for example, or they may send a card that is related to their industry. While you wouldn’t want to send a card that is a blatant advertisement of course, there are many ways to send theme cards that tie directly into who you are and what you do. For instance, a vet might send a card with a cat or dog dressed up in a Santa suit, while a car dealership could have a picture of Santa in a cool new convertible.

Once you’ve decided on the general type of card you want to buy, the next step is to make sure you pick cards that are appropriate in subject matter. This means you should stay away from anything that is overtly or clearly representing only one religion, unless you have specific knowledge that the persons or people you are sending the card to are members of that particular religion. Assuming all customers celebrate the same holidays you do is a recipe for offense, but a generic holiday or winter greeting card can send warm wishes that will appreciated by all. You also don’t want to send a card that could possibly offend in another way, such as a card with humor that could be taken incorrectly.

Finally, be sure that any card you select is a quality card and not something that looks or feels cheap. The card is a direct representation of your business and a customer who gets an obviously low cost card will often wonder why you made the effort to send anything at all. A card that is of good quality, on the other hand, reflects well on your business and helps the recipient to see that you really care.

—

Monique Trulson works for eInvite, an online retailer of holiday cards for business, birth announcements, wedding invitations, stationery and more.

Every holiday season, many of us look forward to eating special treats made using long-held and cherished family recipes.  Many families have holiday food traditions they hold dear.  There are those who cannot imagine a holiday without Grandma’s date pinwheel cookies or Great Uncle Peter’s cornbread stuffing.  Year after year, we enjoy these treats and use them as a way to stay connected with our families and personal histories.

More than mere sustenance, the traditional foods we enjoy year after year are a source of family pride and lead to conversations about family members and fond memories of holidays past.  Family food traditions can be one of the most important parts of the holiday season for many people.

There was once, however, a time in each and every family history before those recipes existed.  Grandma had to make those date pinwheel cookies for the first time.  When she did, she may have placed them right next to sugar cookies made with her Grandma’s secret recipe, having no idea they would become such an integral part of the holiday.  Great Uncle Peter’s cornbread stuffing only came about because Great Aunt Beth was sick years ago and he had to come up with some way to stuff a bird himself on Christmas morning.  His reliance on a simple recipe card with a few personal touches started a family tradition, too.  Grandma and Great Uncle Peter didn’t intent to create a longstanding tradition that generation after generation would enjoy.  They simply hoped that they could add a little bit to the holiday meal by doing something different.

The holiday food traditions to which we now look forward were the byproducts of experimentation.  The creators of the original dishes may have never intended to make them again.  They just happened to feel like doing something different or adding something new to the holiday table.

Holiday food traditions are special to many of us, and it is wonderful to experience those comforting recipes each and every holiday.  It’s a great idea, however, to remember how those traditions began.  By realizing the source of those traditions, we can be spurred to create our own.

This holiday season consider doing something new.  Think about adding a different plate to the dinner or treat table.  Make a side dish not generally found on your holiday table or produce a cookie with which you are not familiar.  Try a few new ideas and see what happens.  Some of the new notions may not be universally well received.  Others may be enjoyed, but not to the extent of your family’s holiday classics.  One, however, might receive such rave reviews that you decide to try it again next year.

Over time, that simple decision to experiment may turn into part of your family’s traditional holiday table.  The new cookie recipe you find in a holiday recipe collection this year may eventually become a staple item that your great-grandchildren cannot imagine missing.

Traditions are important and enjoyable.  They form part of the essence of one’s family.  Wouldn’t it be nice to add your generation’s mark to the food traditions you all hold so dear?  Inventing new holiday traditions has no precise formula.  One cannot really intentionally “design” a new holiday food tradition.  They tend to grow over time.  However, new traditions do require a willingness to prepare an inventive new dish.  This holiday season, consider your potential role as a creator of a meaningful holiday tradition and add something new to the holiday feast.

Thanks for visiting the Christmas Holiday Ideas. Feel free to read articles and visit our sponsors!

And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord stood by them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you; ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace,
Good will toward men.

And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child. And all that heard it wondered at the things which were spoken unto them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, even as it was spoken unto them.

And when eight days were fulfilled his name was called:

JESUS