The Handwritten Birthday Card

A few weeks ago I went to pick up a birthday card for a family member. While I was looking through the birthday cards at my local Duane Reade, I have some thoughts that I want to share with you. I’m going to let this post be the spark of some future ideating, and I encourage everyone to respond to my prompt at the end.  

It seems like there’s a digital version of just about everything. That includes birthday cards. The thing is, though, that sending someone a birthday e-card is not really enough. If I sent my mom an e-card on her birthday, she’d be disappointed that I didn’t make the effort.

That’s the key word: effort.

There’s not a digital replacement for effort. It’s a sort of intangible that has a lot of meaning. When you get a birthday card in the mail, it says that the person cares enough about you to inconvenience their day with the following process:

1. Stop what you are doing

2. Travel to local drug store

3. Locate the aisle that has greeting cards

4. Locate the cards customized for birthdays

5. Choose a birthday card that suits the receiver

6. Walk to counter and pay for card

7. Go back to home/office and find pen

8. Handwrite a short, but meaningful note

9. Put card in envelope

10. Lick envelope

11. Seal the envelope shut

12. Look up receivers address

13. Write address on front of card

14. Write your address on top left of card

15. Add a stamp (more licking required)

16. Walk to mailbox

17. Put card in mailbox

It’s a process. It’s time. It’s effort. And the person who receives the birthday cards know that you did it for them. They know, whether consciously or subconsciously, that you were thinking of them the whole time. Most importantly, they know that they mean enough to you for you to go through that process.

So with all that said, what could possibly replace the role of the birthday card?

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