Christmas Card Etiquette Tips!

As you’re thinking about Christmas cards this year, I wanted to share a few helpful etiquette tips as you think about your family’s card this year.

Q: What is the proper listing of names on a Christmas card when there are children? 

A: The family name:

The Jones Family

If listing a family with children typically list the husband first, wife followed by children oldest to youngest:

The Jones Family

Thomas, Marie, Emily, Evan and Gracie

Ages are optional!

Couples without children could also be: 

Marie and Thomas Jones

Q:  Do you address the envelope to “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith” or “The Smith Family.” (Does it matter?)

Q: How does one figure out how to pluralize their last name?

A: Use the plural form of your last name and not the possessive form

Correct: The Collier Family or The Colliers; Incorrect:  The Colliers’ or Collier’s

Correct: The  Joneses; Incorrect: The Jones’s

The only proper use of the possessive form is when the invitation reads:  “Please join us at The Colliers’ Home.”  We see this mistake a lot and we don’t want it to happen to you!

Q: What other grammar things to people need to know?

A: That Pesky Comma! The Oxford comma is common practice for every day use, but it can sometimes be unnecessary and even distracting on a holiday card.  It’s a matter of personal preference, though!

Q: Who do you send cards to? Just out-of-town friends and family and business associates or everyone we know?

I think you can send cards out to anyone, people you see daily to friends and family afar. I love the tradition of printed cards in our digital age. I love hearing how people save their cards from year to year. One lady I know would bundle each years cards in a beautiful ribbon and display them each year at Christmas. She and her family would have so much fun going back through them and remembering days gone by.

Q: Any other tips when ordering Christmas cards? 

A: Order some extra cards! I think it is nice to have some extras to send out to someone who sent you a card and you did not have them on your original list.