You may say, and I’m sure you would be right, that stores are trotting out their Christmas sales and decorations earlier every year. To me, that seems more nagging than festive. Why am I seeing Christmas decorations everywhere before we’ve even reached Halloween? Each of us actually sees the world differently from anyone else; I’m more of a last minute shopper, but it’s ok to have some of your Christmas gifts in mind or even have someone else’s stashed away in a closet.
If it’s really that time of year, that means one thing, time to start thinking about your holiday greetings.
I know that I have to think about ordering my custom-made, personalized Christmas cards well before Christmas. For friends and family, that might be as simple as shooting off a mass text message or using a “social network”.
While adding standard best wishes to a greeting card or electronic message sounds simple enough, a few questions about how to write them properly often come up.
A good quality greeting card can help show that you value your friends, family and business colleagues and skimping on your selection can be interpreted in a number of ways. Well the same holds true for your greeting cards, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Your recipients might take it as a sign that business has not been good or that they aren’t worth a little investment. For most this means minding grammar rules.
Happy Holidays
With so many people celebrating different holidays at the same time of year, this has become a catch-all greeting to cover everything. While “holidays” isn’t technically a proper noun, in this instance, it is being used to replace words that are. So, capitalizing it is common practice and is acceptable even when it’s part of a sentence, as in “Happy Holidays to you and your family.” Outside of this use, lowercase “holidays,” as in “I hope you enjoy the holidays.”
Our Striped Holiday Photo Card is not only perfect for the Christmas Holiday, but they’re also great to send out for any other special occasion throughout the year. Just upload your favorite photo and personalize with your own message. They are so versatile; they can be used as baby announcements, graduation invitations, wedding and anniversary parties, or any other special event.
Holiday Greeting Photo Cards is a perfect two-tone flat blue card to add your favorite photo and holiday greeting to.
Season’s Greetings
Multiple holidays are celebrated in one combined season, so use an apostrophe and “s” to show that you are sending greetings of the season. Also, treat this catch-all greeting like “Happy Holidays” and capitalize both words.
Snowman in Snow Storm Holiday Cards is a charmingly abstract way to see a snowman, this clever card will make everyone on your card list smile.
Partridge in a Pear Tree Holiday Cards are accented in elegant green and gold and feature a partridge in a pear tree. Inside, the greeting “Wishing you all the splendor of the Season” is pre-printed in Black ink.
Damask Photo Christmas Card has pretty green and white damask pattern that decorates these flat cards. They are perfect for sharing your favorite photo with family and friends this holiday season.
Best wishes for the holiday season
The holidays are a special time of year, and it’s tempting to emphasize this by capitalizing any word associated with them. In general, capitalize only proper nouns, such as the name of a holiday, and the first letter in a sentence.
Cardinal Holiday Cards has a little red cardinal that sits on a decorated branch. Inside, the message “Greetings of the Season and Best Wishes for the New Year” is pre-printed in Red ink.
Black Top Hat Holiday Card is decorated for the holidays. Inside, the message reads “Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year” and is pre-printed in Red ink.
Pink Ornaments Holiday Card has shades of pink and gray that form the backdrop for three holiday ornaments decorated in Red, Green, Blue and White. The inside verse “Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year” is pre-printed in Red ink.
Merry Christmas or Merry Xmas
“X” is the symbol for the first letter in the Greek word for Christ and has long been used as a shortened spelling of the holiday. But some people are put off by the substitution. If you’re not sure about the preference of the person you’re sending greetings to, you won’t go wrong with “Merry Christmas.”
Another Christmas Season Photo Christmas Card has your photo framed by a double red border on these folded holiday cards. They’re perfect for sharing your favorite photo with friends and family this holiday season. The inside of the card is personalized with your choice of sentiment.
Yuletide Photo Christmas Card has your favorite photograph surrounded by festive holiday colors.
Favorite Things Photo Christmas Card makes your favorite photo look like a pretty package on flat photo cards. You can add your personalized sentiment below the photo.
Warm wishes
If trying to remember when to capitalize is too taxing, keep it simple by avoiding words that might need it. Most people will care less about your grammar and more about the sentiment of your greetings.
Santa and Flag Holiday Cards Combine the spirit of the holiday with your patriotic pride on these holiday cards.
Vines and Berries Photo Card Pretty vines and berries against an ivory background create a cheerful border for your favorite photo. Personalize it with your choice of sentiment.
Red Stripe and Green Dot Photo Cards create a festive frame for your favorite photo. Just mount your 4″ x 6″ photo on the front.
Silver and White Dot Photo Cards help you share your favorite photo with family and friends. Just mount your favorite 4″ x 6″ photo on the front.
Happy Hanukkah
The biggest question many people have is about the right way to spell the name for the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukkah, Hannukah, and Chanukah are all common spellings, even Hanukka and Hanuka alternatives.
Peace on earth
Similar to “deck the halls,” capitalize “peace” only if it begins a sentence. No need to capitalize “earth.”
Santa Peace Sign Holiday Cards A jolly santa holds a peace sign on these cute holiday cards. On the inside, the message “Merry Christmas and a New Year full of happiness” is pre-printed in Red ink.
Fleece Navidad Holiday Cards is a clever twist on the greeting “Feliz Navidad” which will give everyone on your card list a chuckle this holiday season. The inside has the printed message “I wanna wish you a merry christmas!” in Red ink.
Angel Horn Holiday Cards Trumpeting the holiday season, this angel sends glad tidings to all. These cards are blank on the inside. The inside has the printed message “happy holidays” in Red ink.
Deck the halls
Adapting expressions from popular holiday songs can be a fun way to send well wishes, as in “Hope you have fun decking the halls.” Unless proper nouns or the start of a sentence is involved, lowercase is appropriate. Quotation marks can be used to emphasize the fact that you’re borrowing from what might be licensed material, but if the expression is well-known, using them is more a matter of preference than official style.
Silver and White Reindeer Christmas Cards are given a splash of color with cheery red ornaments decorating the reindeer’s antlers. They come blank on the inside.
Tree and Truck Holiday Cards has a cheerful red truck that hauls a Christmas tree to its new home.
Happy New Year
The official holiday is New Year’s Day, but it’s acceptable to keep the capital letters for this standard greeting. Also, note that New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve are written with an apostrophe before the “s.”
Black and Silver Happy New Year Cards Black, White and Silver cards are perfect for sending out your New Year wishes. The inside message “Wishing you all the joys of this Holiday Season!” is pre-printed in Black ink.
Don’t forget the details when spreading your holiday cheer by adding that extra touch with personal seals or address labels.
Joy Holiday Seals are a delightful time-saver for your holiday season. Just peel and stick to your packages and cards and they are ready to go!
Christmas Tree Seals are a delightful time-saver for your holiday season.
Blessings Seal and Label Set adds a touch of elegance to your holiday correspondence with this blessings labels and seals set.
Whatever you celebrate, I hope that you use these guidelines and remember to take a moment to send well wishes to clients, colleagues and friends.