Top 9 Efficient Alternatives for Evite That You Must Try NOW! How it Helps: Smilebox is a digital invitation service that lets you add music and animations to your invites. You can also choose to use your own pictures. You can create collages, Facebook covers, and slideshows. It provides you with the option to share your. Nov 29, 2019 Alternatives To Smilebox. Gone are those days when people had the time and luxury to write and read invitations inscribed on cards and paper. However, when it.
I love Christmas cards. They’re the lifeline to so many distant friends and family that keeps our relationships warm in the busiest of years. But they aren’t necessarily the greenest holiday tradition. The glitter and ribbons and foil don’t recycle well, a pack of cards almost surely arrives in a plastic wrapper, and then there’s all the fuel used to cart them from your mailbox to mine. Luckily, there are plenty of green alternatives to Christmas cards. Here are a few ideas.
Switching traditions
Number 1 on my list of green alternatives to Christmas cards—and my family’s personal approach—is the tradition of a holiday slideshow.
This year marks 10 years that my husband and I have been putting together a holiday slideshow—longer than we’ve been married.
Before that, I lovingly constructed handmade cards with stamps and glitter and ribbon—the works! But my Christmas card list was much shorter then, and my holiday to-do list was minimal. Fresh out of college, I had an abundance of time on my hands too.
A few years into that tradition I found myself frantically trying to print off some semi-homemade cards and track down the addresses of my friends (who were quite a mobile group in our early twenties). I changed “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” because I could only manage to get cards out before New Year’s.
By the time November rolled around the next year, I was actually dreading the whole Christmas card thing! That’s when I realized something needed to change. There is absolutely no point in holding on to a tradition that no longer serves you, especially when it—homemade cards—is self-imposed.
So I started looking for alternatives to Christmas cards, and I lit upon the idea of a holiday slideshow instead. And the best part is, it was a much greener approach.
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Going green by going digital
Let’s be honest, addressing and stamping a pile of cards isn’t really my idea of a good time. And I have a fairly mobile set of friends, so keeping up with people’s addresses can be a little tricky. But email addresses don’t change that often, which makes digital holiday greetings a great green alternative to Christmas Cards.
Alternative #1: Make a holiday slideshow
While making a holiday slideshow instead of Christmas cards each year doesn’t necessarily save me time, I truly enjoy the process of putting it together. And the feedback I get from the recipients makes it a winning tradition for me.
For the first eight years of our family’s holiday slideshow we used Smilebox, which made it super easy to create, edit, and send an animated holiday montage, complete with music. Smilebox also stores your address list, making it really easy to update each year. I had a paid subscription up until last year, and I really enjoyed it for the ease of use and storage of all of my old projects.
(I decided to cancel our Smilebox subscription to save money and now make our slideshow using the Photos app that came standard on my Mac. It takes a little longer and doesn’t have a super cute theme, but we’d run through most of the themes we liked on Smilebox—I do wish they’d add more.)
The alternative of a holiday slideshow is a good alternative for our family for several reasons. First, we aren’t on social media, so it’s a great way for us to update our friends and family and share pictures from the year that they don’t otherwise get from Facebook or whatnot.
I enjoy it because it forces me to take the time to look back over the year. It makes my heart full to recall all the people, events, and special moments we had to be thankful for. It’s also been a great platform for giving shoutouts to the happy things happening in the lives of our friends and family, like births, weddings, and special visits. (Not to mention, it helps prompt me to organize our pictures at least once a year and then back them up).
The hardest part each year seems to be paring it down to a reasonable run time. We try to stick to no more than 60 slides. But once I start counting my blessings through photos, I’m always amazed at how good I’ve got it. Preparing our holiday slideshow each year really helps me to keep an attitude of gratitude around the holiday season.
But the best part about our alternative Christmas card tradition is the feedback! Since we send them digitally, our Christmas “card” is a two-way communication street! I get back so many responses and several sweet emails that help me catch up and touch base with a few of our far flung friends each year.
If a holiday slideshow isn’t your cup of tea, take heart! There are still plenty of other alternative alternatives for a green holiday Christmas card tradition.
Alternative #2: Send an e-card
If you’d like to stick to a more traditional card format, there are a wealth of options out there for sending e-cards. There is plenty of variation in price points and services offered, so you’ll have to decide what’s important to you when finding a service provider.
I’ve used and enjoyed the free version of Punchbowl for other occasions. But a couple of other sites worth considering are Blue Mountain and Pingg.
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Alternative #3: Send an electronic newsletter
If you’ve got more to say, try sending an electronic newsletter instead of mailing one out. It saves stamps, envelopes, paper, and money!
If the idea of sharing your holiday greetings via email feels a little cold and impersonal to you, try this idea from The Thinking Closet: handwrite then scan your letter. If you are an awesome illustrator, you could add doodles, or you could also jazz it up with some photos.
Alternative #4: Prepare a voice greeting or a short holiday video
Sometimes just hearing a loved one’s voice can brighten your day. So why not send some holiday cheer via voice or video?
Christmas Greeting After the Beep is an app that makes it easy to share your audio message directly through voicemail or via Facebook, Twitter, or email. This would be absolutely precious for those families with young children!
Or, consider shooting a video greeting with your phone or computer and sending the link to your friends and family on a private channel on YouTube. You could get super scripted with it, or just go off the cuff. Whatever you do, I’m sure your viewers will get a real smile.
Alternative #5: Pick up the phone
I know it sounds crazy, but if you are feeling ambitious, pick up the phone and give someone a call.
Let them know you are calling in lieu of sending a Christmas card, and I bet they’ll feel honored that you took the time out of the busy holiday season to do it.
Greener alternatives to traditional Christmas cards
Alternative #6: Make it a postcard
If you really want to stick with a paper cards, then opt for a postcard instead. It saves more than half the amount of paper because there is no envelope involved, and it is easy to recycle. This is a great option for families who like to send a family portrait or collage around Christmas.
Alternative #7: Write a letter
My parents always send a holiday update in the form of a letter, and it’s a wonderful way to give a more detailed and personal account of your year. This is especially relevant for growing families or those with young kids.
We have journalist friends who send their newsletter in the design of a newspaper page each year. It’s adorable, hilariously written, and it includes pictures of the whole family, which I love to see.
Because there’s no glitter or foil involved, a holiday letter is very easily recycled after it is enjoyed.
Alternative #8: Buy eco-friendly cards
When buying traditional cards, source them carefully. There are some truly wonderful companies in the green Christmas card business.
Paper Culture is the picture of what a green company should look like. They source responsibly, practice green office habits like printing on both sides of a sheet of paper and composting, and best of all, they plant a tree for every purchase made. To date they have planted over a million trees! Their cards are simple, beautiful, and customizable. And they even offer the option of adding your own photos.
Another option is Tree-Free Greetings, a company that makes their gorgeous greeting cards from 100% post-consumer recycled paper with solar and wind power. They were also leaders in finding paper alternatives for cards such as hemp, Kenaf, and sugarcane pulp. Their commitment to USA-only manufacturing not only ensures quality, but it keeps your neighbors employed.
Alternative #9: Make cards from repurposed paper
If you want to get crafty, try hand making a card out of repurposed paper from your home. You could get creative with old magazines or even tissue paper from last year’s gifts. (Oh, am I the only one who saves tissue paper? Well, trust me, you totally should). Let your creativity soar!
If you’re more digitally crafty, then consider making a card on the computer that prints and folds on one piece of paper. My in-laws do this, and staging pictures for their ridiculous and funny family Chrismakuh card (Christmas + Hanukah) has become a time-honored family tradition. Easy to recycle, these cards are easy on the planet too.
Alternative #10: Purchase cards that support a cause
If you are going to buy cards anyway, why not let your money do double duty and support a charitable cause at the same time?
UNICEF has been selling cards for 60 years now to support their mission of saving and protecting children worldwide. They are committed to sustainable practices, and with your purchase they tell you how your funds will help their mission.
For example, a purchase of 20 Christmas cards provides 11 nourishment packets to malnourished children. Or a set of 12 Hanukah cards supports the vaccination against polio for 14 children.
Other options include cards that support the National Wildlife Federation, or Greet for Good, which sources cards for many different nonprofits. Or you could shop Cards for Causes, and they’ll donate 20 percent to the charity of your choice.
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Alternative #11: Reuse last year’s cards
Finally, consider saving the Christmas cards you get each year and breathing new life into them the next. You could tear off the fronts and create your own postcard (see no. X) or take a piece of paper to cover up last year’s message. Or, make new cards with old ones a la option #x. Either way, resist the conditioned response of shame at “regifting” your cards and realize that it’s better to pass along a pre-lived item than to simply throw it away nvthe gatbage.
If you think your homemade creations will be met with ridicule, simply draw in a recycling logo that hints at your motivations. That way you can not only spread some cheer but also the idea that Christmas cards don’t necessarily have to e a one-size-fits-all endeavor.
What’s your green alternative?
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Do you have any green alternatives to Christmas cards? What else are you doing to be green this holiday season? I’d love to hear in the comments below!