1000 Flowers for the Planet - #14 Buy Cards Without Plastic
Recently I needed to purchase a card for a wedding I was
attending. Sadly I found it’s becoming harder to find a nice card that isn’t
packaged in plastic. I do understand that it is probably for the protection of
the product from being shop soiled and damaged, which wastes good product in
the end. However, I’d rather not buy plastic packaging if I can avoid it, so I
limit my search to those cards in the shop that come a la naturale. When I was growing up there was a
definite etiquette to card-giving. If you were attending an event, such as a
wedding or birthday party, you would be giving a gift, and so a small gift tag
was all that was required on the parcel. A large greeting card for the occasion
would be sent in the event of an inability to attend, and this would be posted
through the mail (that’s snail mail, of course). When writing in the card, the
names for multiple persons would be written in the order of head of the house
first, wife second then children in order of age. The sender would sign off using
the name of the related person first, then spouse, then children in order of
age. E.G. If I was sending a card to my parents I would sign off with my name
first, then my husband’s. Likewise if I was sending a card to my parents-in-law
I would sign of my husband’s name first, then mine. There was also a lot of
etiquette about addressing the envelope too, but it’s rather involved. Perhaps
you could do an internet search for modern etiquette, but in the meantime, buy
greeting cards without the little plastic cover.
