Life

5 Spontaneous Cards To Send This Fall

Not that you needed an excuse.

by Kate Brierley

I grew up in a big family that was very into handwritten cards. To this day, brightly colored envelopes adorn every available piece of real estate between the ornaments, lights, and candy canes on our annual Christmas tree. Our first tradition of the holiday morning is sitting in an ever-growing circle, taking turns reading those personalized greetings we picked out for each other.

The major holidays are fun, but there’s also a certain magic to finding spontaneous reasons to celebrate — or just reach out and send your love. Those in-between moments are opportunities to surprise your crew during times of anticipation, hardship, excitement, or simply just because (and in my experience, “just because” is one of the best excuses to celebrate). If these weird and wild COVID times have taught us anything, it’s that the everyday moments deserve their time in the spotlight.

And get this: With Hallmark’s new Sign & Send feature, you can choose a card online, snap a photo of your real-life, handwritten message, and let them do the rest — as in, Hallmark will stamp and mail the card for you. How’s that for easy? And pssst: Hallmark Crown Rewards members can use the code SIGNANDSEND to get their first card for free.

Here are just a few of the reasons I’m looking forward to (signing &) sending my love this fall.

An Ode To A New Abode

Whether an apartment, condo, house, RV, or even a dorm, a card is the perfect way to welcome them to their brand new happy place. No matter if they’re settled in or still staring at a room full of boxes wondering where the *bleep* to start (definitely not speaking from experience here), they’ll feel all the warm fuzzies with these new home wishes straight from your heart.

Some Heavy #NailedIt Vibes

Pop, fizz, clink! Even if those sounds can’t happen in person with a real-life toast (or three), this card’s full of the congratulatory boss love for someone whose hard work is finally getting recognized. They’re bound to feel like the star of their very own show (if only for the day), and bonus: It’ll also give them a much-needed confidence boost to carry them to the next step in their career.

A Very Punny Birthday

There’s just something about a message that sounds like it could have been written by you and/or your BFF, isn’t there? This one’s perfect for your punniest of pals on their special day. It’ll stack up (see what I did there?) perfectly among the collection of cards they keep coming back to for laughs again and again.

A Tenderhearted Truthbomb

When there’s no way around the toughness of a situation like a breakup or a job loss, sometimes the best thing you can do is just acknowledge it outright in solidarity. This card does exactly that, and offers a raw, real reminder that whatever they’re going through, they’re not going through it alone.

A Simple “Hello” That’s Not Via Text

Sure, we’re used to typing “hi,” “hello,” or “what’s up,” to friends and loved ones at the drop of a hat, but this sweet card is the perfect excuse to switch things up by sending an IRL message that they can hold in their hands. Send it to someone you haven’t gotten a chance to catch up with in a while, or address it to the bestie that you’re probably already texting at this moment anyway. Either way, they’ll smile knowing you put in some extra effort to make their day a little prettier.