I was recently told about a new trend in greeting card giving:
Signing the cards with a post-it note. When you find a card to which you are particularly fond, you affix a post-it to the inside with your signature and any personal message you wish to extend, so that the recipient can use the card again.
I love this idea. It’s eco-friendly and turns the greeting card into a gift of sorts, a physical meme that the recipient can pass along to someone else.
I have a tradition of taking greeting cards that do not match the occasion and transforming them into something more appropriate, often to humorous results.
A “Sorry for the loss of your pet” card becomes a “Happy anniversary” card.
A “Congrats on your bar mitzvah” card transforms into a house warming card.
A card expressing support during a friend’s divorce becomes a card congratulating a couple on their recent nuptials.
In stark opposition to the trite and utterly meaningless application of one’s name to a pre-packaged, purchased sentiment, I believe that this tradition demonstrates my willingness to take a moment and attempt to create something that will hopefully make the recipient smile.
I sent one of these transformed cards to a friend recently, and she responded by calling me “a ridiculous person.”
I think she meant that in a good way.
In fact, there are people in my life who have come to expect these creations and feel ignored when I fail to deliver.
In order to be able to do this, I am in a constant search for odd and unique greeting cards. The more specific the card, the more fun I have transforming it into something else. The stranger the image on the card, the more fun I can have changing it into something else.
But if not for this tradition, I think I’d be adopting the post-it note idea. It’s got that special blend of nonconformity that will offend those who are foolishly invested in decorum and tradition (I love annoying fussy traditionalists ) while possessing just enough reason and logic behind it to make it almost unassailable.
Plus it’s good for the environment. How can someone complain about that?
