The results shocked me multiple times and I definitely wished I had an upgraded Survey Monkey plan (those aren't free, so that's not going to happen) so that I could have asked all the questions I wanted to, but here's what I got. I've included screen shots if possible, and Seth helped me analyze the comments sections to attempt clear, un-skewed results to share (because the comments won't all fit on one page in order for me to screen shot them, I had to compile manually and you'll have to trust me that I'm accurately portraying the results.)
If you took a few minutes to complete my survey, THANK YOU! The results are below. Enjoy!
(Disclaimer: I LOVE Christmas cards. It's my favorite part of the season. Some people enjoy the shopping or the wrapping or the baking or the singing or the lights or the tree... I enjoy cards. I love making them, I love addressing the envelopes, I love writing our letter, I love receiving cards. Biased responses are included with the raw data below. It is not my intention to offend anyone, but to simply give you the data alongside my opinions. ;-)
THE SURVEY SAYS:
QUESTION 1: Do you send Christmas cards?
The results were overwhelmingly that people DO send them. Only about 7% of people who took it do NOT send cards. (It's obviously very possible that a person who doesn't send cards wouldn't take the time to fill out a survey about them, so I wouldn't be surprised if these results wouldn't be accurate across the entire nation if everyone took the survey, but it also seems very reasonable to me. Just by the sheer number of cards I receive!)
Comments Data: Five people gave a comment, those are viewable below.
QUESTION 2: On average, how many cards do you send?
After wanting to know if people send cards, I wanted to know how many cards people send. (This is one of the four original questions that burns in my head every December.) I don't think I personally know anyone who sends more cards than we do (about 95)--at least not that I've talked with about this, so the number of people who send loads and loads of cards was surprising to me. The most common range was 26-50 cards with about 36% of responders answering that category. But 11% send over 126 cards!
Comments Data: This comment section was about how many coworkers were included in peoples' cards they send. Nine people said that no coworkers were included while the other two categories were 1-5 coworkers and 6+ coworkers and those categories were tied with about 12 responders each.
QUESTION 3: How many different states do you send to?
The third burning-in-my-head question is wondering how many places people send to. As someone who has lived in four states in the past 10 years, I figured our number (10 states, 4 countries) would be super high compared to most people, but somewhere out there are people who have loved ones more spread out than we do! Three people send to over 16 states. 16+ states!?!?! Woah. The most common response was 4-6 states with about 39% of responders answering that category.
Comments Data: The comment section was about how many other countries people send to. Results were pretty much all even, with half of the responders saying they send to no other countries and half saying they send to 1 or more countries (most of those said 2+).
QUESTION 4: Do you send a "Christmas Letter" with your cards?
And the last question that always gets me fired up is that of the Christmas letter. We send one, but we are very clearly in the minority. 84% of people do not send a letter with their cards.
Comments Data: The data was pretty evenly split between 1) people not having/making time and 2) people thinking that people (either they themselves or other people) don't care to know what's going on with their lives or that they already know everything because of social media. There was a sprinkling of responses of people who do some version of the letter most years. (More thoughts, but those will come in the summary.)
QUESTION 5: Do you write a message inside the card?
I've noticed a trend in the cards that I receive that people aren't writing messages anymore. Sometimes, people don't even sign their name, they just stick a pre-printed card in the envelope and toss it in the mail. That is so far from my consciousness (because I make my cards and have just never pre-printed our names inside and because the message is my absolute favorite part) that I didn't even include that as a possible response but I should have. 57% of people who responded just sign their names. (But I'm wondering if some people actually do nothing, but selected that category since I accidentally didn't give them any other, more accurate option.)
Comments Data: There were no comments to this question.
QUESTION 6: How do you address the envelopes?
This was the first result that shocked me so much I nearly fell out of the chair. I get so many cards with labels these days that the "By hand" category simply floored (and elated!) me. Of the people who took the survey, 70% address their envelopes by hand! (Remember, this is my favorite part of the season, so I must admit that I do somewhat look "down" upon cards with labels. --Not that I am proud of that reaction of mine! But I'm just being real here.-- Much like a baker might look upon someone who brings store-bought cookies to a cookie exchange. Or the way a wrapper might look at someone who uses only bags for wrapping. It's hard to see someone not go to the full extent when that full extent is something that brings you great joy. It's simply hard to understand. That's not me judging people who use labels, it's me wondering why they don't find joy in hand-writing them like I do. ... More thoughts, but that'll come in the summary.)
Comments Data: There were no comments to this question.
QUESTION 7: Do you make or buy your cards?
As I figured, pretty much no one makes their cards every year. 76% of responders never make/always buy their cards.
Comments Data: I was also curious about how much people spend per card but didn't have any more questions available to me (you can only do 10 with the free survey monkey plan), so I did a comment. The results were hard to tally with this one (one person put "$8", but I'm assuming that's error or that's not per card as the question was asked), but basically most people spend right around $1-- $.75-$1.25, I'd say was the most common.
QUESTION 8: Anything else you'd like to add? (Specifically, I'd love to know what you do with the cards you've received once the season is over. Trash? Upcycle? Keep?)
This question was purely a comments question, so I have no picture to show you.
Comments Data: The majority of people keep their cards. Some people leave them up for a month and then recycle them, but 20 of the 30 responders keep them in some fashion: just year to year on the fridge--when the new one comes the old gets recycled, in a big basket they put out each year, on a ring with a cover to display each year, or in a big ziplock because they think they should be keeping them, but can't decide what to actually do with them (me). Three people said they keep some and recycle others and 7 people responded that they automatically recycle them when the season is over.
The other feedback I got was that people LOVE cards. Several people said they love giving them and love getting them. Also, people commented they don't do the same things year after year.
QUESTION 9: (Where did you grow up?)
This question was purely a response question, so I have no picture to show you.
Comments Data: The data was not surprising, given who was asking for responses: 30 responders grew up in Texas, 15 in Wisconsin, 3 in California, 3 in Georgia, 2 in Kansas and 1 each in: Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana.
QUESTION 10: Are your Christmas Card sending habits the same as your parents?
This was the second question that made me jump. First of all, I realize this was poorly worded and that the two middle answers are essentially the same. So that skews the results a little. It makes the "No, not at all" category appear bigger than it actually is. Combining the middle two categories, though, the winner is still the No's--58% of people's card habits are nothing like their parents. While 40% are somewhere in the middle.
Comments Data: The biggest thing that shocked me here, was that 20 of the 29 comments included some version of "my parents never sent cards". WHAT!? It's shocking to me. (More thoughts coming in the summary.) Of what was left, half said they do more than their parents did/do and half said they do less.
SUMMARY: The results sorta confirmed my overall suspicion. I am pretty much alone in enjoying Christmas cards so much! Oh, some people said they like them--giving and receiving, but people also repeatedly said they don't have time for them the way they want. That's never the case for me. I might not have time for other things like baking and such, but I always make time for cards. To me, it seems that your priorities determine what you have time for. My priority is making and writing (actually writing on the card!) and addressing envelopes. I love to connect with my people and most of my people aren't near me and aren't on social media.
That brings me to my second point. Overwhelmingly, people said that their parents didn't send cards, so it might seem that card-sending is more common/more important/more typical now than it used to be. When social media didn't exist. So, social media exists now, and a lot of people don't see the value in writing and sending Christmas letters, but they do send cards. What is the point of a card, then, if you're not sharing information with people? I love getting letters and pictures and notes from people. My least favorite cards are the store-bought cards with a generic pre-printed message and signatures at the bottom. It tells me nothing of what's going on with their family or what they look like now or anything. It seems useless to me. (Remember, I'm coming from a place where I'm not near most of my loved ones and of those distant loved ones, the majority aren't on social media, so I realize I must be in the minority here.) Christmas cards, for me, are a time once a year to connect with people that I don't see enough and wish I could connect with more. It's a time to set aside space to make that connection happen. A season of taking the time when I don't take the time (often enough) the rest of the year. And I long for the connection to be reciprocated, so when I get a card with a signature, I wish I had gotten a letter or a picture or something. Something in the way of an update on their lives.
One person commented "nobody cares about your families year" under the "Do you send a "Christmas Letter"with your cards?" and I just cannot wrap my mind around it. If the person getting a card from me doesn't care about our year, then why would they care about getting a card? They want a piece of cardstock with our names on it but don't want to know what we've been up to? Especially if that's all they hear from me for most of the year (when I allow the busy-ness of life to overtake me)? Seth tells me that I'm in the minority about my passionate response to that comment, but I just don't understand. I'm glad to know that some people feel letters are "braggy" or that some people "can't stomach those things," but I pray that those that get my letters don't feel that way. I certainly never intend for them to only be the positives from our year. Last year's letter was full of crappy stuff-job loss, car accidents, etc. One person said they did a Favorite Things from the Past Year thing instead of a letter. That might be something I consider in the future--maybe we each choose something to say (when the boys are older).
In conclusion, please don't take what I've said in response to the data as The Way. It's just My Way (and My Opinions), and I'm glad to have gathered data on Others' Ways. Perhaps you'll take something away from this data or perhaps it'll have just been an interesting read. I, for one, plan on doing something different with the way I keep cards each year. I like the idea of keeping them (to one day have to look back on), but the ziplock baggies are not cutting it. I also liked learning how few people make their cards. As life gets busier and busier around here, I might start buying them. I've always enjoyed the creative process that goes into the making, but the writing of the cards is more important and I feel it's getting sacrificed in my crunch for time alone with my thoughts (naptime and bedtimes). We're also sending more cards now, so the making process simply takes longer, even when I try to make them as simple as possible. That's hard to even write, though, because I've been making my Christmas cards for about 12 or 13 years, so the idea of buying feels akin to giving up. But I think it might be time to move on. Sigh. We'll see...
I would LOVE to hear any and all reactions to the data. Anything I missed? Leave a comment!
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