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Sending a greeting card to a caregiver is a nice thing to do.
Caregivers who proactively send greeting cards tend to have more people in their lives who do nice things for them.
Caregivers who send greeting cards to people tend to receive more greeting cards too.
A caregiver support network is made up of different people around you, who might provide different forms of support. Sending virtual greeting cards to these people is a caregiver networking strategy that can keep close ties with important people from before and after the diagnosis (in my dad’s case Parkinson’s first then Parkiinson’s Dementia and Diabetes later).
Don’t forget greeting cards are delightful! Caregivers need “support”, but we use that word to mean so many different kinds of support from different kinds of people that the word “support” loses meaning.
Suddenly that word “support” doesn’t sounds so fuzzy. It sounds like Matthew’s a good friend I’d to whom I can show gratitude. It sounds like Penelope and Chad have been a rock in our lives since retirement, and I want to show I’m here for them. Miley has sent us a Christmas card every year since she graduated high school, and I’m so happy for her!
Sending greeting cards sets you up for emotional support, by keeping in touch with people you care about. Sending greeting cards sets you up for practical support, by showing people who help you out that you’re thankful. The act of sending and receiving greeting cards is reciprocal, so the love just goes round and round.
When you can think of an occasion to share with someone, sending a greeting card marks it’s importance. With common caregiver get-out-of-the-house challenges, sending virtual greeting cards from your computer or phone is easier than ever before.
The greeting card service you choose will come down to personality and preference, so I’ve gathered a collection of virtual greeting card services I recommend in 2023.
Each one allows you to purchase and send virtual cards to people. Some let you purchase and send gifts or gift cards. Some have special features like group cards, self-recorded video, virtual-to-paper services that get delivered by physical paper mail with a stamp and all.
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Classic Cards
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My neighbor who is a grandmother of with many children and grandchildren spread across the United States uses this one, with quant holiday video stories you send via email and the recipient can respond on the same screen as the card, so you get lots of responses.
Reminiscent of clipart from Microsoft Word, membership costs $3.49 per month, and gets you access to over 600 cards for all purposes. When you send a card you get to fill in a personalized text note but you can’t customize the card itself.
Simple-does-it free ecards, until you upgrade the the $6.99 per month membership for special digital greeting card formats like Creatacard™ and SmashUps™, plus practical features like like "schedule to send" so you never miss an occasion.
A recognized name since childhood, but their online shop only lets you buy cards on a card-to-card basis. With some cards around $9.99, I think there are better options for caregivers on a budget with lots of people in their lives.
This other classic American gift card brand offer eCards on their online shop. You can buy it at regular price without a membership. Membership at $2.50 per month if you pay for a year gets you access to online greeting card features like personalizing a card and setting reminders to celebrate important dates.
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Modern Cards
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Like the Snapchat of greeting cards, you record a vertical video with your phone and send it 1-on-1 to a family member or friend. Tribute’s original group video was so popular, they spun off Greetings as their single player version. It lets you send gifts like Amazon and other gift cards and more to be delivered by mail.
Givingly is for caregivers who like to spend time customizing the design of their virtual greetings. You get to pick our a snazzy portrait style card design, customize with text, colors, and elements. Plus coordinate colors completely from the text color, font, and size to the card color, envelope color, decorative lining color, background color, and more. It’s very intuitive if you like using computers, and really fun if you like playing around with colors. I just sent my first Givingli card to my wife!
Card Snacks is similar to Givingli, and lets you send cards for free while limited to sending each card one by one. If you upgrade to the $2 per month Gold plan, you can send cards to multiple people at the same time. It offers a business plan, which indicates Card Snacks is built for sending greeting cards at scale. That’s more people than the average caregiver knows.
What makes jibjab so fun is you can take photos of your face, and create hilarious music video greeting cards and more. You have to signup before sending, which stinks, because I took a photo of myself, and was about to send my mom a silly hot dog card before asking me to pay. Pay before you play, I suppose.
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Real Post Cards Sent to a Street Address
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Postable brings the entire gift card shopping aisle experience online. You pick a card design, type a message and physical address, then Postable will print and post the physical paper greeting card to the special person in your life. If you never liked eCards just because they’re on a screen, this is a tech-enabled alternative to traditional greeting cards.
Felt thinks the eCard world has lost the magic of handwriting. Felt app lets you write little messages and doodles in the app, and even hand print the recipient’s mailing address. Then press send, and the person will receive a real paper greeting card in the mail, with your digital handwriting printed onto the greeting card.
Sincerely is like Postable and Felt, but specialized for bulk one-time sending. You know, like Christmas and the New Year. Other services focus on full-year membership for a full-year of holidays, but Ink is for one-and-done greeting cards that you design online and get delivered by mail.
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Group Greetings
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Back again to Tribute, this time because it also works for groups. You make group video calls one of the most meaningful gifts on earth. You just invite your family and friends (whoever’s going to make the video greeting card with you) and Tribute will automatically send reminders asking them to submit their part of the video.
Like a group collage to honor the service achievements of someone in your group, Kudoboard is designed for companies and organizations to give praise to the good deeds of others. Caregivers part of an organized support group or health program can get together with their community members to celebrate each other's contributions.
It’s a good idea for caregivers to send greeting cards. You support and show thanks for people who you like and people who help you out. Using your phone or computer to send virtual greeting cards is an easy solution, with greeting cards for every occasion, with cards for every type of person. Caregivers can choose from a wide range of virtual greeting card services, from traditional to contemporary, to be delivered digitally or as a real paper greeting card. Virtual greeting cards are easy to send and help build strong relationships outside the home, relationships that translate to emotional and practical support.
