Paperless Post: go digital this holiday season

Is there anything more thoughtful than receiving a holiday card?

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved opening newsletters, reading about the lives of loved ones near and far, and hanging up family photos on the fridge. There’s something quite lovely about feeling apart of things, even from several states away.

Last year, Chad and I decided to join the fun. We sent out a holiday card to friends and family, though the process was a little overwhelming; it involved designing a card with a non-flexible program, proofing, getting them printed, buying envelopes, addressing said envelopes (my hands are still cramped), purchasing stamps, and dealing with a few return-to-sender mishaps. It felt worth it, though, to know that we were starting our own holiday tradition.

Just as I was gearing up to go through the same process again this year, Paperless Post reached out to me and asked me to review their digital cards. There couldn’t have been more serendipitous timing since I was in the middle of tallying up the print card expenses, and also thinking about the paper waste and shipping emissions I’d be responsible for.

Paperless Post: How it Works

Paperless Post (paperlesspost.com) is a digital card-sending service. When you’re on their website, you’re able to browse cards for just about any occasion—from holidays to invitations; you can even send your wedding save the dates if you’d like.

Note: this service has both free and premium options—many options require “coins” to customize these cards and then send them out. Coins are bought through money you pay to the site.

More on the coins—the Paperless Post website states the following information:

“You will receive in your account for free 25 Coins when you register, and you may receive an additional 10 Coins if you download our iOS app, and 5 Coins for liking us on Facebook. Note Paperless Post also has approximately 1,000 free invitation and greeting cards for you to customize and send. All Premium Cards are 2 Coins per recipient.”

It’s all pretty straight-forward once you start exploring the site.

Step One

The first step is to browse through the designs until you find the perfect fit; you can keep track by liking different options, and return to them later.

Step Two

Once you’ve picked out your design, you go through a fun customization process. You get to choose the message, photos used, (digital) envelope color and liner and stamp, background, color scheme, and more. The site walks you through each choice, making things super easy yet tailored to your preferences.

Some choices, like the standard color background or envelope, are free. Others might cost a coin to upgrade; I went with a metallic foil stamp, which was an extra coin. By the end of my design, I created a card that would cost 7 coins to send, per person.

Your creations are always saved also, so you can go back and edit them later.

Step Three

After everything has been designed and customized, it’s time to break out the email address book. You can enter in each email individually, import with a list or excel sheet, or copy and paste.

Once your names and addresses have been entered, you can send immediately or schedule them to be sent at a later time. We went with the latter, and were able to plan ahead for closer to the holidays, when our digital newsletter would be available on my blog.

At this time, you pay with your coins.

My Thoughts

Pros

• It’s environmentally friendly! (This is huge)
• Designing, sending, creating is all super easy
• I saved a bunch of money, from printing costs to postage
• Perfect for invitations and events, as well as newsletters and cards for every holiday or celebration

Cons

• I have to wrangle everyone’s email addresses, which can be tough, especially with less computer-savvy recipients
  • However, this is a conversation-starter, and easily manageable

Overall

This experience was overwhelmingly positive: easy, fun, guilt-free, and resulted in a beautiful finished product that I’m proud of.

Be on the lookout for our holiday card this year (or, send me your email to add it to the list!). Until then, I highly recommend checking out Paperless Post (get started here) and sending your own holiday masterpiece.

Note: I was gifted coins by Paperless Post in exchange for a review, but all of my opinions are authentic and entirely my own.