It's December, and every December, I see two things happen:
1. My mailbox starts to fill with Christmas cards (Holiday Cards for my PC friends) from all of our friends, family, and acquaintances.
2. My friends with December birthdays start preparing for everyone to forget that the were born this month as well. Preparing for half the gifts, joint parties with Jesus, and another year to pass.
Christmas/Holiday cards are nice, but lets be honest, have gotten fairly sterile over the years, while another type of card has fallen by the wayside. You guessed it, the birthday card! When was the last time you went to the store and bought a birthday card for somebody? A birthday card for someone who was not a family member or someone whose party you were en route to? Most of us just wait for the Facebook reminder to come, and then write a quick message on the wall.
Step 1 - Commit to a number of birthday cards you want to send every month. Lets use a minimum of one and a maximum of five. Now take the number you have committed to, and multiply it by $0.49. Then take that number and multiply by 12. Whatever dollar amount you come up with is the number of stamps you are going to go out and buy. Yup, I said stamps. Like the sticky ones that you put on envelopes when you were going to put something in the mail. Easy math. 2 card per month commitment = $0.98 per month = $11.76 on 24 stamps.
Step 2 - Don't know any one's birthday? Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/birthdays and pick your lineup for the year. You can even look into the future months to decide ahead of time who you are going to send your cards to. .Try to work 2 weeks before the beginning of the month. This will keep you from missing people who have birthdays on the first week. Pick next months lucky recipients NOW!
Step 3 - Go to the store and buy a card, make a card by hand, or pay someone on Etsy to do one. I am pretty sure you can find a custom card for people with any interest. Take Walking Dead Birthday Cards as an example. You are now a cool person, who took the time to buy a cool card. Once you get the card, hand write a nice birthday note, put the card in an envelope, address the envelope, and place your stamp. (If you don't know the address, look it up, or worst case scenario, just ask them. Tell them you are updating your address book. Don't tell them you are sending them a card.
That's it. You are now a thoughtful. Let me know how it goes in the comments!