I am trying this year to send everyone on my birthday list a greeting in some form or another. I've done okay so far, and I think I might be getting my system down now that it's March. For me, the key is my planner. I have the birthday calendar up in my kitchen, and I see that everyday. But if I don't also write in my planner, all I will do is look at those birthdays on the calendar and not really do anything about them. So even though the idea of a perpetual calendar is that you don't necessarily have to write the birthdays over each year, I actually do. And I use the perpetual calendar as a daily reminder and my master list. I have just found that I work best with every little step spelled out for me.
Step 1 Write the birthdays in my planner. It's become kind of a tradition for me in the last few years that I do this after Christmas, which means I have to have my new planner purchased by then. For several years I have purchased a Blue Sky brand planner at Target, and it works great for me. Writing all the birthdays takes time, but I really enjoy writing in my planner (nerd alert!). And I like thinking of each person and the year ahead as I write down all the names and dates. I use the previous year's planner to fill out the upcoming year's planner--that way I will be able to add in birthdays and important dates that were new to me last year.
Step 2 This step has been the turnaround for me. I make little "send birthday card" notes in my planner--I go back a few days from the birthday listed and write a note to myself to get that person's birthday card in the mail. For instance, this year my cousin Molly's birthday was on Thursday, March 8, so I made a note on Monday the 5th to send her card (I hope it got there on time, Moll?).
Step 3 The tricky part--have birthday cards on hand! I could also write a "buy or make birthday card" note a few days before the "send birthday card" note in my planner, but I think that would be too many notes, even for me. Recently, I have bought cards and mailed them on the same day. I would love to have a routine of taking one day a month to shop for and/or make all the cards I want to send in that month, but I am not there yet.
Right now, this is my ideal--get a card in the mail. If at some point I realize that this is not going to happen, then I will try to call, text, email, or Facebook the person . . . I just want them to know I am thinking of them on their day!
[Just a note, I choose sending cards as my ideal because of my love for mail and because the practice is becoming less common. But I don't care how others tell me happy birthday--I just love it when they do! But even if you don't send me a birthday card, please do send me mail. :)]
So tell me--how do you remember birthdays? Do you have a plan for getting greetings out? Are you a card in the mail kind of person? Or do you go the more technologically advanced route? I love hearing what other people do to be thoughtful--please share!
This is great. I inherited so many extra birthdays to remember when I got married. It's hard to keep up.
ReplyDeleteI know--it's a big task! Always trying to find ways to be a little more successful at it . . . :)
DeleteI fail miserably at birthdays, and the guilt is terrible. I remember one year, I had flown home from seeing my dad at Christmas (and you know leaving home is always sad), Derek was deployed, I had Henry and Kate on my own in NJ. I don't know what happened that year, I had seen so many people earlier over the holidays, that I had nothing to open on my birthday (I always save cards until the day of the big day). Then, my mother in law had a spa basket delivered. It was 5pm, I had spent my whole birthday with two very cranky babies who didn't know what birthdays were/that you weren't supposed to act 2 on your mom's day:). I literally cried when the ups man left! What a dork! Anyway, it made me very happy. So please know that you sending these is very admirable and likely touches people more than you know, am.
ReplyDeleteAwww, Gina! Well . . . I am trying . . . but it has taken me until March this year to get cards in the mail. (That reminds me--did you get my voicemail on your birthday? Obviously, I didn't send a card this year! But my phone was cutting off that day, and I meant to check back to see if you'd gotten it . . . )
DeleteI remember one year you called me in the morning and said you had just opened your card from me (the year I actually sent one), and the fact that you took the time to tell me it was special really bolstered my desire to get cards out on time . . . so thanks for the encouragement then and the encouragement now (means a lot)!
The birthday calendar and the notes in the planner have really helped me! Start fresh in April (or mid-March) and see how it goes! :) I love hearing from you on here, friend. xo