Occasion HandbookHolidays 75 examples

What to Write in a Christmas Card

Lines you can copy, sorted by who is getting the card. Christmas is the one occasion where you write the same thing twenty times — one specific line per person is what stops that showing.

Season’s Greetings Merry Christmas. Hope it is arestful one. PRINTED YOURS
If you write one line
Greeting and your name. That is a complete card and it is what most people send.
If you write three
Greeting, one specific thing about them or the year, then the sign-off. This is the version people keep.
The once-a-year card
Say plainly that you think about them. That is the whole reason the card exists.
Round robin letters
Fine, if they are funny about yourselves. Nobody has ever enjoyed a page about someone else’s promotion.
1 2 3 4 1 DEC 18 DEC JAN The quiet window is the best one and nobody uses it.
When a Christmas card has to leave the house, and the window most people miss.
  1. 1Overseas: gone by the first week of December, earlier for Australia and New Zealand
  2. 2Domestic: safe to about the 18th, and every year some of it is not
  3. 3The quiet window — a card that lands between Christmas and the new year gets read properly
  4. 4Missed it entirely? Send it in January and call it a new year card

Short holiday card messages

The most-written lines there are, and there is nothing wrong with any of them. Short is not lazy — it is what fits.

  1. 1 Merry Christmas. Hope it is a restful one.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  2. 2 Wishing you a very happy Christmas.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  3. 3 Merry Christmas — have a good one, and a better new year.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  4. 4 Season’s greetings from all of us.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  5. 5 Happy Christmas. Thinking of you.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  6. 6 Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a good year ahead.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  7. 7 Merry Christmas. Eat too much.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  8. 8 With every good wish for Christmas and the new year.
    Tone FormalLength Very short

For people you see every week

They already know you like them. Aim for the year, not for Christmas.

  1. 9 Merry Christmas. Thanks for putting up with me all year.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  2. 10 Happy Christmas — see you on the other side of it.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  3. 11 Merry Christmas. This year was better for having you in it.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  4. 12 Happy Christmas. Enjoy the days off, you have earned them.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  5. 13 Merry Christmas. Same time next year, same nonsense.
    Tone WarmLength Very short

For the once-a-year card

The people you write to at Christmas and never otherwise. Say that out loud — it is the point of the card, not an embarrassment.

  1. 14 Merry Christmas. One card a year is not much, but it always means I am thinking of you.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  2. 15 Happy Christmas. Hope the year has been kind to you.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  3. 16 Merry Christmas from all of us here. We talk about you more often than we write.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  4. 17 Wishing you a lovely Christmas, and hoping the year has gone well.
    Tone FormalLength Short
  5. 18 Happy Christmas. Twelve months goes fast — I hope yours was a good one.
    Tone WarmLength Short

When you have not been in touch all year

  1. 19 Merry Christmas. I have been terrible at keeping in touch and I would like to fix that.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  2. 20 Happy Christmas. Long overdue, and entirely my fault.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  3. 21 Merry Christmas. Not a word from me all year, and not for a lack of thinking about you.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  4. 22 Happy Christmas. I will ring you in January, and this time I mean it.
    Tone WarmLength Short

Warm, without tipping into sentiment

  1. 23 Merry Christmas. Glad you are in my life, and I do not say it often enough.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  2. 24 Happy Christmas. I hope the year ahead is gentler than the last one.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  3. 25 Merry Christmas — wishing you a house full of people you actually like.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  4. 26 Happy Christmas. Whatever the year brings, I am in your corner for it.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  5. 27 Merry Christmas, and thank you for this year.
    Tone WarmLength Very short

For someone who has had a bad year

Do not wish them a magical Christmas. Wish them a quiet one and a better year.

  1. 28 Merry Christmas. I hope the next twelve months owe you something and pay it.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  2. 29 Thinking of you this Christmas. I know it has been a long year.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  3. 30 Happy Christmas. No performance required — just rest.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  4. 31 Merry Christmas. Here is to a quieter year.
    Tone WarmLength Very short

For a first Christmas without someone

Use the name. The fear that it will upset them is the wrong fear; being unmentioned is worse.

  1. 32 Thinking of you this Christmas, and of your dad.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  2. 33 Merry Christmas. I know this one will be hard. I am at the end of the phone on the day.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  3. 34 Thinking of you all this Christmas. Her name will come up in this house too.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  4. 35 Christmas will be a strange one this year. Thinking of you — no reply needed.
    Tone PlainLength Short

For someone far away

  1. 36 Merry Christmas from four thousand miles away. It is not the same without you.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  2. 37 Happy Christmas. The table is smaller this year and we noticed.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  3. 38 Merry Christmas. Different time zone, same love.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  4. 39 Happy Christmas. Come home when you can, and not before.
    Tone WarmLength Very short

Funny, without buying a joke card

  1. 40 Merry Christmas. I have bought you nothing and I stand by it.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  2. 41 Happy Christmas. May your relatives leave at a reasonable hour.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  3. 42 Merry Christmas. This card cost more than the gift and we both know it.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  4. 43 Happy Christmas. Wishing you the good chocolates and none of the arguments.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  5. 44 Merry Christmas. Enjoy the eleven days where nobody knows what day it is.
    Tone PlainLength Short

To a whole family

Name them if you can. A card to "the Okonkwos" is a card to nobody.

  1. 45 Merry Christmas to all four of you. Have a wonderful one.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  2. 46 Happy Christmas to the whole house. Hope it is loud and warm.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  3. 47 Wishing the Ferreira family a very happy Christmas.
    Tone FormalLength Very short
  4. 48 Merry Christmas to you all — and particular respect to whoever is doing the cooking.
    Tone WarmLength Short

For neighbours and the people who do things for you

  1. 49 Merry Christmas from number 14. Thank you for a good year of neighbouring.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  2. 50 Happy Christmas, and thank you for taking the bins in more times than I can count.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  3. 51 Season’s greetings, and thank you for everything this year.
    Tone FormalLength Very short
  4. 52 Merry Christmas. We are lucky with our neighbours and we know it.
    Tone WarmLength Short

When there is money or a voucher inside

  1. 53 Something towards whatever you actually want. Merry Christmas.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  2. 54 Not to be spent sensibly. That is the condition.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  3. 55 Merry Christmas. Buy the thing you keep not buying.
    Tone PlainLength Very short

Christmas and the new year in one line

  1. 56 Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  2. 57 Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a good new year.
    Tone FormalLength Very short
  3. 58 Happy Christmas — and a new year that treats you properly.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  4. 59 Merry Christmas. See you in the new year.
    Tone PlainLength Very short

On a group card at work

One line, legible, and your full name. Twenty people are writing in the same small square.

  1. 60 Merry Christmas, Dan. Have a good break.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  2. 61 Happy Christmas — thanks for all the help this year.
    Tone WarmLength Very short
  3. 62 Merry Christmas from the second floor.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  4. 63 Have a proper rest. You have earned it.
    Tone WarmLength Very short

When one of you does not celebrate Christmas

Neither greeting is a slight. If you do not know, wish them the time off rather than the festival.

  1. 64 Season’s greetings and every good wish for the new year.
    Tone FormalLength Very short
  2. 65 Wishing you a restful break and a good year ahead.
    Tone FormalLength Very short
  3. 66 Happy holidays. Hope you get some proper time off.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  4. 67 Wishing you a good end to the year and a better start to the next one.
    Tone WarmLength Short

Signing it

  1. 68 Full name if there is any chance they will not place you.
    Tone PlainLength Very short
  2. 69 From a couple, both names. From a family, name the children — they are why the card gets kept.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  3. 70 Add the connection if you know them from one part of their life only: "Maya, from the allotment."
    Tone WarmLength Short
  4. 71 A pre-printed family name is fine. The handwritten line under it is the part that gets read.
    Tone PlainLength Short

When to post it

  1. 72 Overseas cards want to be gone by the end of the first week of December.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  2. 73 Domestic post is usually safe to the middle of December, and every year some of it is not.
    Tone PlainLength Short
  3. 74 A card that lands between Christmas and the new year is not late. It is the one they will still read properly.
    Tone WarmLength Short
  4. 75 If you have missed it entirely, send it in January and call it a new year card.
    Tone PlainLength Short

Questions people actually ask

What do you write in a Christmas card to someone you do not know well?

"Merry Christmas. Hope you have a restful one." Then your full name. Two sentences and a legible name is a complete, correct card and it will not be the shortest one they get.

How do you make a Christmas card feel personal when you are writing twenty?

Add one line per person that could not go on any of the other nineteen — something they did this year, something they always say, something you were grateful for. It costs eight words each and it is the entire difference.

What do you write in a Christmas card for someone who is grieving?

Name the person who died and say you are thinking of them. Do not wish them a wonderful Christmas. "Thinking of you, and of your mum, this Christmas" is enough and it is the card they will keep.

Is "Happy Holidays" better than "Merry Christmas"?

Neither is rude. Use Merry Christmas for people you know celebrate it, and season’s greetings or a wish for a restful break when you do not know. On a work card going to a whole floor, the neutral version is the safer default.

Is it too late to send a Christmas card in late December?

No. A card that arrives between Christmas and the new year gets read in a quiet house instead of a pile of forty. If it slips past that, send it in January as a new year card and say so.

Do you have to write anything if the card has a printed message?

One handwritten line and your name, at minimum. The printed verse tells them the card was bought; the handwriting tells them it was sent to them specifically.