Younger people send more Christmas cards than ever

It may be 180 years since the first Christmas card was sent but the festive tradition seems to be in no danger of dying out, at least among younger people.

While rising postal costs have seen a consistent decline in posted letters over the past decade, over half of Gen Z and millennials are sending more Christmas missives than in previous years.

Research commissioned by the greeting card company Hallmark found that 63 per cent of 18 to 35-year-olds planned to send more Christmas cards than last year and 20 per cent intended to send fewer cards.

The survey of 900 participants also found that younger people were more enthusiastic about Christmas cards than their parents or grandparents, with only 38 per cent of the over-55s planning to send more this year and 40 per cent planning to send fewer.

Older people were also more likely to not send any Christmas cards, with almost a quarter of those aged 55 to 64 admitting they had not bought any, compared with 17 per cent of under-35s.

The first commercial Christmas card was sent in 1843, although it’s thought the tradition could date back to the 17th century. The introduction of a halfpenny stamp for postcards in 1870 led to a boom in Christmas missives. In 1877, it was estimated that 4,500,000 letters and cards were sent in the seven days before Christmas.

However, in the past five years, a first-class stamp has increased in price by 140 per cent to £1.65, with a second-class stamp costing almost 40 per cent more than 2020 at 85p — leading many to believe the tradition of sending Christmas cards would see a steep decline.

But the Greeting Card Association’s annual report found that £178 million was spent in the UK on individual special Christmas cards last year, which was an increase on the £167 million spent in 2022. It reported that £1.5 billion was spent on single greeting cards last year and 91.5 million individual single Christmas cards were sent.

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Royal Mail said it had its busiest day of the year on December 18, delivering more than 35 million letters and over nine million parcels to addresses around the UK.

Amanda Fergusson, chief executive of the card association, said: “Our research shows how much the British public love to send cards — especially at Christmas — and how that tradition is being embraced by younger people as they embrace the emotional benefits of card-sending for both themselves and their recipient.

“That’s also why we know a Royal Mail that gets back to its best with a reliable, affordable service has a significant opportunity to rebuild its reputation in the years ahead.”