Getting Organised: Birthday cards

To me there is nothing more birthday-like than having a big stack of birthdaycards sent to you by mail.
Yes the old fashioned kind of mail with a handwritten card and a stamp on it.
It just gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing someone went to all of the trouble of buying a card, writing it , putting a stamp on it and dropping it in the mailbox just to wish you a happy birthday.

And wanting others to have the same feeling I try to send out birthdaycards to the people I know as well.
But with lots and lots of people and time flying by I found that I missed some of them.
Enter: The birthday Chart.

 

I found this idea somewhere on the Martha Steward website a long time ago. And as we all know Martha is the Queen of good housewifery ;)
She has a printable chart on her website but I decided to make my own. This way I could keep it as small as possible since I wantend to stick it somewhere in sight.

I have it taped onto a small shelve just above where my laptop lives. That way I see it practically every day and can quickly see any birthdays coming up. I update the list every time I find out a new birthday with a pen. And then update and print a new one about once a year.

Near the end of the month I gather up my birthdaycard supplies and set about writing all of the cards for next month.
I have a huge selection of pens, washi-tapes, different cards and bits and pieces to make every card a little special. I also love special stamps. I find the standard ones a bit boring... 

After writing the card and decorating the envelope I immediately stick on a stamp and put a little post-it on the envelope with the "needs to be mailed" date on it. I always try and plan it out so the card arrives to the actual birthday itself.
The stack then moves downstairs.

Underneath the stairs we have our shoe-cabinet. I bought a little silver toastrack a while back and that's where the birthdaycards live until their "send date". I ususally have a look  every morning before I walk Abby to see if something needs to be mailed.

And there you have it. How I try to send everyone a birthdaycard.
Do you send out birthday cards?