VANCOUVER -- You don't need a special reason to mail a card to a friend -- and that's especially true on the infrequently celebrated Send a Card to a Friend Day.
If you’re thinking of someone, that’s reason enough to pen a few lines and drop a letter in the mail.
That’s right, we’re talking about putting thoughts to paper, paying for postage and sending a note thorough the post, the equivalent of “how r u?” but with stationary and two to five days’ worth of delayed gratification.
Before Valentine’s Day overwhelms with its symbols of bow-lipped cupids, hearts on parade and cutesy animals holding paws, consider one of these options just for the sake of it.
Greeting card
Get right to the point with a card that lays it all out, so you don’t have to be pithy or deep or vulnerable. A card that reads “thinking of you” is enough when you sign your name and address it to a friend.
The folks at Zing Paperie & Design in North Vancouver remind us that a greeting card can say a lot in a few words.
“You can let your friend know you're missing them, point out how amazing they are, or remind him or her how you're there for them during a challenging time,” Tiffany Barkman, an employee at Zing, wrote to CTV News. “Imagine how your friend will appreciate the unexpected delivery! It might just be that laugh or hit of encouragement they need to make their day.”
Postcards
These are a classic of overseas travel, but have you ever sent one from within your own city to a friend who lives within a few blocks? There’s nothing quite like seeing the places you hang out together, splashed on a scenic shot they can stick to the fridge.
These examples of English Bay, Mount Pleasant and Stanley Park and are some of the first postcards sent from B.C., proving postcards have been cool since the 1890s.
This postcard shows "English Bay and the Pavillions" and is postmarked June 12, 1899. (Vancouver Pioneer Club)
Art reprints
Can’t spring for an original Cindy Sherman for your foyer or that second home you’re having built? The Vancouver Art Gallery sells reprints in the form of greeting cards, postcards and other stationary from past and current exhibitions, as well as a wide range of prints, portraits and other images.
Same goes for most galleries and museums almost anywhere. The Museum of Anthropology has a vast collection of indigenous artists with prints for sale as greeting cards, as do many art galleries in town such as Coastal Peoples in Gastown.
Letters
When a few lines aren’t enough for what you have to say, turn to a typewriter to peck out your message. The Regional Assembly of Text on Main Street in Vancouver hosts a monthly letter writing club and also carries greeting cards, stationery and friendship applications so you can renew that bond with your childhood bestie. If all that fails, send that great friend a button that tells them they’re a “great friend” indeed.
Maybe the correspondence will become historic. You never know.
Hand-written letters by Titanic passenger Alexander Holversson. (Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers via AP)
Hand-written letters
The same as above, but different. Expanding on what’s personalized, send your own hand-written words on paper you selected yourself. Paper-Ya on Granville Island is right to call this “a rarity,” but that makes your correspondence and bon mots all the more precious.
Send that card / postcard / letter / button today and maybe that great friend will return the favour.
