Choosing the exact right card for your lover, sister or friend – the card with the wicked wording or beautiful picture can be a great pleasure. Having to ask your friend or a store assistant to read you the words or describe the picture takes all the joy out of it.
How Can You Send a Greeting Card When Time Is Short
With only two days to Valentine’s Day, you may have to have assistance for this one
- Have someone take you to a store and choose a card with you. I hope you will write inside it, even if you don’t like your handwriting now. Then have someone address and mail it.
- Go to the store yourself and ask a clerk to help you with the cards. Describe the pictures and read the words. ( You may feel awkward, but it’s much more fun for her than being on the register !)
- Have the store assistant take you to the musical and talking cards and choose one for yourself. Ask for the price range before she leaves you.
- If you bring along an address label and a stamp, you can mail your card on the way home.
If you can use the internet
- www.cardsremembered.com (877-221-5159) will send out the greeting card you have chosen from the selection on their website the next business day for $3.49 total. You write your own message and, if you want, change the wording on the card. They will also give you some support with filling out the necessary forms. (The site works fairly well with a screen reader, but sometimes leaves you guessing.)
Then there are e-cards. You enter your recipient’s email address, and they receive the card by email – nothing to put on the mantelpiece, but playing the cards is fun. There are many e-card sites, but one I like is Jacquie Lawson. For $12 per year in the United States you can send as many e-cards as you want.. There are no ads, and once you have worked out how to use the site, you get a big selection of animated musical cards to preview and send. The cards are comic, but the music is fun, and the site is safe and efficient. If you have some remaining vision these card can fill your screen while they are playing, and be much more visible than a paper card.
If You Have Time to Prepare
- Make a date with a family member or best shopperholic friend just for card buying. Spend at least an hour choosing a pile of cards for the future.
- Make the same date and choose boxes of cards that you are happy with – birthday cards, thank you cards and sympathy cards are the ones I seem to need the most
- If you don’t mind “outing” your vision loss to your friends, American Printing House for the Blind (APH) sells sets of blank note cards highlighting artwork by visually impaired students and adults from across the U.S. Print/braille Tropical Birds are currently on sale and a real bargain at $3 plus postage, per box of 10. APH toll free customer service: 800-223-1839
I tried a couple of smartphone apps for sending paper cards, but nothing worked properly. If you know a good app for sending cards, or have another favorite way to choose them please let us all know.
The Jacquie Lawson cards are delightful whether sighted or unsighted. You sent me a birthday card once – lovely
Yes, They are great for anyone with full sight – and for people with just a little. But not satisfying if you have no vision, because you usually have to click on part of the picture to start the music. Love, H.
Two other options include making cards. One of the members of a low vision support group helped the others to make their own tactile Valentine cards. It was a first for most of them and was more fun than expected. The other option (which I used to do for students) is to buy Braille Valentine Day cards from the National Braille Press (http://www.nbp.org). They’re usually pretty awful puns, but a lot of fun for the recipient who has to decipher the Braille.
So glad this website and blog have been started. Thanks so much!
Thank you Melissa for two lovely options. Making your own Valentine , or any greeting card is always the best, whether you consider yourself to be artistic or not. I’m so glad the NFB is doing braille greeting cards – as you say they are fun for both sender and receiver.