Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Great Christmas Card Debacle

I thought I was on the ball this year. Back in early November, I saw a “deal” on zulily.com to pay $16 for $45 worth of Christmas cards from on online publisher. I checked out their designs, liked what I saw, and jumped on that deal. You couldn’t beat saving $30 on Christmas cards! We got our Christmas pictures taken on November 20th , which was early considering when we had our Christmas pictures taken last year. We got our CD of the pictures the next week and by December 1st I had ordered our cards. Like I said, I thought I was on the ball.

The order status said they would be printed within 2 days and then shipped immediately. That means shipped by December 3rd or 4th at the latest, right? Wrong. They shipped on December 8th. A week later. I tried to track the shipment using the FedEx tracking number that I’d been given, but it kept saying that no information had been received. I started stressing because I had to address all of these cards. FINALLY, on December 12th, tracking information started showing up and our cards were to be delivered the following day.

On December 13th I logged in to check the tracking information and it said that our cards had been delivered. Yay! Istopped by the post office on the way home to pick up lots of stamps and was planning on addressing all of our cards that evening. We were starting to cut it close. When I pulled into my driveway, I could see THIS in the yard. My stomach sank.


Our dogs definitely destroyed all of our cards. Kevin tried to salvage a few of them, but it was useless. I was so upset that Iwanted to cry! We have an underground fence and there is an area that they cannot get to. We’ve told our FedEx, UPS and post office people where to leave packages but apparently our Christmas cards were left on our front porch (where the dogs CAN get to). Apparently at age 3ish, they still haven’t outgrown the puppy-chewing stage. Here was my pretty card that ended up getting destroyed…



Anyway, after this I pretty much figured we weren’t going to be able to send out any Christmas cards this year. I quickly called the company that I ordered the cards from. They were based in Seattle (which I didn’t know prior to ordering the cards) and basically said they would reprint as quickly as possible but best-case scenario would mean I’d get the cards on December 21st. That wouldn’t work. Plus, I’d used a 20% off coupon and my zulily coupon and gotten about $65 worth of cards (including shipping) for $16. They were going to make me re-pay, not allow me to use the coupons, and charge me $25 for 2 day shipping. No thank you. 

So I started checking out other options (Walgreens,Shutterfly, TinyPrints, Walmart, etc). I ended up settling on Walmart because they would do the cards as 1-hour photos. The quality wasn’t as great as the first cards, but you really can’t beat the whole 1-hour processing. We picked them up that night after dinner and I was still able to address all of my cards that night.  Thank you, Walmart.  Here are our 2nd cards...




See the similarities? I really wanted to use the same picture, so I was limited on which card I could pick out. The orientation had to be portrait and the card had to be formatted to use only 1 picture. Not easy to find, but I was lucky to find something similar to our original card on Walmart’s website.

So much for being “on the ball” this year. I tried; I really did. Maybe next year will be better. I’ll definitely not ship our cards to our house next year.

PS- I'm joining up with Faith's Christmas card carousel this year, so check out her page for lots of other cute Christmas cards!






18 comments:

  1. That is terrible!!! I would have been in tears! Both cards are precious though! Love the pic of Kate.

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  2. Oh my! So sorry you had such trouble with them, but they are absolutely beautiful. Anything would be with your gorgeous girl on them!

    Thanks for joining in the fun. I hope you have a very Merry CHRISTmas!

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  3. I loved my card! I appreciate it even more now that I know what it took to get it to me :) We had an issue with a feather pillow and clothes from Old Navy that got shipped to our house for Christmas. I pulled into the yard and it looked like it had snowed! Our dogs chewed up every last thing. Our delivery men are under strict orders now too about where they can and can't leave packages!

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  4. Oh, Kelly! I would've cried! The dogs had such fun.....but your fantastic cards were destroyed. I think the one you had made at Wal-Mart is every bit as adorable. Of course Kate is always so cute how could they not be the sweetest cards ever!! I agree with the 1 hr. and being able to pick them up. That is usually how I do it, too!

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  5. Cooper asked me to give you this message:
    "We r sorry. Max told me we wuz gone git in truble but i thawt bout it for 2 secends and next thang i know we wuz in the back yard ripping that box open. When we seen it was pitchers uh kate we left em lone. Mostly. And just chewed up the box n stuff. Then Max ran and hided under the grass cuttin house cuz he was sure Kev was gone give us away. So u probby thawt it wuz just me but it wuznt. Next year if youd konsider puttin us on the Crissmus card 2 i can promise this wont happen.
    P.S. It aint me peeing on the tires."

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  6. Thats just horrible but I did kinda laugh at the same time! Us and our dogs!!
    The second cards are just as precious as the first!
    Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

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  7. OH NO! Bless your heart. Well both cards are adorable and your little one is a dollbaby! Merry CHRISTmas and I'm your newest follower :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! Thanks for following along too! Nice to meet you and merry Christmas~!

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  8. Oh my goodness! I can't believe that happened. I prob would have shed a few tears. You new card turned out great though!

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  9. Oh my word! I would have most definitely cried!!! So sorry :( the 2nd card turned out just as adorable! Merry Christmas!!

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  10. Oh now I would have cried over my cards being torn up! I'm glad ya'll were able to find a similar reprint. It's a great photo! Even sending them out Dec 12th is earlier than I sent mine out this year. We didn't even take our pictures for them until the 17th.

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  11. Oh my gosh, I would have lost it if those had been my cards! I think the second version is beautiful. What a sweet little girl. Merry Christmas!

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  12. Oh no that is terrible! I can't believe your dogs eat paper! Ha! So so sorry but at least it worked out in the end. Cute picture!

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  13. I think I'd not only CRY my eyeballs out.... but I'd find a happy new home for my dog! So glad you could see the bright side, be resourceful and get them out anyway! The replacement cards are still super cute :)

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    Replies
    1. Haha. I seriously considered loaning out our dogs for a while until the anger passed. :)

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  14. oh no!!!! good thing she's the stinkin cutest ever. that really stinks.

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