The modern Christmas card industry took shape in Kansas City in the early 20th century when the Hall Brothers’ printing company began distributing holiday cards of a particular format: paper folded once into 4 by 6 inches and inserted into an envelope. Later, the company changed its brotherly name to Hallmark. But even before then, holiday letters of all formats were a cherished way to send warm wishes to friends and family. This enduring tradition tugs at our heartstrings, reminding us that sometimes the smallest gestures really do mean the most.
Today, approximately 1.3 billion holiday cards are sent annually in the United States. But among the heartfelt sentiments and well-wishes for the new year lie some inevitable grammar mistakes. Capitalization errors and unnecessary apostrophes, in particular, run amok. Of course, it’s the thought that counts — but if you pride yourself on keeping a pristine spell-check record, these tips are for you. Here’s what the grammar elves have to say about seasonal greeting cards.
We’d wager that of those 1.3 billion cards sent each holiday season, at least a billion are signed using a family’s last name. It’s the most common holiday sign-off, and yet, it’s often misused. Grammar purists everywhere cringe as they open envelopes filled with apostrophes and pluralizations where they don’t belong. Keep these rules in mind when pluralizing your last name:
No apostrophes for simple plurals.
If the name ends in “s,” “x,” “z,” “ch,” or “sh,” add “es.”
Holiday greeting cards are chock-full of superfluous apostrophes, and not just when pluralizing last names. Remember that apostrophes should be used only to indicate possession or contractions. Avoid using them for decoration or pluralization. Here’s how to correctly write some common holiday greetings that tend to get an extra (and incorrect) embellishment.
Avoid a rogue apostrophe-“s” in “happy new year.”
The phrase “happy holidays” is not possessive.
However, there are some instances where apostrophes should be used.
For last names ending in “s,” add an apostrophe at the end to show possession.
The phrase “season’s greetings” is possessive.
Some holidays require an apostrophe-“s” because they are possessive.
Contractions require apostrophes.
Holiday cards are a hodgepodge of capitalization. Even generic phrases — such as “Happy Holidays” or “Merry and Bright” — often appear in uppercase letters, reflecting stylistic choices more than grammatical accuracy. Technically, these phrases should be lowercase (“happy holidays,” “merry and bright”), unless a word begins a sentence, but these tend to get a pass in the spirit of creative license on holiday cards.
However, if you’re interested in staying grammatically correct this holiday season, the Associated Press has weighed in on the matter. According to its guidance, the first letters of words in generic phrases are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence or include a proper name, such as a person’s name or a specific holiday.
Perhaps most importantly, in the context of greeting cards, this includes capitalizing holidays and events such as Advent, Black Friday, Boxing Day, Christmas, Christmastime, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and Yule. The same goes for proper names, including Grinch, Kris Kringle, North Pole, Jesus, and Santa Claus.
Flipping the calendar to the new year deserves a set of rules all its own. Use capitals in the exclamation “Happy New Year!” But if you’re using a more sedate phrase such as “I’m wishing you and your family a happy new year,” the standard rules of capitalization and punctuation apply.
However, card writers tend to overdo capitalization, and often, it’s the words that shouldn’t be capitalized that are the issue. This includes common words and phrases such as dreidel, hallelujah, happy, menorah, merry, mistletoe, and season. Here are some capitalization rules in action with common holiday greetings.
Adjectives are not capitalized, even if they accompany proper nouns:
Example: “We want to wish you a merry Christmas!”
Example: “From our family to yours — feliz Navidad!”
Example: “This season, we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.”
Example: “We wish you a happy Hanukkah!”
Common terms and phrases are not capitalized:
Example: “The Smiths are dropping in to say happy holidays!”
Example: “Sending love and season’s greetings…”
Example: “Meet me under the mistletoe!”
No matter what message you write in your holiday cards, or how you write it, your hard work won’t go unnoticed. And don’t worry — Santa won’t swipe you from the “nice” list for forgetting an apostrophe or capitalizing “merry” in the middle of a sentence. Still, by sticking to these guidelines, you’re sure to impress any English teachers or grammar enthusiasts on your mailing list this holiday season.
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