Christmas is a great time during the year, even for those who don’t celebrate it like myself. Even without celebrating all the cheer and joy of the season spills over into your life regardless as people celebrate all around you. Beautiful decorations are all around and stores have awesome Christmas sales we can all enjoy. However, as a business, Christmas is considered a religious holiday. Therefore, some may be hesitant to send out greeting cards with “Merry Christmas” written on them. The default alternative being to simply wish “Happy Holidays” instead to avoid any concerns.
Happy Holidays helps the company appear more inclusive of other holidays such as Hanukkah, which occurs around the same time. While doing so, it doesn’t exclude Christmas or favor any particular holiday. This is perfect for the workplace considering it is likely employees within the business do celebrate different holidays. As a company, using Happy Holidays when you want to appeal to a group of diverse workers or clients shows that you respect their cultures and beliefs. If you visit the Other Seasonal Greetings category, you’ll see perfect examples of greeting cards you could send out for your business and be confident none will be offended. That is not to say for those who are specifically targeting the Christmas holiday that “Merry Christmas” is a bad greeting, it is completely fine. If you’d specifically like a Christmas card with the words “Merry Christmas”, you may browse the Merry Christmas category and find a beautiful card which fits exactly what you need.
Happy Holidays is the safer play now a days.
For businesses, “Merry Christmas” is usually not the way to go. If the cards are for friends and family, then you definitely should know if they will appreciate “Merry Christmas” or not.
Very simple: If you know for sure that the recipient celebrates Christmas, you can say Merry Christmas. Otherwise: Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings (something that does not say CHRISTMAS)
I think you should be true to your own values. People will appreciate the sincerity.
I send New Year’s cards to avoid having to choose a phrase. Saves me the trouble haha
People should choose to use Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays based upon their own preference combined what they know about their intended recipients’ preferences. If it is a mixture, I would suggest either ordering 2 different designs or choosing a card with a wintery scene on the front but with no message and then use a generic type of greeting inside. That being said, in my opinion, people are way too concerned with being PC these days!
I’m not religious at all but still celebrate Christmas. Christmas has become such a secularized holiday. I have known of people of all religions to celebrate it because it’s become more of a cultural thing than a religious. Even when you go to the movies, the majority of Christmas movies rarely even have anything to do with religion. It’s based on Christianity but it’s a fun holiday and I like the values that surround it. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate that. If you are really that concerned, just go with Happy Holidays.