It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…Well, Almost

Congrats to tax professionals who made it through the 10/15 deadline!  All that stands between accountants and the upcoming holidays is interim work for auditors.

Halloween

We don’t get days off for Halloween, although I’m a firm believer that everyone should be off on November 1 to help regulate sugar levels and to be able to prank your kids about eating all of their Halloween candy.  Or maybe we can even give employees Halloween off to avoid any potential inappropriate costume mishaps at the office.

Thanksgiving

Are we doing Thanksgiving potlucks this year?  If I eat and drink too much and can’t fit into my workpants, do I have enough PTO to take off the rest of the year?  Worst case scenario – you can work remote the rest of the year.

Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa

I’ll stick around in the office for the Holiday Party and White Elephant gift exchange, but after that I’m out for the rest of the year!

So when do I send out Holiday cards???

Great question!  When do you want your lucky recipients to get their cards?  I start receiving cards the week of Thanksgiving.  Aim for the weekend after Thanksgiving to give folks plenty of time to receive and appreciate your cards.  For business contacts, keep in mind that some folks may take off most of December, so if you don’t send their cards until mid December, they may not receive it until after New Years. 

Let’s start from the end and work backwards:

• November 24-28 – Block off a day to personalize, address, and stamp your cards and envelopes. Thanksgiving week is an ideal time since you’re likely taking some time off from work.  The days after Thanksgiving are great too if you want an easy task that you can still accomplish after stuffing yourself.

• November 8-15 – Order stamps. If you want holiday stamps or fun stamps, you’ll need to order them by mid-November.  Otherwise, you may be stuck with good ole fashioned American flag forever stamps (not that there’s anything wrong with it, but a holiday stamp adds an extra conversation starter.

• November 1-15 – Make sure you have everyone’s address. If you don’t have a spreadsheet with addresses for friends and family you care about, now is a good time to start!

• November 1-15 – Order cards. It may take up to a week to receive any cards you order online, so get your order in by mid-November so you’ll have the cards by around Thanksgiving.  You’ll need to decide if everyone on your list is getting the same card (umm, everyone loves accounting-themed cards, right??), or if you want different card designs for different groups of people. 

• October 17-31 – Figure out who you want to send cards to. Family? Friends? Coworkers? Prospects?  All of the above?

So now is the perfect time to start making your holiday card distribution list, so stop procrastinating and get a spreadsheet going! It’s not like you have busy season to use as an excuse anymore! 

Need inspiration for holiday card ideas?  Check out our selection of holiday cards that are guaranteed to get a reaction out of your accounting friends, family, coworkers, or prospects!dd