A snippet from Crane's propaganda (and no, I didn't buy my cards from them. I'm a House Wife, not a Vanderbilt. Although, I did buy Tony personalized stationary from Crane for his birthday two years ago. I spent nearly $400 on cards and envelopes and he's used it exactly twice.) - Steeped in the ultra-formal Victorian code of social etiquette, calling cards have made a fashionable resurgence in our fast-paced 21st-century lives. They are the perfect personal introduction for those occasions when a business card is too business-like.
The hardest part of the process of creating my Calling Cards (I say that in my head with a snotty accent and I suggest you do, too. Makes it much more...important sounding.) was deciding what information to include. Obviously, my name and phone number. But do I put my home address? Who will be receiving these? I got them mostly for situations when people need my contact information and spelling it all out for them seems too tedious. You try spelling Coutsoftides to a salesperson you just met for the first time 10 minutes earlier. Then try spelling it three more times, because that's about how long it takes for people to get it right. For instance, when I was furniture shopping for the new house, I needed to give salespeople all sorts of information for purchases, credit applications and delivery scheduling. A personal card would have made that so much easier. As it is, I did hand out some old business cards from my days in the cosmetics biz, along with the sheepish explanation that "I don't do that anymore," which really made me sound more like a former exotic dancer or prostitute than successful business owner, but that's all on me.
According to the Crane site (and these people seem to know their stuff), calling cards are also useful for job hunters who don't want to use the cards from their current or previous position. Hopefully I won't be job searching anytime soon, but it never hurts to be prepared. They are also good, it says, for recent college grads who don't have a job that comes with business cards (Hello, Starbucks!) or retirees who are no longer in the workplace or are working part-time to just keep busy (Hello, Starbucks!) They don't mention housewives, but I bet we make up a certain percentage of the population who purchases calling cards - how could we not? We make up a certain percentage of the population who buys everything else in the world.
What Crane does mention is how helpful these cards are on the dating scene, which I find interesting. I've been out of the dating/mating loop about three years now and was only ever intermittently part of it (you can't get married three times in six years and have dated all that much) but I can't decide if giving someone a card would be more or less dorky than writing your number on their palm or a damp cocktail napkin. I love cards, so I think that would be fabulous, but that raises another question - when all you have room to carry is lipstick and cab fare, where do you put the cards? I can foresee a whole new accessory segment popping up around glittery cocktail card holders. OOOH, you could even re-brand calling cards as "cocktail cards" specifically for dating. Design them in fashion-forward colors with glitter and foil inks, print lists of turn-ons and turn-offs on the back, only include information that can't be used to stalk you, like a cell phone number or email. I think someone could make a fortune on this. If only the Gossip Girls started carrying cocktail cards...we'd be made.
But, back to reality, where high school students don't carry thousand-dollar handbags. (Do you remember what YOU carried in high school? I carried a backpack. My Prada hobo bag simply wasn't big enough for my biology AND American history text books at the same time.)
Anyhow, after loading up my favorite cheap business-card site, the one that uses business cards as a loss leader for car door magnets, Web sites and pricey third-world adoptions, I had many tough decisions to make. Do I go horizontal or vertical? (It's amazing to me how many times a day I have to answer that question.) Bright colors? Something more elegant? Monogrammed? Do I put a "message" on them? And if so, what would it be? "Actually, I don't have children." "Call me anytime, I'm always available!" "I do lunch..or dinner...or tea...please, just get me out of my house!" Forget the message.
In the end, I decided on a lovely pink and brown design with a bird on it (my middle name is Starling, after all) and a monogram. I included my full address and phone number, as well as cell phone, email and the web address for this blog. I think that should be enough information to keep anyone going. As a bonus, I got address labels for the new address, too, for only $1.49 extra. The third-world orphans at $25,000 a pop were a bit out of my price range, though.
As for how I'm going to use them, first I'm going to distribute them to my girlfriends who need to know my new home address and personal (not business) email. Then, who knows? I'll keep them in my purse and fling them wildly at new acquaintances, folks at cocktail parties and networking mixers, my new neighbors, anyone who holds still long enough. All of Northern Kentucky should soon know who I am and where I live. Maybe they'll stop by and eat some of these cupcakes I've been obsessively baking.
Now if I could just find a suitably glittery card holder, I'd be set.
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