Never been a card person. At work, we used to send out 100+ cards. The list began to dwindle, then it got pruned severely and has been abandoned in the last couple of years. We still have a box of them that we use for holiday tips for our USPS carrier and UPS driver. Our incoming cards followed about the same pattern. This year we got two Thanksgivings cards, one Holiday card and maybe a dozen Holiday/New Year e-cards/messages. We have a Japanese vendor that sends New Years cards to several of us and they have done so since the first year of doing business with them.
actually no its a tradition from sometime between the 1800s to about the 1930s
What it was is back then the custom was everyone who could afford it or had a big enough house would open it up for new years day for friends and neighbors to visit …you’d make the rounds stay a few minutes and marvel at the holiday decorations and have say tea cake and punch or some light refreshment at each place
(its also why no one takes the decorations down until after new years too)
If the house weren’t open you’d leave a card that said basically " sorry we missed you a happy new year from us and ours to you and yours" and over time it just became sending the cards and eventually faded out in a majority of places
seems its coming back sort of
Yeah, they’ve been around at least that long, and most likely longer. I think I remember an occasional one from my childhood, which if accurate would make it back to the 50’s or 60’s.
I don’t think many people send both those and Christmas cards; I think they’re usually sent either because you want to send a card and it’s too late to send a Christmas card, or because you don’t want to send specifically Christmas cards but do want to acknowledge a general “holiday season” – whether because you’re not Christian, or because you don’t know whether the recipient is.
I’ll take a wild guess that what happened with the Halloween/address change/Christmas card/New Year’s card sequence was that the people who sent the first card did so primarily due to the address change. They weren’t expecting a Christmas card, and by the time they got one it was too late to reply in kind, but Christmas cards often are expected to be reciprocal so they sent a New Year’s card in response. I don’t think a return card to that is owed.
– apparently people sent New Year’s postcards in 1908.
https://www.historybythesea.com/2016/01/post-cards-and-new-year.html
We get one or two every year. I’m guessing these people didn’t have time before Christmas or they couldn’t get the entire family together for the picture until Christmas.
Careful, now! You can’t generalize. I’m a follower of the Mayan religion, so the last calendar year for me was 2012. There are no more New Years. I find it those cards offensive and culturally insensitive. 
They normally send out their Christmas cards extremely early, but you’re right, the Thanksgiving card was for the change of address.
But they didn’t actually get the Christmas card we sent until after we received the New Year’s Day card. She just contacted me to thank me for the Christmas card.
After I finish the remaining Christmas cards (at least 1-2 more years), I think I’ll switch to New Years, at least for friends. Family will still get Christmas cards, as those I usually do on time.
Oh well, so much for that theory –
I’ve got in-laws who send New Year’s cards. And Halloween. And Thanksgiving. And every other holiday.
Three of them. One two each kid, and one to the whole family. If they make a card for it, it’s getting sent to us.
I’m kinda glad I asked. Seems to be a variety of reasons and rationales. I oughtta pick some random, obscure holiday and send out cards, just for the hell of it.
Tripler
‘I knocked on your door, but you weren’t home. Happy Fishmongers’ Day!!’
With Etsy, it’s pssible to find cards for every occasion.
Or go with a foundation: