Two in three still send festive cards

MORE than two-thirds of Irish people say they still send Christmas cards, a new survey has found.

TheTaste.ie’s annual survey asked 1,200 people a series of Christmas questions, and found that 71% still used the snail mail during the festive season.

The survey also revealed that just one in 12 dads look after cooking Christmas dinner, with 40% of households leaving the task to mammy alone.

However, 46% of people said that it was a family affair, with all members of the family lending a hand.

Keith Mahon, TheTaste.ie’s managing director, said: ‘We thought it would be interesting to capture the thoughts of people in Ireland as they count down to Christmas… I was interested to see that 29% of people do not send Christmas cards.

‘There could be any number of reasons; the cost, the time it takes or the fact that e-cards have grown in popularity. However, although I love all things digital, I really hope that the tradition of sending a hand-written Christmas card never dies out.’

The survey also found that almost a third of people do not start their Christmas shopping until December.

Most people said that they started buying gifts in December, however 53% of people said that they avoided Black Friday and did not make a purchase on the busy shopping day.

Meanwhile, An Post has advised its customers that today is the last day for posting cards and parcels to be sure of delivery nationwide before Christmas. Final An Post deliveries nationwide are this Saturday and post offices close at 1.30pm, reopening next Thursday.