Calling Card Correspondence

 

 As a follow up to our recent article on calling cards, we would like to take a more in depth look at some of the intricacies of corresponding with calling cards, those once indispensable social tools. As mentioned previously, calling cards can be used, apart from in the traditional sense, as greeting cards, invitations, or as reply to invitations. These uses are still very practical, even in contemporary society.

Used as greeting cards, the message should be scrawled either on the front of the card in the blank space or else on the back. Be sure to sign at least your first name, even though it's on the card. This works very well for general greetings, congratulations, get-well-soon's, et cetera. They also work well accompanying gifts in lieu of a greeting card. Greeting cards are mass-marketed and over-priced; often they leave so much space which one feels obligated to fill up, leading some to ramble and others to forego the correspondence entirely. A calling card has just the right amount of space to pen a brief message.

Calling cards can also be used as invitations. Nota Bene: For formal gatherings proper invitations should be used, but calling cards work exceptionally well for less formal situations. The occasion, time, date, and location on the top of the card. For a response, write "R.S.V.P." in the lower left-hand corner. Be sure to include your contact information if it is not already on the card. Additionally, if the name on the card includes the title "Mr.", tradition dictates that this be crossed out, or in especially informal instances the full name should be stricken through once and the card should be signed with the first name.

To respond to invitations with a calling card is as simple as the former. To accept, write a short note of acceptance, including the date and time of the event, across the top. To decline, write a short note of decline including the date but not the time. Also be sure to include a reason for declining. Anything less would be rude. Again, it is traditional to strike out the "Mr." or, less formally, to strike out the full name and sign the first.