Jan 4, 2009

A Little Holiday Game - Total Points


I wanted to remind you of our little Holiday Game we started a week or two back. It's time to tally our points and pick a winner.

This idea comes from the people over at Real Simple Magazine. - It's called:


"Holiday-Card Score Sheet."

As the Christmas cards come rolling in, you are going to assign points to them based on the following standard. The household with the most points post-holiday wins a prize to be determined later.
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Gain Points when you receive cards from:
1. Dentist, insurance agent, drycleaner, mailman, your own mother, an email card: +.05.
2. Another relative, your boss, friend with no personal message enclosed: +1.
3. Any of #2 that has a reference to an inside joke: +3.
4. Card with personal message enclosed or from long-lost friend you haven't heard from in twenty years: +10.

Lose Points when:

1. Signature is imprinted rather than handwritten, photo is of helpless pet in a holiday costume, card plays annoying music: -2.

2. Your name is spelled incorrectly, card is the same one you received last year, or return-address label was provided by charity to which sender may not have actually contributed. -3.
3. Family newsletter contains words such as gallbladder, spleen, and gout. -5.
4. Long lost friend you haven't heard from in 20 years asks for money or a place to live. -10.
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Bonus Points:

1. Handwritten return address, card with newsletter or photo enclosed, or card in which all family members appear to have signed their own names. +3.
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2. Xtremely clever hand made card, oversize card requiring xtra postage, card sent from foreign country: +6.
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3. Card with check, cash or gift certificate: +20.
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Post-holiday, I will bring this post back and ask you to report your points in the comments. Household with the most points gets prize. According to Real Simple, the higher the points, the better your holiday karma. Ready.... Set.... Go!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm up to 6 points, now I'm waiting for that big ten pointer.

Anonymous said...

I'm in the negatives. How depressing.

Anonymous said...

I am so excited, I think that we are winning the Christmas card game so far, we have already recieved 2, add em up and weep baby, 2 cards. Oh,I do remember bringing home 4 for mom and dad, from the Pony Express from Church today. O.K. so they are 2 up on us, and I dont think that we even got any bonus points.

Eli's Lids said...

This is GREAT!! I really am going to try to get some our friends in on this. All families involved can contribute $10 toward a gift card to a restaurant for a "family date."
http://elislids.blogspot.com/

Poof said...

OK peeps, I'm up to 15 pointeroos. I got 6 alone for an xtremely creative hand made card (thanks Chris!!). & I got half a point yesterday (thanks Preacher).

Poof said...

Wow. I'm up to 32.05 Apparently, I'm the only one playing.....

Anonymous said...

I'm in. I only have 22 points. But there's still time!

JMaslar said...

I was up to 15 points but then I received the dreaded and feared one addressed "to resident". Now, I am starting over! Cecil you go, girl.

JMaslar said...

Oops, Ma just ran out to the Dollar Store to purchase more cards.......

Anonymous said...

How many points do we get if we find a card in our mailbox with our mailing address sent to Jim's mom, who never lived here and died earlier this year? It's from her insurance agent, if that counts extra.

Will we get more bonus points if we attempt to forward it?

Anonymous said...

Hey Val how many points for a card from Billy Graham? We just go one, that ought to be worth a biggie! I think I win! Mom

Anonymous said...

Sorry Mom but most contests realitives and employees are not eligible to enter. I think I am the winner for coming up with that so quickly.

Anonymous said...

No matter how much I stretch it, I still come up with 42. Anybody higher than that? I think the Billy Graham one is worth fifty!

Poof said...

One special reader gave me a card worth 32 points! That bumped me up to 74.05 points and I don't even send cards.

I can't get the prize - so go ahead, submit your points even if you are under 74.

Let's pick a winner!

Anonymous said...

The Hyde family got 133 points. We recieved some really great stuff this year as far as the card game went. I had a lot o fun playing it. Thanx for putting it together.

Anonymous said...

I thought I was going to win! 114 points. Congrats, Cecil, so far!