10 years of Thinking of You Week!

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of Thinking of You Week!

This annual event, which takes place the 3^rd week in September, was born at a UK Greeting Card Association (GCA) Council Meeting and launched in September 2014!

Thinking of you week was inspired by the “heartfelt replies” received by one of the GCA members, Leonard Smith, who sent 40 cards to friends and family during Lent. He reported to GCA Council member Jakki Brown, co-owner of Max Publishing, the fantastic response he’s had from people on receiving his cards out of the blue, just to say ‘hello’, share a joke or memory.

The GCA Council discussed how they could encourage others to reach out to people they care about, spreading joy by sending cards without an occasion. Then GCA Council member Amanda Fergusson, who at the time was sales director at Caroline Gardner, later becoming GCA CEO, remembers the meeting well:

There was a real enthusiasm in the room for an idea that resonated with all ages and communities.

We discussed linking up with a charity, or different sectors of the population, but the consensus was we needed an idea that everyone could get involved in and Thinking of You Week was born

Amanda Fergusson, GCA CEO

The first Thinking of You Week was announced in Progressive Greeting July 2014:

Benefits of Card Sending!

Sending and receiving handwritten cards creates a physical connection and emotional response, generating positive feelings and wellbeing. The fact that someone has spent the time to make or choose a card write it and send it makes the person feel receiving it feel far more special and cared for than receiving instant texts emails or other social media messages

Cards are displayed in the home, and many are kept for years providing a reminder of the person that has sent them and a special relationship. Greeting cards are also great social history as design and messages change with each generation.

Why Thinking of You Week

Thinking of You Week is a special week that harnesses the emotional power of greeting cards to create a wave of love caring and happiness.

Developed by the UK Greeting Card Association, Thinking of You Week was created as a vehicle to harness and promote the joy of sending and receiving greeting cards. During Thinking of You Week everyone is encouraged to reach out and connect with friends, work colleagues, loved ones and others just to keep in touch, share a joke, share a memory, say ‘hello’ or ‘thinking of you’.

Thinking of You Week is inclusive and free; everyone can join in, cards can be made or bought.

Thinking of You Week builds communities with Greeting Card Association members, publishers, retailers, suppliers to the industry and others developing a range of initiatives under the umbrella that Thinking of You Week provides. The occasion is used to link up and engage local schools, care homes, brownies, scouts, charities and customers to share the joy of cards, through promotions, competitions and connecting different groups of people.

Thinking of You Week happens annually in the 3^rd week in September. Thinking of You Week spreads joy and builds connections by encourages the sending of cards ‘just because’.

Thinking of You Week is inclusive and free; everyone can join in.

Posts from our dedicated Instagram page @thinkingofyouweek_uk

Thinking of You Week Through the Years!

Thinking of You Week happens annually in the 3^rd week in September, and has spread across the globe, and is celebrated in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and the Netherlands!

There is a special Thinking of You Week UK website which shares information on the event, ideas for people to get involved and has free downloadable toolkits for retailers schools and anyone else wanting to run card sending initiatives and encourage connections within their communities.

The UK often link up with their friends in the USA; the USA also now has their own Thinking of You Week website and run events and activities across the country too in the third week of September.

Through the years, UK retailers and publishers have worked together, with schools, run promotions and fun initiatives with other organisations, encouraging people across the country to reach out and share the joy of sending and receiving greeting cards!

Thinking of You Week Branding!

The branding for Thinking of You Week was regularly updated, with GCA member The Great British Card Company providing the artwork for the first two years.

In 2020 GCA member Paper Salad designed a brand new logo and toolkit, which continues to be widely used throughout the UK, by retailers, publishers, schools and othering joining in to share the joy of cards. In 2021 US GCA, and others across the world, also started using the same logo – so we can all consistently celebrate Thinking of You Week everywhere!

Thinking of You Week in the 2020’s!

The 2020 & 2021 COVID 19 lockdown’s resulted in non-essential retailers, schools and many businesses shut, the population isolating at home unable to meet friends and family, and with much of the UK working from home too.

The GCA set up a Gallery on the consumer-facing Thinking of You Week website, with members invited to send in a jpegs of cards and a link to an online shop. The GCA promoted this far and wide – even ending up on ITV news!

In 2022 we connected 9,000 school children in the UK and Ghana through greeting cards for Thinking of You Week. And in 2023 and 2024 over 60,000 greeting cards were handed out by the GCA team at Pride in London and Manchester!