Every year I try to get our Christmas cards out on the day after Thanksgiving. Otherwise it feels like the month of December gets going and I lose track of time. I used Minted for our cards again this year. One of my favorite things about Minted’s Christmas cards is that they address them for you. That’s one of my secrets to getting our cards out so early! Inevitably, I haven’t updated someone’s address in my address book; but for the most part, my cards are going to be addressed and ready to go.
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Back at the end of October I pulled out some Christmas decorations and took some photos of the kids in their new matching Christmas pjs. We had some professional family photos done in the spring, but I feel like they look so different from just 6 months ago! They change so fast. Magically, I got Sprout to cooperate and sit down near the kids so I could include him on the front of our card this year. Two weeks later I had a mini session done locally (with the CUTEST pictures coming from it), but I had already ordered my cards. I probably should have waited but I was antsy to get my cards done!
How to address an envelope with tricky last names
Now let’s talk about the correct way to make a family’s last name plural. You don’t ever want to use an apostrophe when you’re writing out an envelope, because an apostrophe indicates possession – as in owning a thing. “The Smith’s” does not mean multiple Smiths… it indicates that the Smith (one of them) possess something, but doesn’t say what.
In short, never use an apostrophe.
Examples of last names made plural, the correct way
There are a few general rules for making a last name plural. When it’s a holiday card and you’re addressing to the entire family, there are some general guidelines to use.
If your last name ends in S, X, Z, or Sh
Add es to your last name. Mary Jones would write The Joneses. Joe Davis would write The Davises. Jessy would write The Marshes.
If your last name ends in Y
Do NOT change it to ies. Just add an s! Murphy becomes Murphys.
If your last name ends in Ch
The proper way to make your last name plural depends on whether you pronounce it with a hard K sound or not. Then, if your last name is French (not a hard K sound), you would write it as The Frenches. If your last name is Loch (pronounced Lock), you change it to The Lochs.
If your last name ends in any other letter
So, if your last name ends in any other letter than those noted above, you simply add an s to the end. Mary Moore would write The Moores, John Taylor would write The Taylors, and Jake Johnson would write The Johnsons.
If you’re unsure how to pluralize someone’s last name, just add an s. Never ever ever add an apostrophe! And if all else fails, just write “The X Family” with their last name as the X. e.g. The Jones Family, The Moore Family, The Loch Family.
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Addressing a more formal way
If you’re going for a very formal envelope, you can also address by just one name. (We did this on our wedding invitations, for example.) A traditional way to do so is to write it as “Mr. and Mrs. David Jones,” referencing just the husband’s first name. It’s also acceptable to write “Mr. and Mrs. Jones” (or “Mr. and Mr. Jones” or “Mrs. and Mrs. Jones”) as the recipient’s name. If they have professional titles like Dr., you would use that instead of Mr. or Mrs.
Side note: This also implies that they are married, so if you’re not sure of their marital status you can also write it as “Mr. Jones and Mrs. James,” if you know that they don’t have the same last name, for example.
If you’re going more casual, you can change the recipient’s name to just the name of the person e.g. “Jack & Diane.” It’s not the professional way to address something, but this isn’t business correspondence anyway – it’s a piece of mail and as long as it has the name of the recipient, go for it.
And another edge case… If one of the head family members has a hyphenated last name, you write both. If his name is David Smith and her name is Diane Jones Smith, you would address to The Jones Smith Family.
The envelope-addressing cheat sheet
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