Hallmark Personalized Greeting Cards Review

As I've mentioned many times, my mom is legally blind.  She and I are really close, and I always send her a card and gift on Mothers' Day, in addition to phoning her. Since she started to lose her sight, I've felt kindof funny about sending her cards. Since she can't see much of anything, someone always has to read cards and letters to her. There's nothing top secret about the notes and cards I send my mom, but she is, after all, an adult, and she does have a right to privacy. Sending email is pretty good, because she can set her PC to read text out loud to her. When it comes to a handwritten, note, though...she's dependent on others.

This year I decided to go with one of Hallmark's personalized greeting cards. I know they're somewhat gimmicky, but I figured they could be used as assistive technology for the blind.

They're simple to use. Each card has a tiny computer chip imbedded in it. When pressed, the chip records and saves sound. You can record over and over until you're happy with the soundbyte you've made. The recording plays, automatically, when the card is opened. Pretty nifty.

I bought one of these cards and recorded a message for my mother. I figured she'd get a kick out of it. To be honest, I forgot about the card until she called me at work to tell me how pleased she'd been to open up mail and not have to ask anyone to read to her.

These cards aren't cheap. At $5.99 a pop, that's sort of steep, IMO. BUt, then, it's very little to have paid, when I consider how pleased my mother sounded on the phone. A silly, little thing like that made her day, so I consider it well worth the expense.

Besides the high price, the other downside is that these cards do require additional postage than a regular card. The computer chip is tiny, but it does add weight. I didn't realize I'd need additional postage and, luckily, the mailman knows my folks and let them pay on delivery. Next time I'll slap an extra stamp on the envelope.

A cute novelty I wouldn't get for every person or every occassion, but definitely worth sending to someone who has trouble seeing, or who would just enjoy hearing your voice, for a change.