Winter cards 2025-26
Write cards with us to celebrate the season! Reaching across the bars is important any time of year, but this holiday season, more than 12,000 people are incarcerated in prisons, jails, and a detention center in Massachusetts. Depression, anger, and numbing are common reactions to spending the holiday season and new year in a place that denies your ability to change. People often feel disposable, and the years may have cut them off from family, friends, and any support they had on the outside.
Thank you for helping us reach across bars to people in Massachusetts prisons and jails and send the message that people inside are remembered and loved. Cards like ours may be the only mail our members-- who are disproportionately LGBTQ+, elders, BIPOC, or longtimers (or all four)-- receive this year. This year about 100 incarcerated people have requested cards from us to start, and our list grew to about 140 as people saw others receive cards and opted in.
For the 2025-26 cards, we encouraged you to gather with friends new and old to write cards together. We prepared a guide to help you put together a card party. We held several events where we wrote piles of cards together.
After you sign up, you'll receive ideas for what to write in your card and info on mail rules, along with the contact info for however many members you request.
As you purchase cards, keep in mind these mail rules so people get your cards:
Thank you for helping us reach across bars to people in Massachusetts prisons and jails and send the message that people inside are remembered and loved. Cards like ours may be the only mail our members-- who are disproportionately LGBTQ+, elders, BIPOC, or longtimers (or all four)-- receive this year. This year about 100 incarcerated people have requested cards from us to start, and our list grew to about 140 as people saw others receive cards and opted in.
For the 2025-26 cards, we encouraged you to gather with friends new and old to write cards together. We prepared a guide to help you put together a card party. We held several events where we wrote piles of cards together.
After you sign up, you'll receive ideas for what to write in your card and info on mail rules, along with the contact info for however many members you request.
As you purchase cards, keep in mind these mail rules so people get your cards:
- Cards have to pass mail rules designed to get people in trouble
- Cards will be photocopied and the recipient will get the copy. Your loving card will be thrown away. This is one way that mail rules rip apart communities, but we won't let it stop us from sending love
- Avoid cards with childish themes, hearts or romantic imagery, alcohol (such as champagne), or very religious messages, etc.
- Do not use cards or paper that have glitter, glue, tape, foil, 3D elements, embossing, an unusual texture, are tattered or age-stained, have spots or smudges, etc.
- When buying online, try searching for "bulk holiday cards" or "winter card boxes" for less expensive options
Examples of cards that would pass mail rules
If your recipients don't celebrate a specific holiday, we encourage you to focus on winter themes.
- Winter Joy Assorted Blank Boxed Christmas Notes, 36 cards for $10.99 (watch out for glitter, embossing, etc on Hallmark cards)
- Warm Wishes Cozy Winter Collection - 24 cards for $12.95
- Northern Lights -12 cards (select white envelopes) for $20
- Sending a little light your way 3 cards for $8.95
If your recipients don't celebrate a specific holiday, we encourage you to focus on winter themes.
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