eCards: Free Information about Free eCards

Plenty of us have trudged home after a long day at the Renaissance Festival, exhausted from demonstrating leathercrafts and debating Frodo's lineage on his Mother's side, only to realize that yesterday was Mother's Day and we forgot to send a card to Dear Old Mom. It's a horrible feeling to fall face-first onto the futon knowing that we've overlooked the most important woman in our lives.

Look unto the Internet for bountiful sources of free eCard web sites. The Electronic Card business has bailed out many a forgetful adult child by providing plethoras of profound punditry transmittable via broadband. Skilled web programmers and graphic designers dedicate their careers to helping us connect with those we care about.

Expect the typical eCard site to provide online tools for exercising your imagination. Go wild with colors. Add a customized greeting or compose your own personal message to your pool boy commemorating his GED. Everyone loves to receive eCards!

Aside from being easy to create while still wearing your pajamas, eCards save the environment. Holiday scientists estimate that digitally transmitting your greeting cards may save as many as one moderately tall tree and one shorter tree over the life of your computer. Their scientific calculations don't even include the gasoline and parking tickets that can be avoided by shopping online.

Singing cards, video cards, talking cards, sappy cards, and potentially offensive cards can all be found online. While designing your card, know your limitations. Know your audience. Don't consider pouring out your heart into an Arbor Day card destined for your mailman's mother-in-law. Sometimes less is more.

Excellent substitutes for the real thing can be found at any number of Internet eCard web sites. Sure, in the old days we enjoyed strolling out to the mailbox in our zoot suit and harvesting a handful of birthday cards. TImes have changed. We all understand the exposure of identify theft; a paper greeting card falling into the wrong hands could spell disaster. It's better to be safe than sorry; skip the postal service and email your feelings to those you love.

Clever eCard web sites offer high-tech mail merge technologies that allow senders to reuse the same card compositions across multiple demographics. For example, why waste that thoughtful greeting on just one Mom? A simple copy and paste in the email destination field forces that eCard into double duty. Besides, your Mother never talks to your secretaries' Mother; what could possibly go wrong?

Look closely at the terms and conditions attached to your eCard web site. While the card may be awesome, you may be trading your Mom's email address for a slight convenience. We don't want Mom to end up on any more Nigerian Banking mailing lists than absolutely necessary.

Instead of steering the Corolla to the local Hallmark store, log on to a free eCard web site and bail yourself out from certain embarrassment. These tidy little sites offer innumerable themes, poetic verses, graphics, and embeddable YouTube videos combinable into greeting cards suitable for any online occasion.

Consider an actual paper card if you actually plan to visit with your recipient. Walking in the door empty handed is frowned upon, even if you shove your Blackberry in Mom's face and bellow "Happy Mother's Day! Look at this eCard I made for you!" Mom is pretty sure that you passed a Walgreen's on the way over and she will notice if you spend an inordinate amount of time sitting in her driveway, hunched over your keyboard.

Keep your calendar up to date. Don't forget birthdays, national holidays, and, most important of all, Mother's Day. Savvy Internet Moms can read the date stamps on stuff in their in-boxes. A tardy eCard is better than no card at all, but nothing beats a live hug and a handful of flowers.