Short answer
Greeting cards held their ground during COVID-19. Sales stayed near normal in 2020 and 2021. Habits from those two years still shape cards and gifts in 2026. Three carryovers matter most: mailed paper cards, video and voice messages, and small gifts bought close to the event date.
What changed between 2020 and 2022
In-person parties stopped in March 2020. Families replaced them with drive-by parades, porch drops, and group video calls. Card shops and gift shops closed for weeks. Online orders took the place of store visits.
- Mailed cards rose as people sent notes to relatives they could not visit.
- Video messages replaced the office group card.
- Curbside pickup moved gifts from browse-in-store to order-ahead.
- Digital cards arrived by text and email, often on the event day.
Where the numbers sit
The Greeting Card Association puts US card sales near $7 billion to $8 billion a year, with about 6.5 billion cards sold. That range held through the pandemic. USPS reported lower total mail volume in fiscal 2020. Pew Research Center found that most US adults used video calls to keep in touch during 2020 and 2021.
What carries into 2026
Paper cards with a written line
Buyers write two or three sentences instead of signing a name. Blank cards and note cards outsell pre-printed verses in some shops.
Hybrid sending
Some card makers pair a paper card with a QR code that opens a video message. The paper arrives by mail. The message arrives by phone.
Gifts under $30
Pandemic budgets reset gift spending. Small items sell: candles, mugs, seed packets, framed photos.
Ship dates printed on the envelope
Delivery delays in 2020 and 2021 taught buyers to send ahead. Birthday cards now go out 7 to 10 days before the date.
What is unknown
No public dataset tracks which COVID-era habits will still exist in 2026. Card and gift shops report their own numbers. Forecasts for 2026 rest on store data, not on one industry survey.