Is it Sanders, Sanders’, or Sanderses…?? Here’s how to address your holiday cards.

We’re not afraid to admit that we have 100% addressed a few holiday cards incorrectly in the past—it’s only human. If you’re at that last step of writing your holiday cards and aren’t quite sure how to write out a family’s name… we’ve put together this quick guide to addressing holiday cards with ease (hint: forget about apostrophes!)

‍

Rule #1: Pluralize the last name.

Because you’re addressing the card to a family made up of multiple people or pets, your job when addressing the card is simply to make their last name plural by adding an “s” or “es” to the end. Yes, sometimes there are exceptions… but typically, just adding an “s” or “es” is the safest bet.

‍

How do you know whether to add an “s” or “es”? Take a look at the end of the family’s last name. If it ends with C, CH, SH, X, or S, go with “es.”

‍

Here are some examples of what it looks like in practice:

‍

✅ Swift → The Swifts

✅ Miller → The Millers

✅ Chavez → The Chavezes

✅ Sanders → The Sanderses 

‍

Rule #2: When in doubt, *don’t* apostrophe it out. 

Fun fact… if you’re addressing a holiday card to a family or from your own, you never need an apostrophe (grammar nerd talk… that makes it “possessive” rather than plural). 

‍

Here are some examples of what NOT do:

🚫The Swift’s

🚫The Millers’

🚫The Chavez’s

‍

Just fill in the blank with the last name of the family it’s going to. 

‍

Examples: 

✅ The Nguyen Family

✅ The Robinson Family

✅ The Woods Family 

‍

Rule #4: Still questioning? Try listing everyone’s first names.

We get it—grammar is hard! Make everyone in the recipient family feel special by calling them out individually. 

‍

And… that’s it! Good luck, happy holidays, and if you really need help… shoot us a DM on Instagram — we’ll give you a quick consult!