Paper That Takes Ink
Whatever pen a guest picks up is the pen that gets used, so the stock has to handle a ballpoint, a gel pen and the fine marker somebody brought from work. This paper dries quickly and resists smudging, which matters when forty people write in the same half hour and the cards get stacked while still wet. Handwriting stays legible years later.
Five by Seven
The size does two things. It gives an uncle enough room to write more than one line, and it fits a standard frame or a photo box afterwards without trimming. Cards this size also stand up on their own edge, so they can be clipped to a line of twine across the wall as part of the decorating before anyone takes them down to read.
Forty Guests Covered
A pack of 40 is sized for the party that actually happens: family, neighbors, teammates, two teachers and the friends who come by late. Leftovers are not wasted either, since a few can be mailed to relatives who could not travel and come back filled in before the summer ends. Extras also work as notes tucked into a dorm care package in August.
Kept, Not Recycled
Most graduation decorating comes down the same night. These do not. Cards go into a box, a binder or a frame on a dorm wall, and they read differently once the first semester has started and the advice stops being theoretical. Families sometimes repeat the exercise for the next child and end up with two sets from the same relatives, ten years apart.
