ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996             TAG: 9610090012
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
COLUMN: Marketplace
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL


OCTOBER'S CHOCK FULL OF HOLIDAYS, AND CARDS TO MATCH

So you think you've got your greeting-card obligations under control.

You sent Mom a birthday card. You gave your spouse a mushy anniversary card. You even remembered to buy Halloween cards for your brother's kids in Cleveland.

But have you picked out your National Boss Day card? Made plans for a Mother-in-Law Day party?

The October dates-to-remember calendar sent out by greeting card giant Hallmark Cards Inc. includes no less than 18 celebrations and observances. Some, like Halloween, have become party days nationwide. Others, like Yom Kippur, are specific to a religious or cultural group. And still others - National Clock Month? - are just plain obscure.

Contrary to popular belief, none of the observances was cooked up by a greeting card company's marketing department. ("Profits are down? Quick, think up another holiday!") The nation's 1,500 greeting card publishers have, however, been quick to jump on the bandwagon when someone else promotes a day to observe.

National Boss Day was started in 1958 by a State Farm insurance employee named Patricia Bays Haroski, who wanted to show appreciation for her boss. (Yes, people like that do exist.) She chose Oct. 16, her father's birthday, and she registered the date with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Not quite 40 years later, Americans will give out about a million Boss Day cards, Hallmark estimates. Pat's Hallmark on Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke, with its proximity to all those downtown office buildings, sells quite a few each year, said the shop's Nancy Altice. Dilbert cards, with their pointed jabs at downsizing and teamwork, are hot this year.

(Proof that we know who has the real power in the office: Americans last year bought more Secretaries Day cards than Boss Day cards.)

Sweetest Day, an observance that sounds like a Valentine's Day wannabe, was started in the early 1930s by a Cleveland man who wanted to bring some joy into the lives of the city's underprivileged residents by distributing candy and small gifts to orphans and shut-ins.

Since then, it's become more of a romantic celebration - and a card-sending one. Although it's still observed primarily in the Northeast and upper Midwest, Hallmark estimates 2 million Sweetest Day cards will be exchanged on Oct. 19.

Halloween remains the eighth most popular card-sending occasion and the biggest October holiday. According to American Greetings Corp., we'll exchange 35.5 million Halloween cards this year. The 65 percent of us who decorate our homes for Halloween will spend between $60 million and $70 million on fake spider webs and other decorations.

In all, Halloween will account for $1.5 billion in retail sales, according to Hallmark. That excludes candy sales or the sale of other items, such as party foods, that aren't specific to the season.

For all the card companies' successes with marketing October holidays, there has been one dark spot: Oct. 27, Mother-in-Law Day. While Boss Day, the other October kiss-up holiday, has grown in popularity, the observance of Mother-in-Law Day has declined. Hallmark used to make cards for the occasion but stopped several years ago, Altice said. There just wasn't enough demand, she said.

Thanks in part to the increasing popularity of the rest of the "minor" holidays, total U.S. greeting card retail sales have tripled - from $2.1 billion to $6.3 billion - since 1980.

But the traditional holidays remain the biggest card-giving occasions. Americans will buy 7.4 billion cards - $7 billion worth - this year and, according to the Greeting Card Association, Christmas will account for 35 percent of them. The next most popular card-sending holidays are Valentine's Day, Easter, Mothers Day and Fathers Day.

And, of course, there are birthdays. The Washington, D.C.-based GCA estimates that birthday cards account for 16 percent of the industry's annual sales, with the average American receiving eight birthday cards a year. If any birthdays on your list fall between now and Election Day, you may want to check out the American Greetings line of politically themed cards. The cards feature caricatures of Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Ross Perot and other beloved politicians.

No word yet on whether American Greetings plans any politically incorrect cards for Mother-in-Law Day.


LENGTH: Medium:   84 lines
ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC:  chart - october calendar    color
KEYWORDS: MGR    

by CNB