And one day she woke up, all foggy and hurt from the night before, and she knew. She knew that the grip that alcohol had on her had to be loosened, had to be demolished. So that she could live her life the way it was intended, so that she could live her very very best life. And so her journey to sobriety began.
Do you know anyone who is a recovering addict?
If you do, you will know how important each anniversary of their sobriety is to them.
So important in fact, that pins are given out at AA to celebrate each and every milestone. We like to be rewarded for our efforts and, let’s face it, sobriety – the total abstinence of any alcohol or narcotic – takes enormous effort. It deserves celebrating and congratulating.
But how to do it. You can’t take them down to the pub {that would be bad}. You could take them out somewhere, which would be lovely but you want to give them something tangible to mark the occasion, to let them know how special the anniversary is, to let them know that you get it and how proud you are of them.
How about a card?
Of course, you can’t just walk into a news agent and pick one up. They don’t make Happy Sobriety Anniversary cards – I’ve looked. But making one is so easy to do. And what says I get it and I care better than a hand made card.
Below you will find two Sobriety Cards. A sobriety anniversary is like a birthday – in fact we call it a birthday in AA {as in “I am celebrating my 5th birthday in January”} – the day that marks the rebirth of you as a sober person. But it is also an anniversary – the anniversary of the date you made that choice. It is a very special time and one so deserving of a hand made card.
This card was made using white card stock as the base. The patterned paper was part of a paper pack that I bought at Aldi, the blue card stock I had on hand and the labels were made using the print and cut function on the Cameo Silhouette. I used a corner rounder to create the curved edges. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. It’s bold and sassy and says exactly what it needs to say.
This one was made in exactly the same way except I turned the card around to create a landscape card.
And there you have it. Two very easy sobriety cards to make. I hope you give it a try and if you do, please do let me know.
Until next time,
Well done! Yes there is a big gap in the card market for the tough times. There are plenty of babies, birthdays and wedding anniversary cards to send for the good happy times. I made this card for my etsy shop to send to a friend/sister/workmate who has just gone through a divorce or break-up and it has been very popular! https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/160367003/divorce-break-up-card-lighthearted?ref=shop_home_active_2 x
I love that one Karen! You are right, there is such a massive gap in the market!!
These are great Sarah – what a clever idea. Absolutely a sobriety birthday needs to be celebrated. You should get your range designed and on your site for sale! xx
Thanks Rebecca, I may just have to do that!!
What a great idea and a wonderful post to share this idea. Well done!
Thank you very much Joan xx
There are hundreds of thousands of beautiful birthday cards out there that are perfect for sobriety birthdays. My friends & I have been using them & adding our own personalized words for as long as I have been around…we don’t need pre-printed words, in fact these put me off. Using our own words is what carrying the message means. Further, I have yet to see any specialized card/line of “recovery” cards that beats the quality of anything else already on the market. Finally, there is something about a person/business specifically profiting from my disease in this way that seems exploitive. Especially concerning if the business person is themself in recovery. It’s a conflict of interest. There are some such businesses online whoch clearly boast that their business selling cards & recovery trinkets is doing service. It is disturbing. Though that is not clear here, the advertising does assert to teach what is important to a recovery person & why; so certainly we need to buy a card. No we do not.
Hey there Marina. Thank you for your comment, but I have to wonder if you read the post. Firstly, I myself am a recovering alcoholic and write very openly about that on my blog, and secondly, I wasn’t suggesting for a second that sobriety cards are produced en masse, though personally, I have no issue with that if a business decided to do that. I made those cards myself, and was suggesting that if people wished to honour a friend for their great achievement, they could do the same. Rather than buy cards, I prefer to make my own since that requires thought and effort, much the same as you do when you personalise your cards. Have a lovely day x