Option one: one card per person, written by everyone else
For a team or group of about ten, make as many cards as there are people and write on each other's. It is the version that makes the recipient proudest. The organizer types a name and presses Start as many times as there are people, and at about ten seconds a card, ten cards take a few minutes.
With several links, management is the key. Put a list of links by name in one announcement, “Kim: link, Lee: link”, and pin it at the top. Scatter the links one by one and three days later nobody can find whose is where. You do not have to write on your own, but a line “to this year's me” is fun if you want.
The canvas suits this. About ten notes on a page is a pleasant density, and with everyone choosing a color, the colors of the people around each person gather on their page.
Option two: one card for the whole team, “to someone I was grateful for”
For a department or club of more than twenty, gather on one card. Name it something like “2026 team, to the people I was grateful for this year”, and everyone writes the name of the person they are thanking on the first line of their note and the reason below. The list is recommended here. Shown on screen at the party, it is much easier to read top to bottom.
The advantage is that one person can write several notes. Grateful to three people, write three. The drawback is that someone's name may never come up. The organizer skims through the day before the deadline and, if someone is missing, writes one themselves or quietly asks a close colleague. That one check decides the mood of the party.
Reading it on screen at the party
The real fun is reading it together. Connect a laptop to the TV or projector, or at a restaurant open the same link on phones at each table. Have each person read the note with their name on it aloud. It beats a toast.
Combine it with a retrospective and the party is more than a dinner. Split the topics by note color: yellow for “moment of the year”, pink for “someone I was grateful for”, green for “resolution for next year”. Just put the color rule in the announcement. Without a separate retro meeting, the team's year is summed up on one page.
Especially good for remote teams
The less a team can gather in one place, the emptier the year end feels. A video call party gets awkward after thirty minutes. Pass the card around in advance and read it together with screen sharing on the call, and it becomes the conversation. Notes others add show up on screen a moment later, so even notes written on the spot during the call can be seen by everyone.
Overseas members in other time zones write in their own time, and someone on vacation can leave a line from a phone. The more people and the more scattered, the more the organizer has to do, and that order is laid out in the Organizer guide.
New Year message examples
The trap of year-end greetings is formality. “Thank you for your hard work this year, happy New Year” shows nothing of who is receiving it. There is one way to avoid it: one name and one event from this year. Keep that and the same greeting becomes that person's.
To a colleague
- I still remember you staying until dawn with me during the October outage. I hope there are no nights like that next year, but if there are, I will stay again.
- The person who bought me the most coffee this year was you. Next year I buy more.
- “Ask if you did not get it” after every meeting is what got me through this year. I will keep asking next year.
To a manager
- Thank you for pretending not to notice my mistake in the spring. Next year I will not give you anything to overlook.
- The biggest thing I learned this year was watching you say “I do not know” first in a meeting. I will keep learning in the new year.
To a junior or new hire
- Not many people do this much in their first year. Next year, ask even more questions than now.
- Team lunches got louder after you joined. I mean that in a good way. Same again next year.
Friends and clubs
- Add up the distance we ran together this year and it would reach Busan. See you Saturday mornings next year too.
- Thanks for being the club treasurer for a year. I want to say I will do it next year, but I will just buy dinner.
- You are the only one who never missed a meetup this year. Next year you are still our standard.
Family
- The longest I spent with Mom and Dad this year was the harvest holiday. Next year I will visit on days that are not holidays too.
- You worked hard job hunting this year. Next year I hope I buy fewer meals. You buy.
Things to watch out for
- Three days is enough for the deadline. Everyone is busy at year end. Give two weeks and it is still empty two weeks later; say “by Thursday” and give three days and it fills up Wednesday night.
- Do not bring up performance. One line about salary, promotion or ratings and the reader stiffens. Jokes like “fix your habit of X next year” are the same. Anyone with the link can see it, and that anyone is a coworker.
- Assume it could leave the team. No client names, unannounced projects or company numbers. Greetings do not need that information.
- Save the image on the last day and put it in the team folder. A free service run by one person cannot promise permanent storage. And next year end, pulling it out to ask “did we keep last year's resolutions” is the real use of this card.
- With one card per person, check the link list once more right before the handover. If one person is missing, for them the party becomes a memory of being left out.