Well? In the middle of the Christmas rush? And then those annoying Christmas cards still have to be sent. Artificial intelligence can’t help you send the cards themselves. But if you get rid of Christmas greetings—whether online or offline—it can be very useful. This applies in particular to the chat tool ChatGPT from OpenAI, but also to other services that we can use free of charge.
How to have your Christmas greetings written via ChatGPT
While I’m still wondering how long it will take for ChatGPT to take over my nextpit job, it’s time to get down to business. After all, we want ChatGPT to write the Christmas greetings we have always struggled with. So use the input line in the ChatGPT app and write your prompt. I just tried it with this one:
“Make me some suggestions for texts I can use for my Christmas greetings. They should be short, as I want to send them via social media and Messenger, and preferably have some humor.“
The AI’s response to this very general prompt was:
Here are some humorous and short Christmas greetings that work well for social media or messenger:
- 🎄 “Santa checked his list twice—we’re on it! Merry Christmas!”
- 🎁 “Christmas is like Wi-Fi—when it’s working well, everyone is happy. I wish you full bars!”
- 🎅 “Merry Christmas! May your cookies not burn and the presents arrive safely.”
- ✨ “Christmas time: The only time of year when too much glitter is totally okay. Have a glamorous time!”
- ❄️ “It’s not snowing? Doesn’t matter! Then we’ll celebrate with mulled wine instead of snowmen. Merry Christmas!”
- 🍪 “Don’t count calories again until January—so: Happy eating and a Merry Christmas!”
- 🔔 “I hope your Christmas is as relaxed as a reindeer that’s not on the sleigh team. All the best!”
- 🌟 “Merry Christmas! May your days shine as brightly as the fairy lights in your neighbor’s front yard.”
- 🛷 “If you don’t see snow, do what I do: Get some cookies and stay on the couch. Merry Christmas!”
- 🎄 “The main thing is that the baubles are on the tree and not in the mood. Merry Christmas!”
Which ones do you like? Should I adjust anything else? 😊
It remains to be seen whether this is the right level of humor for ChatGPT to show off here. But at least the AI adheres to my instructions and delivers crisp, short greetings, which also come with emojis suitable for social media.
By the way, you can also add AI-generated images to your greetings, for example directly within ChatGPT using DALL-E. For the Santa above with a table full of cookies, I used the NightCafe tool. It is one of countless image-creation tools and requires a few credits from you to create images based on your prompts.
However, these credits are also available here for free, for example for logging in every day. Let us know in the comments if you’d like to know more about image generators and prompts, and we’ll be happy to write a separate post about it.
How to make your Christmas greetings more personal with AI
But now on with our Christmas greetings: You can already see it in the example above: The simpler your question, the more general and boring the answers will be. So if you want to elicit more exciting results from ChatGPT, formulate your request as specifically as possible. I give ChatGPT a role as a greeting card writer here and can automate all the fun. Try the following prompt, which you can copy and paste into the input window:
Trade as my greeting card writer. Create Christmas greetings for [input: name]. Compose a heartfelt and unique Christmas greeting that is connected to my emotions. This message must go beyond traditional wishes and feel personal. The aim is to make the recipient feel very special, as if the message was tailor-made just for them. Make sure that the greeting message radiates genuine Christmas spirit and evokes a feeling of connection and joy. Avoid clichés and common phrases and opt for original and thoughtful wording that reflects the uniqueness of the relationship. Capture the essence of the season and let the recipient feel the warmth of my heartfelt wishes. Mix these wishes with humor. Remember that the goal is to spread joy and cheer while respecting and honoring everyone’s beliefs and traditions. Keep the tone casual. It must not be formal. Do not exceed 130 words. Keep strictly to the word limit. I would like you to automatically ask me what the recipient’s name is and what our relationship is. I will then answer something like “Stefan, work colleague” and you will then include this information in your proposal. After your suggestion, automatically ask me for the next person. Understood so far?
Spoiler: Yes, ChatGPT has of course understood and dutifully replies:
Yes, I got that! 😊 Let’s get started: What is the first person’s name, and what is their relationship to you?
Now I enter: “Dennis, a really good friend, we were work colleagues a few years ago. He also lives in Dortmund and we like to spend time together over a beer.” I received the following suggestion:
Here’s my suggestion for Dennis:
🎄 Dear Dennis,
Christmas is just around the corner, and when I think about the highlights of this year, you immediately come to mind. Whether it’s a beer around the corner or our discussions about God and the world—every moment is a hit with you. It’s great how our friendship has grown from former work colleagues to real friends.
May the holidays be as relaxing and refreshing for you as a perfectly tapped round of beer. And don’t forget: If the Christmas tree is crooked, that’s no problem—as long as the beer is cold! 😉
I wish you and your loved ones a great time full of laughter, good food and great company.
Cheers to you and to us, my friend! 🍻
Best regards
[Your name]
Regardless of the fact that Dennis would punch me in the face for such a pompous greeting, ChatGPT followed my instructions exactly. Even better: You can now continue by simply stating the name and the relationship, for example: “Stefan, work colleague”.
You can then follow this pattern person by person. If necessary, simply enter additional information such as “godmother of my child” etc. to make the results more personal. As mentioned before: there are no limits to your imagination.
Next level: Christmas greetings with a special touch
ChatGPT does all this in a matter of seconds, so it can help you out if the muse doesn’t kiss you the way she should. Try it out, maybe even ask ChatGPT itself to write the cleverest prompts possible. Be creative, play with the software, and be patient. The more precisely you formulate your wishes, the more outstanding the results will be.
You should also always see your trusted chatbot as a kind of sparring partner that you can challenge. Just because you think of Christmas greetings as a witty two-liner or a handful of warm words doesn’t mean that’s the end of the line. I asked ChatGPT myself how to make these greetings more original and the AI actually came up with some exciting ideas:
- Have a Christmas poem written for you.
- Let you write your very own Christmas story in which the addressee plays the leading role.
- Have a Christmas puzzle or quiz created (ChatGPT kindly provides the solution to the puzzle ^^).
- Speak in a foreign language or in a particular dialect.
- Have the greeting card formulated in the style of a movie or TV hero (in my example, Homer Simpson’s Christmas greeting actually began with “D’oh” and John McClane’s ended with “Yippee-ki-yay, you know.”).
I’ll spare you all the prompts I tried out here, but since we’ve just had it with my buddy Dennis, I’ll use him again as an example of a Christmas story at the end:
My prompt: “I want to tell personal Christmas stories for Christmas. So you act as my storyteller. I want you to come up with contemplative but humorous Christmas stories for [input: name]. Stick strictly to a word limit of 200 words and try to avoid overly clichéd phrasing. It should sound festive, but at the same time relaxed and ideally also make the addressee smile. Please ask me automatically for the name and the gift idea I have in mind for the story.“
ChatGPT: “What is the name of the person for whom the story is intended and what gift idea would you like to include in the story? 🎄📖”
My input: “His name is Dennis, he’s a good friend and he’s a big VfL Bochum [soccer team] fan. The gift idea should be something that prevents this soccer club from being relegated.”
The story that the AI came up with:
A miracle for Dennis and VfL
It was Christmas Eve and Dennis had just sat down in front of the TV with a plate of speculoos. But before he could trigger the first cookie crumb catastrophe on his sweater, he heard a strange noise. A small, glowing creature was hovering right in front of his Christmas tree. “I’m Helmi, the guardian angel of soccer!” it introduced itself.
“Dennis, you are one of VfL Bochum’s most loyal fans. That’s why you’re getting a special gift today: An anti-relegation guarantee!” With a twinkle, Helmi conjured up a pair of magical soccer boots. “These boots not only bring the club goal-scoring instinct, but also luck. Just give them to the player who needs them most.”
The next day, Dennis stood in front of the VfL training ground with the shoes. The coach, skeptical, let him try them out anyway. In the next game, the wearer scored three goals – in the first half alone! Bochum won 5:0, and the fans sang late into the night.
Dennis looked at his tree, where a small helmet pendant glittered softly. Maybe magic was real after all—at least in Bochum.
What’s the deal with the helmet and why does VfL have a training session on Christmas Day? I have no idea! But come on—it’s definitely a nicer Christmas greeting than the usual stuff, isn’t it? By the way, I also asked ChatGPT if I could have a picture to go with it.
This is where the AI has its weaknesses, because there was a guy in a black and yellow jersey with VW as the jersey sponsor sitting at the Christmas table. After pointing out that the VfL jersey was dark blue and that “Vonovia” was the jersey sponsor, this is what came out:
I hope this text has given you enough inspiration. But I’ve always tried to let it resonate in the subtext that the most important thing is still your own creativity. Perhaps you will come up with your own original Christmas wishes. And as I said before: experiment, give the AI information about the people addressed or the desired stories to make them more lively. I wish you happy holidays – with or without Christmas greetings!
Let us know if you have any cool results. Do you prefer to rely on your own imagination? Or maybe you don’t write any Christmas greetings at all? Let us know in the comments! But hey: Please think up your own comments – I’ll notice if you let ChatGPT write the comments 😉
