The holiday season is upon us. And the means many of you will start sending cards to old friends and far-flung family members. To save you the headache of wondering if you need an apostrophe when making your last name plural (hint: you don’t), let me share a few quick tips to help clear up the confusion and make writing and sending holiday cards a little easier.

If you’d rather skip all the examples, here is a quick graphic that summarizes everything.

First, let meet some people that will be helping us:

• Mr. Smith and his family
• Dr. Anthony and his family
• Mrs. Jones and her family

If you need to make your last name plural, you don’t add an apostrophe. That would make it the name possessive.

• Happy Holidays from the Smiths!
• Happy Hanukkah from the Anthonys!
• Merry Christmas from the Joneses!

For singular possession, add an apostrophe and an s.

• Mr. Smith’s holiday party is on Saturday.
• Dr. Anthony’s Hanukkah celebration is on Thursday.
• Mrs. Jones’s house is all decorated for Christmas.

For plural possession (to make your last name possessive), make it plural, and then add an apostrophe.

• The Smiths’ holiday party is on Saturday.
• The Anthonys’ Hanukkah celebration is on Thursday.
• The Joneses’ house is all decorated for Christmas.

Do you get tripped up when writing possessives during the holidays?

Connect with me on Facebook and let me know. 🙂