How-To: Make Your Own Holiday Cards
By Jason Tomczak
November 29th, 2007
Whether you're ready for it or not, the holiday season is upon us. It's time to think about buying gifts, prepping for travel and psyching yourself up for a crash diet before the big holiday binge. It's also time to think about sending holiday greeting cards to your loved ones, family, friends, co-workers, clients and acquaintances. Sending holiday cards can either be a half-hearted chore that barely expresses how you feel, or it can be a true art-form; a fun project that expresses your thoughts and feelings toward those that impact your life in a positive way. Here are a few websites (and a couple physical stores) that will help you design a card perfectly suited to your way of life. Happy holidays!
Shutterfly
Shutterfly is one of the most popular and reliable online sources for photo prints, photo books, photo gifts and custom cards. The website is absolutely replete with holiday card templates that you can add your personal, business or family picture to. They even have some card templates that allow for multiple photos and all cards can have your special personalized messages printed on the front and/or inside. The quality is top notch, the turn-around time is very impressive and the price is very competitive. Shutterfly even offers bulk discounts and, once in a while, they'll even throw in freebies just to say thanks for your business. 10-20 cards can cost around $2.19 USD each, whereas 100 or more cards will cost around $1.49 USD each. Free membership, regular savings, occasional freebies.
Tiny Prints
Tiny Prints is another online service that offers high quality prints, cards, invitations and more. Holiday cards can include your photo or can be created without a photo. Not everyone likes to send their photo out to the world, and for those people, Tiny Prints has bases covered. They also have holiday cards specifically for businesses, for newlyweds, etc. Prices average $1.24 to $2.69 USD, and quantity discounts are definitely available. The cards at Tiny Prints are a little more avant-garde than your run-of-the-mill Wal-Mart "ho ho ho" cards.
Photoworks
Yet another source for high-quality cards, photo calendars, prints and other photo-printed-gifts is Photoworks. They have a great selection of card designs that will appeal to people who like hip, modern design. They also have slightly-traditional cards, inexpensive single-sided photo mailers and more complex (and gorgeous) tri-fold cards. Prices range from $0.75 USD per card ($0.52 USD with bulk discount) to $4.95 USD per card ($3.47 USD bulk), all depending on the type, shape, size and overall design of the card. Uploading images is easy and the final result is quite nice.
By Hand
Some folks have the Martha Steward gene. They have a knack for creating gorgeous crafts from ordinary materials that, in other hands, would be best suited for the recycling bin. For great do-it-yourself supplies and design ideas, head over to an art supply store like Michael's, Art Media, etc. A recent trip to Michael's netted a whole bunch of "Martha Stewart Crafts" holiday card kits, like this "Holiday Frost" kit.
Don't fall into a rut with a cheesy holiday card that was printed by the millions and pushed off to the cold, faceless retail world. Make a personal statement. It'll mean more and it'll last longer.