Choosing The Perfect Christmas Cards

Christmas cards have been a popular means of expressing holiday cheer for over a hundred years. In Victorian England these cards were large, elaborate and quite expensive. Velvet cutouts, satin bows, and even gold lettering and silver dust painted on turned some of the cards into works of art. Before mailing cards became the standard, families would usually exchange cards at get togethers. Because of the expense, receiving a card was considered to be quite an honor.

Most of the earlier cards had to be either printed specially, or hand made. One of these cards cost the same as a week's worth of food for an entire family, or a pair of leather dress shoes (quite an extravagance).

Boxed cards weren't even possible until commercial printing became affordable and more available to the average consumer household. These sets became very popular in the mid 1930s when the US Postal Service recorded record numbers of holiday mail being delivered, which they attributed to the number of holiday cards being sent out.

Cards from this era tended to be very fancy. Raised printing, beautiful art, and real gold and silver glitter added to their beauty. Whether you wanted religious cards or secular themes, there were hundreds of designs to choose from. Over the years many of these original styles dating to before WWII have become valuable collectors' items. An envelope in perfect condition will add even more value. Some of these collections have been valued in the tens of thousands of dollars. A card thought to have been sent by Abe Lincoln was recently offered for auction at a gallery in New York.

Even companies started sending holiday cards. Depending on the size of the company, you might get a card even you only did business with them once. Larger companies would send cards to all their larger or preferred customer base and frequently would take that opportunity to provide these customers with upcoming product updates, etc. - information only made available to these select groups.

Once the Internet became popular and almost every household had a computer, people quickly jumped on the bandwagon and took full advantage of everything the Internet had to offer, and one of the most popular gimmicks was the invention of electronic, or E, cards. Suddenly people no longer had to shop and shop for the perfect Christmas cards, and pay a small fortune for postage. They could send a card to hundreds of people in less time than it took to make a cup of tea. For free.

As technology improved even further, and pricing came way down, many people chose to design and print their own cards at home. These may not have actually been cheaper, but t did give consumers the unique ability to personalize each and every card that was printed.

A recent invention even allows people to record their own messages inside cards. Some even come already equipped with holiday music, birthday greetings, and everything in between. Opening a holiday card hearing from your son overseas can bring more happiness than most can imagine.

By: Ged Matthews

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Ged Matthews is the owner and founder of Christmas Network. This website was created to distribute business Christmas cards and photo Christmas cards to the UK market. All the cards are designed and produced in the UK and support a wide range of Uk based charities.