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Get A Head Start On Your Season’s Greetings

Hey friends, we’re halfway to Christmas and it’s a perfect time to start thinking about how you’re going to share the blessings of the year with friends and relatives. There’s no more classic way to do that than mailing out Holiday Cards.

The Best Gift To Give Is Yourself

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value. ~Charles Dudley Warner

There’s nothing like a Christmas card to let people know that you’re thinking of them. There are tons of ways to make your own but if you really want to show a touch of class, you can design your happy holiday cards online. Adding a newsletter with family events to this annual holiday greeting has become a popular way for us to stay in touch with our families, friends and even our acquaintances.

The history of Christmas cards goes back to merry old England. In 1843, Sir Henry Cole devised a way to notify his friends of the plight of the poor during the Christmas season by commissioning John Calcott Horsley to paint the very first Christmas card. It featured a picture of a festive family surrounded by vignettes of people being charitable to the needy. The sentiment inside the card simply read, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” This simple greeting card sold for a shilling in its day but in a 2001 auction it brought £22,500. This simple card was the humble beginning of what has become a multi-million dollar industry today.

Although Americans were quick to adopt the Christmas card concept, people had to have their cards shipped from England until Louis Prang produced the first American-made cards in 1875. Within a few years, he was producing over five million cards annually.

We have come a long way since then. Today, we can find Christmas cards of all varieties. From the spiritual to the humorous and everything in between, we can also find greeting cards for all the holidays that are celebrated during this time of the year. Advances in digital photography and printing have provided a more technological way to personalize cards with photos, messages, or clip art.

Unfortunately, technology may also be responsible for the decline of Christmas card exchanges. The average number of cards received by American households dropped from 29 in 1987 to 20 in 2004. Email and smartphones allow for constant contact. Social media platforms provide free and ready access to animated holiday greetings that can be individually tagged or broadcast to your entire personal network.

Even so, exchanging Christmas cards is still an important part of the holidays for many people. Since purchasing even the smallest of gifts for your entire social circle would be prohibitively expensive, most people choose to send the people in their life a card instead. What a gift your Christmas card is. A thoughtfully chosen card with a personalized note inside makes everyone feel special around the holidays.

If you are looking for something different or a way to put even more personal touch into your cards, try making your own Christmas cards this year. You can choose the papers you like, the colors your friends and family enjoy most, and you can design a card uniquely for each family on your list.

Family Photo Op

How to take AMAZING holiday photos | CHRISTMAS CARD PHOTOS | Vlogmas Day 3

Run-of-the-mill, store-bought, holiday greeting cards have served their purpose up to this point. Sending a festive greeting to those we think about during this special time of year has been filled by the mass-produced items, but photo greeting cards are definitely taking over the holidays.

Recent advances in computers and photography have made it easier than ever to snap a phenomenal photo of your family for those on your Christmas card list. Digital cameras allow you to take your Christmas cards photo, view, evaluate and approve or retake it in mere minutes. All you need to do is download it to your computer for printing or, better still, upload it to an excellent site like Basic Invite.

Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers almost unlimited color options with instant previews online. Once you select a design, customers can change the color of each element on the card. With over 180 colors to choose from, your holiday photo card will be exactly how you want it. This sets Basic Invite apart so many other online stationery companies.

Recently, trends have changed from the traditional family photo with everyone dressed up. The formal pose and attire have given way to more casual attire. A shot of everyone, including the fuzzies, with Santa hats and “ugly” Christmas sweaters creates a more playful, realistic image of the family.

Each year, thousands of would-be photo greeting cards don’t happen. They were so unhappy with the finished product because they tried to create it themselves on their PC. Some people have an innate knack for design, but many more realize that they aren’t as computer-savvy as they thought or hoped. Basic Invite makes it so easy to compose a fabulous holiday photo card that will delight everyone who receives it.

Another outstanding feature is how Basic Invite offers an address capturing service that allows customers to share a link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media to request their friends and family’s addresses. The addresses are stored in the customer’s account and can be selected during the design process. Basic Invite offers recipient address printing at no cost on all card orders. Just as the cards are wonderfully customizable, there are 40 colors of envelopes to match to your chosen card design! The envelopes are peel and seal, so there’s none of that icky glue licking or paper cuts on your tongue to be concerned about.

You may have spent the whole year with your family, but not everyone on your list has had that privilege. Creating memorable holiday photo greeting cards is a great way to share the changes of the past year with everyone who receives them.

Getting Down To Business

Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving

With the holiday season quickly approaching, it’s time for businesses to think about this year’s Christmas cards. If you haven’t sent business Christmas cards before, here are five things to keep in mind:

1. Meet Expectations.

Once you start, you’ll need to remember to follow up each year. Holiday greeting cards help smooth your business relationships after a challenging year by making this special, festive gesture. People appreciate any extra attention but even more so at Christmastime.

2. Improve Customer Relations.

Whether you have a business-to-business enterprise, a retail store or provide a professional service, success is definitely built on maintaining relationships with your customers. Seasonal greetings show your customers and clients that you appreciate their business.

3. Cost Effective.

You might already buy holiday gifts for your best customers or clients, but business holiday cards allow you to reach the most people for relatively little money. You can order personalized business holiday cards from Basic Invite for as little as 82¢ each. This includes 180 colors, foil, a variety of fonts and other options to really make your message unique. Taking the time to customize your card is an excellent investment in your business.

4. Excellent Return on Investment.

Keeping the Golden Rule in mind, which company would you prefer to do business with – the company that sent you a holiday card every year or the company that only contacted you when it was time to reorder or collect payment? The same applies to your business. Making the extra effort to maintain the personal connection will generally have a positive effect on orders in the coming year.

In the current environment, you need to use every opportunity to set your company apart from the competition. Sending business Christmas cards is one more tool to improve customer relationships. As such, it’s an excellent return on investment.

5. Limitless Choices.

Basic Invite has such an incredible variety of options. They also offer a printed sample of your design so you can observe and appreciate the paper quality. You will see how your card looks and make sure it’s perfect before placing a full order.

If you enjoy Christmas in July as much as I do, I think you’ll agree that there’s no better time to start setting up your own special Season’s Greetings so they’re all ready to go when the holiday season finally arrives.