Every year I spend quite a bit of time researching new and fun options for Christmas cards. There's certainly nothing wrong with boxed greeting cards from a store, or a classic photo card made locally or at a place like Shutterfly. But I love seeking out unique and different cards. Cards that stand out a little.
I'm SUPER excited for my cards this year and thought I'd share some of my favorites with you in case you still need ideas. And if you already have your cards ordered this year, pin some ideas for next year!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. I like some of these companies' products so much that I happily share the love as an affiliate for them.
Cards printed on WOOD : Did you know you can have your image printed on real wood? It's so unique and amazing! I used Night Owl Paper Goods to print wood cards for Henry's first birthday and am just in awe of how cool these cards are! The wood is very thin and is pretty flexible so it doesn't break in shipping. You can even see the grain of the wood through the image and there are lots of options and colors of wood you can choose.
A Christmas 'minibook': The year our fourth baby was born I really splurged on cards. I created a minibook by Minted. These gorgeous books have tiered pages you can fill with words and photos. I had a page about our whole family, a page about the kids, and a page that was basically Henry's birth announcement. People still ask me about these cards and I sent them 3 years ago!
Foil: Foil is a trend popping up all over this year. The shimmery gold or silver is literally stamped into the card and shines when you look at it. Minted has a selection of foil cards as well as a few other online stores. Even if you don't want to pay the money for real foil stamped cards, you can choose a metallic design from almost any company out there printing cards this year. Huge trend, and with good reason. The shiny metallic is beautiful!
Pop Out Ornaments: A new card style introduced this year is a flat card with a center section that can pop out, turning into an ornament. (It's subtle when the card is put together - can you see the ornament's outline in the photo above?) I don't know that these are very main stream yet, but I expect next year to see lots of places doing these.
Letterpress: A professional photographer's lab called Miller's Lab came out with letterpress cards a couple years ago and I fell in love! Custom letterpress is stunning, but expensive. These designs are pressed in a fixed place and you simply add your image and design to the card. (in the card above, the green chevron design is the pressed part) This is what we did for our card two years ago. Since they were a little on the expensive side, I also did a version of my card printed on simple metallic paper for most of the people on our Christmas card list so we could save the letterpress cards for immediate family. You may need to find a photographer to order them for you, but you won't be disappointed by these cards. They're amazing!
Now drumroll please...here are the cards I have chosen this year...
Spinners: I am beyond excited to get our cards!! (I'll post pictures of my actual card after I get them.) You can upload four images to the card and friends and family can then spin the wheel to reveal a different photo. How cool is that?? I tried to figure out how to make them myself and save some money. But in the end, even at the pro photographer print labs I use it would have cost me more to print and assemble my own. I only ordered enough of these for immediate family and then designed another card for friends and relatives. But this satisfies my need have something unique since it's one of the most interesting cards I've seen out there in a while.
My cards are on their way and I'll share more about them soon.
I hope you found some new Christmas card ideas. I have several more fun and unique card sources but these are some of my favorites. What are you doing for your card this year?
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