Every year it feels like the holiday season creeps up on us earlier and earlier, and pretty soon your mailbox will be bursting at the seams with Christmas cards. If your cards tend to be generic, store-bought, and unlikely to get put on the mantle anytime soon, then get ready to make this the year they stand out.
There are numerous ways to make your cards shine like the angel atop a Christmas tree, but we’ve curated a list of our favorites here. Keep these in mind when designing, personalizing, and making any card, and your recipients will find themselves involuntarily rockin’ around the Christmas tree before too long.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at Zazzle, and “the prettiest sight to see” this year will be your majestic holiday cards!
Dashing Designs
The cornerstone of a memorable Christmas card is an eye-catching design. Thankfully, on that front, our Independent Creators are like Santa Claus himself, and always deliver. Some of our favorites this year recall Christmases of yore, and are filled with nutcrackers, cozy fireside scenes, and snow-covered cottages. Others make maximum use of bold patterns and saturated colors to create something visually stimulating and unique. Whether you’re in favor of a modern holiday or a vintage Christmas, there’s a template for everyone here.
Peaceful Photos
Sure, day-to-day family life isn’t always serene, but it always looks that way on photo christmas cards, doesn’t it? Photo templates are a way to take some of your merriest memories from throughout the year – or from your pre-Christmas photo shoot – and share them with your nearest and dearest. Don’t worry too much about having to finagle your photos into place on our cards, either. Most of our holiday cards have stock photos that you can easily swap out with your own seasonal snapshots. Adding your recent photos, or a collage of photos, will give your Christmas card a vibrant, current feel.
Cozy Colors
Some colors are more readily associated with Christmas than others; red and green, for example, typically suggest boughs of holly and Christmas trees. Why not branch out this year, then, and spruce up your card design with some off-beat colors? Gold, silver, and metallic blues are futuristic colors associated with New Year parties, but you can leverage them lend Christmas designs a sleek, modern look. Use unexpected colors like purple, orange, and pink to take your recipients by surprise, or put a twist on the traditional colors: how about a lime green, or a rose red? In general, opt for pastel hues to create a soft, subdued vibe and rich, dark shades to produce something energetic and arresting.
Fa-La-La Foil
To really dazzle your friends and family this year, we have to recommend a foil print. Navigate to any holiday card on Zazzle that has been earmarked as ‘REAL FOIL’ – visible by a tag on the search results page – and select from three luxurious tones. Then, when your card is completed and produced, the lettering will be layered on top, providing your design with a gilded, glamorous finish. Expect to see your recipients awed by the effect – holding it up to the light, running their fingers along it, and ooh-ing and/or aah-ing incessantly. You can’t beat a bit of bling around Christmastime, right?
Gracious Greetings
Holiday cards are also an opportunity for family and friends to connect, and to share any news they’ve accrued throughout the past year. Choose a larger design, then, with plenty of room for detail, and offer your loved ones a summary – complete with photos! – of your past year. Did anyone get married, graduate, or announce a pregnancy? Do the kids know what they want for Christmas? Are there any special occasions or vacations planned for 2025? Trust us – fill your card with juicy tidbits about your personal lives, and aunts and uncles throughout the country will be fighting over who gets to open the envelope first.
Blitzing Brands
Of course, if the thought of combining colors and cropping photos still seems a little daunting, then how about turning to our brand partners for help? Rely on Mickey Mouse, for example, who features prominently in our Christmas card department. He can be found decorating trees with Minnie, throwing snowballs at Donald Duck, and building snowmen with Pluto. Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang might be able to assist, too: think of their personalized templates as a Linus-style security blanket. And while he can be unpleasant to work with, the dastardly Grinch is also on hand to help you spread, um, good cheer.
DIY Deck Outs
We’ve tried to incorporate a DIY element into the Christmas cards we sell on Zazzle – honest. We covered the cards with glitter and confetti, but it spilled out of the envelopes. We implemented cut-out effects – trying to snip pieces out of the front so that you can see through to the inside – but we’re not nimble enough with scissors. We sprayed the cards with seasonal fragrances, but the cinnamon and eucalyptus ended up on all of us, mainly. Therefore, we’re entrusting you to take these DIY ideas and bring them to fruition. That tactile element, encouraging recipients to interact with your card, should work wonders this holiday season.
Amazing Accessories
The fun doesn’t stop at the card, though – oh no! Even a pedestrian card can be transformed with the right stationery and mailing accessories. For example, you can dress up the presentation of your card with a fancy envelope, and then wrap the package shut with a holiday-themed sticker or return address label. Write out your greeting – another important detail, to which we’ll return shortly – and grant it your seal of approval with a rubber stamp. Even if your design isn’t original, these finishing touches will make the whole bundle unique and memorable.
With so many holiday card selections from Zazzle, you’re sure to find one that fits your photos, the message you want to convey, and your personal style. And now that your Christmas cards are organized almost two months in advance, you can spend that extra time working on your shopping list! To get started, head to our gifts hub, as you can access personalized gifts for every kind of recipient there. And stay tuned to Zazzle Ideas for more Z-amazing holiday-themed articles!
Eoin is a Content Specialist at Zazzle in Cork. He’s recently bought a house with his fiancée, and thus most of his time these days is spent trying to keep the walls from caving in and the wolves from the door. Still, he’s always open to book, game, and movie recommendations, so if you have some, let him know: he’ll add them to a very, very long list.
