Skip the Stress: 6 Services That Will Make Sending Your Holiday Cards So Easy
Taking the perfect family photo is hard enough: Designing and sending your annual Christmas card shouldn’t add more stress. We’ve rounded up the best time-saving services that will help keep you sane while preparing your annual Christmas card—and some of them are even free! We reached out to our favorite card companies to find out what they offer, and we’ll be honest: These perks are good.
We’ve compiled all the information so you can choose the services that work best for you—because the less time you spend on sending holiday cards, the more time you’ll have for baking Christmas cookies and spending quality time with your family.
Courtesy of Paper Culture
Paper Culture
Free design assistance
Free recipient and return addressing
Mailing service
In terms of free services, Paper Culture is probably the best bang for your buck. Most photo card companies have set design options, but Paper Culture has a team of professional designers who can completely customize your holiday cards—for free! And once you’ve created the perfect design, Paper Culture will also handle addressing the envelopes (that’s free too!). Just import your address book into Paper Culture’s online template. If you’re really in a time crunch, you can also pay a postage fee and have the cards mailed directly to the recipients rather than having the whole batch sent to you. Plus, every order from Paper Culture plants one tree—and all of their carbon emissions are offset through their partnership with Carbonfund.org.
Courtesy of Artifact Uprising
Artifact Uprising
Envelope addressing
If Artifact Uprising isn’t on your radar, they should be. They offer more than 80 holiday cards with beautiful, minimalistic designs—and they’re all made from 100% recycled paper. In addition to saving the environment, they’ll also help you save time and sanity: Artifact Uprising will print return and recipient addresses to all of your envelopes, so you don’t have to spend an hour (or three) copying down names and street numbers by hand. Add both addressing services to your order for just $0.40 per card. All you’ll have to do is add a stamp and drop them in the mail!
Courtesy of Minted
Minted
Free design assistance
Free online address book
Free recipient address printing
Rather than scrolling through more than 200 photo card designs, simply text your photo to 22737 and a designer from Minted will text you back with five personalized card designs styled with your photo. You’ll also want to take advantage of free recipient address printing in matching designs for each holiday card. You can even select a font that looks like handwritten calligraphy! Just upload your addresses to Minted’s new address collection service and let them take care of the rest. If you like this process, we recommend looking into Minted's greeting card subscription service that'll cover you for the rest of the year.
Courtesy of Shutterfly
Shutterfly
Free address printing with custom envelopes
Customizable letter templates
Shutterfly is our go-to for photo prints and personalized gifts, and we’ve ordered several photo cards from them over the years. They offer free, unlimited photo storage, which makes it easy to drop and drag image options into different card designs. This season, you'll get free address printing when you purchase custom envelopes. Shutterfly also has frequent discounts and coupons, so you'll have more money to splurge on the perfect stocking stuffers for friends and family.
Courtesy of Paper Source
Paper Source
Customizable letter templates
Paper Source combines the ease of building a photo card with the sentimental tradition of sending an annual letter outlining your year. Once you design the front of your card, choose from several of their holiday card backs that allow you to completely customize what you want to say. Add a paragraph (or two!) to the back of your card to let friends and family know what you’ve been up to this year. The best part? This eliminates the need to individually sign each card by hand.
Courtesy of Walgreens
Walgreens
Same-day printing
When you’re really in a time crunch, same-day services can be a lifesaver. In addition to regular photo services, Walgreens offers photo card printing that’s faster than any of our other picks. Design your cards online and pick them up a few hours later at your local store. It’s quick and easy, and they now offer a cardstock option if you prefer not to print your design as a traditional photograph.
