December 9 is National Christmas Card Day. I presume one or more greeting card companies decreed if consumers haven’t organized their holiday cards two and a half weeks out from Christmas, they better get started. Cards to acquire — notes to write — stamps to stick. Now that so many people send digital greeting cards, the timing is less important, but the day still stands on holiday trivia calendars everywhere.
Despite the rise in e-Cards, Americans sent 1.1 billion holiday cards in 2023, and the greeting card and publishing industry was valued at $6.8 billion.
The sometimes burdensome custom began in the 1840s when Thomas Shorrock of Leith, Scotland produced cards with a jolly face and the caption “A Gude Year to Ye.” Meanwhile, in England Sir Henry Cole commissioned 1,000 engraved holiday cards with the image of a prosperous family flanked by the poor toasting the holidays with the caption “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.”
Christmas Cards Arrive in America
In 1875, Louis Prang produced chromolithographed cards for the American mass market. Though his cards are little known today, Prank was once the “Father of the American Christmas card.” Prank’s first card was a painting of a flower with the simple verse: “Merry Christmas.”
Hallmark, though not the only producer of greeting cards, is probably the best known greeting card company. Joyce Hall founded the Kansas City post card printing company in 1915. In 1925, the company published its first holiday card with a standard format of 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall with a fold in the middle. The card gave senders enough space for a personal message without having to write a letter.
The most popular Christmas card, and still part of the Hallmark collection, came out in 1977 with 3 angels and the simple sentiment: “God bless you, keep you and love you…at Christmastime and always.” That single card sold 34 million copies.
With so many Americans sending holiday cards, the post office issued the first Christmas stamp in 1962. It was a huge success with 1 billion copies printed and distributed.
Once upon a time, it seemed like everyone was sending and receiving holiday cards — friends, relatives, neighbors, long lost sorority sisters with nothing in common any more, and businesses of all kinds. The Tucker Company sent the card on the left in 1947. The company was advertising its Tucker 48 automobile.
In 1962, the Christmas stamp cost 4 cents. Today it costs 73 cents. During the 1950s holiday cards could be purchased for 5 or 10 cents. The cost is considerably higher today. Thus, sending holiday cards in 2024 can be costly, besides requiring time to shop for, prepare, and mail the cards.
In comparison, digital cards are less expensive and more convenient. The sender selects a design and inputs the recipients’ details, but there’s no handwritten note. An email greeting, such as I recently received on my birthday from my doctor’s office, can be completely automated — an acknowledgment without the personal touch.
Electronic communication is, by its very nature, impersonal. Advocates of paper cards point out that while digital communication is nice, paper cards can be held and displayed by the recipient, creating the illusion of a personal connection. In comparison to the two digital “cards” I mentioned above, I received a paper birthday greeting from my insurance agent. The sentiment and the agent’s name were impersonally printed. Yet, somehow the paper card seemed less automatic than an email message, if only because a person had to mail the card.
The Victorian Christmas card above with its chorus line of frogs could be fun in either format. The text reads A Hearty Christmas Greeting. Four jovial froggies a skating would go. They had asked their mama, but she’d sternly said, “No!” And they all came to grief in a beautiful row. There’s a sweet Christmas moral for one not too slow. — Just go!”
I’m not sure why four frogs skidding across the ice has a Christmas reference, unless they had a bit too much Christmas punch.
🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄
Sandra’s Books: Sea Tigers & Merchants. Ambition, Arrogance & Pride. Saxon Heroines. Two Coins. Rama’s Labyrinth.
Illustrations & A Few Sources
Christmas card, 1880; Cole Christmas Card, 1843; Prang Christmas Cards, 1886; Christmas stamp, 1962; Tucker Corporation Card, 1947; Victorian Christmas Card. John Hanc. “The History of the Christmas Card.” Smithsonian Magazine. Dec. 9 2015. Ellen F. Brown. “Christmas Inc.: A Brief History of the Holiday Card.” JStor Daily. Dec. 20, 2015.” “Comparing Paper Cards vs E Cards for Business – The Power of Tangible Connection.” The Birthday Company. June 28, 2023.
