Buy Cheap Christmas Cards & Greeting Cards & History & Traditions

I must admit, I'm not one for Christmas Cards! I'm too lazy for them. I only give Christmas cards when I've been nagged into giving them.

The idea of a Christmas card is that it is supposed to convey a sentiment of good well at time when we're to be thankful for the birth of Christ.

Christmas cards are massive business, in fact they're huge. You can't move for them in the two or three months prior to Christmas Day. Thankfully in recent times we've been encourage to recycle them - you can't watch an episode of Blue Peter at this time without being asked to send them in and they'll get money donated to charity.

The charitable notion starts with the selection of the cards themselves. Many charities create cards in the hope that people will buy those instead of the totally commercial alternatives.

There are so many Christmas card styles to choose from such as personalised Christmas cards, Christmas card memorabelia from people such as David Bowie and Mick Jagger, pop-up Christmas cards and make your own Christmas cards.

The past decade or two has seen a big shift away from Christmas cards with religous designs and a move toward funny or comical Christmas cards with cartoon on them with Penguins falling over and the such like.

The first commercial Christmas card was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in 1843 and had an illustration made by John Callcott Horesely of a family drinking wine together. This design was controversial now - I wonder what they would make of a picture Father Christmas with his backside stuck in a chimney top?

The early years of Christmas cards rarely showed winter or religous themes as would become popular later. Then they often showed drawings of flowers, fairies and the such-like. The idea was to make people look forward to the approaching spring and easier times.

Back then they did like the comical design, however, they were often less 'overt' as they can be today.

Recently the demand for the traditional card greetings cards have dropped in favour of the the free-online versions that people just email arround - I often don't even bother with those!

Where Can I Buy Christmas Cards?
Well you can seemingly buy Christmas cards anywhere? But it may not be as easy as that to find the Christmas cards that are 'perfect' for your recipient.

For artistic / religous Christmas cards we recommend:
- The British Museum Online Store - This British Museum have a massive range of fantastically designed Christmas cards and are definitely one of the first places you should visit.


Personalised Christmas Cards
- Yoodoo - These guys have a great range of personalised greetings cards to choose from. You can select from cute, humerous, for kids, reglious and other designs.
- Getting Personal - These should be one of the first online shops you visit at Christmas as they have a sensational selection of personalised Christmas gifts to choose from.
- Yellow Moon - These guys are another of my favourite shops on the internet. I'm writing this way before Christmas and they just have a huge selection.