Christmas cards and greetings

Victorian Santa Cards

Create your own Christmas cards this year! These lovely Santas look beautiful when printed on 8½ x 11 inch cream or white cardstock from your color printer; after printing, just cut in half and fold! Simply select your card and click. A new window will open with your card in pdf format for easy printing. Cards print two per page. If a new window doesn't open after clicking the picture, you will need Adobe Reader which you may download free from the Adobe Website.

For more printing projects, visit our Christmas Printable page which features Victorian Gift Tags & Lists, our Printable Coloring Pages, and our North Pole Gift Tags.

All things christmas card shoppe

Send a Free Holiday eGreeting to someone you love, compliments of AllThingsChristmas. Choose from one of many beautiful designs, then customize your christmas cards with your choice of background, color and even music! Go to All things christmas card shoppe.

The History

The tradition of sending Christmas cards begun in 1843 – about the same time as the first Christmas seal was published. The first Christmas card was produced in England, and the idea was well-received, because the following year, more than 25,000 Christmas cards were sold. However, the first Christmas card provoked controversy in certain circles in England, because the Christmas card pictured a company of people touching glasses and saying “Merry Christmas”. Putting alcohol and holy Christmas in one picture did not please the English citizens then.

For more than thirty years, Americans had to import greeting cards from England. In 1875, German immigrant to the U.S. Louis Prang, opened a lithographic shop with $250, and published the first line of U.S. Christmas cards. His initial creations featured birds and flowers, unrelated to the Xmas scene. By 1881, Prang was producing more than 5 million Christmas cards per year.

Today, Christmas cards come in all shapes and sizes -- from small and simple to big and colorful. The big American producer of Christmas cards, Hallmark, employs a whole army of Christmas card designers who produce new Christmas cards every season. The most popular cards are the old fashioned and nostalgic ones with sledges and pixies, and a big, chubby Santa Clause in a red and white coat.
Since the Internet became widespread in the middle of the 90’s, sending electronic Christmas cards became the trend.

Many homepages offer easy-to-use digital cards which simple require the user to write an email address, a traditional Christmas greeting wishing for many nice Christmas presents, and finish by clicking “send”. The card arrives in the receiver’s inbox, and the old Christmas greeting tradition is carried on albeit in a modern way.

It is quite easy to make a personalized Christmas card. Here are a few ideas:

1. Glue small fern leaves on a piece of paperboard. Putting them together simulates the look of a Christmas tree, especially if you add a small star sticker or cut-out on the top. The trees can be decorated with small gift packages, i.e. squares made of colored tape which you wrap with cross ribbons in contrasting colors.

2. Even if you are not good in drawing, you can still create beautiful Christmas cards. Cut out Christmas motifs from magazines, preferably colorful ones, and glue them together on a piece of paper (e.g. in several layers). It sounds simple, but you can really make very beautiful and creative cards in no time.

Large picture: Christmas card