The Tradition Of Sending Holiday Greeting Cards

The tradition of sending Holiday Greeting Cards is embedded deeply within our culture. The idea of sending out Holiday Cards started in England around 1840. This is when the "Penny Post" was invented which made the sending of mail much simpler than before.

Not long after this came the development of lithography printing. This suddenly made it possible for people to send decorative, colorful Christmas Greeting Cards.

Even though it's easier to communicate with others via the telephone, e-mail, and text messaging, the tradition of sending Holiday Greeting Cards to people who we care about – family, friends, colleagues at work, business associates, and customers – continues to be a very big part of the holidays today.

Originally the content of Holiday Cards was wishing others a joyous Christmas. However, today the tradition of sending out cards during the holidays has expanded worldwide and the greetings range from "Happy Hanukkah" to "Happy Kwanza", to "Season's Greetings" to "Happy New Year". They are no longer just religious messages.

The following quote is from an article posted on a blog published by ooprint, an online printing service. It discusses some of the history of Holiday Greeting Cards:

"Official holiday cards were first sent by Queen Victoria of England in the 1840's. The first Christmas message from a President was written by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927 and was published in newspapers across America.

Then in 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the first official holiday card to a list of 1300 recipients including American ambassadors, members of the Cabinet and Congress, and foreign heads of state. Today, Presidential holiday cards typically depict White House scenes rendered by famous American artists."

Today many companies send Business Holiday Cards to their clients and customers not only to thank them for their patronage during the past year but also to offer them all the best for the coming year.

As you plan your Holiday Greeting Cards strategy for this year, use it as an occasion to reach out and touch those you care about and to reconnect with people you've lost track of during the past year.

There's a great resource I use that totally streamlines the whole Holiday Card sending process. This unique card-sending system let's me create Custom Holiday Cards using my own pictures and my own message. (The message can even be printed in my own handwriting!)

It's all done online and people receive a real, physical card in the mail.