Cheap Christmas Cards

by Daniella

Cheap Christmas cards that are pretty, punchy, personalized, or otherwise have personality, can be hard to come by. Cards that let you design any of their elements, or use your own photos, tend to be ridiculously expensive. There is a way, however, to get lovely or spunky photo Christmas cards for very little money at all.

Start with your choice of a photo or photos. Consider that this could be anything from a formal family portrait to be accompanied by text like, “The Smith Family wishes you a Merry Christmas, 2010” to a photo of you throwing a snowball towards the person holding the camera, to be accompanied by text like, “Darn, I miss(ed) you!”

Once you’ve chosen the kinds of photos you think the people you plan to send cards to would appreciate, use Photoshop or some other computer art/editing program (there are free versions available online to test out, if you don’t already have one) to create an attractive “frame” for them, with space off to one side, the top and/or bottom to add text. Design the complete, finished image to fit within a 4”x6” space. This is most easily done by creating a blank image of that size within the program, then pasting in the photos, resizing them to look good within the space, and then finishing the creating or pasting in of the art from there. Set the image to be viewed at “actual size” to get a feel for what the resolution of things actually is, as you alter and combine them to fit in the space.

Since you have created these images to oh-so-conveniently look good in the exact same space as a 4”x6” photo, you can then upload the image or images to a free online photo gallery / company such as Snapfish or Ofoto, as if they were simple photos. Choose the company or companies based on the promotions they are running for new accounts. Most will offer new members anywhere from 30 to 100 free 4”x6” prints, with only the cost of shipping to cover. This gets you 30 to 100 postcard-style photo greeting cards, for only a few dollars. Use a fine-point Sharpie to write smudge-proof additional messages on the backs, if you desire, without damaging the photo-front of the image with pressure or ink from behind.