Christmas CARDS

If you do a quick search about the Christmas cards, you will find that in 1843 a gentleman called Sir Henry Cole (who helped set up the ‘Penny Post’), with illustration by John Horsley, was the first to send a Christmas card. And that is true…to a point. But as with all my other Christmas facts, there is more than meets the eye.

Greeting cards had been exchanged by the ancient Chinese to share messages of goodwill for the New Year. Ancient Egyptians sent their greetings by papyrus.

In the 1400s, Germans were printing and exchanging New Year’s greetings from woodcuts.

King James I of England (also known as King James VI of Scotland) received the closest item we associate to a Christmas card in 1611. It was larger than the standard card size now, so was folded over a few times, and had an image of a rose with a Christmas message to him and his son. It was sent to them by German physician Michael Maier, an advisor to Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Zoom forward to Victorian times where we are reunited with Sir Henry Cole again. He asked his talented illustrator friend to help him create a card that he could send to friends and family and printed around 1,000 copies which then sold for a shilling each.

By 1856 America’s greeting card industry takes off, after German immigrant Louis Prang opens a small lithographic business near Boston, and by1894, an entire issue of the influential magazine, The Studio, by prominent British arts writer Gleeson White, was devoted to a study of Christmas cards.

And by 1915, Joyce Hall and his brother, published their first Christmas card. Yes, you guessed it - those Hallark brothers strike the Christmas industry again. They could clearly see a good investment around this holiday a mile off!

For more in depth information about the history of Christmas cards, check out Why Christmas, Minted, Greeting Card as well as Smythsonian Mag.

And now, let’s get carded! Welcome to my 12 Days of Christmas, #ecoedition continuing with Day 6! Check out the quiz question at the bottom of the page and stay tuned for the answer tomorrow!

QUIZ ANSWER FROM DAY 4: What are the top 2 most popular Christmas decorations? Candles and Garlands!

Did you know:

Some more interesting facts about cards:

• Every year in the US, over 2 billion Christmas cards are sent

• 1 billion cards end up in the bin..the equivalent of 33 million trees

• On average, each person receives 17 Christmas cards

• 1 tree is cut down to make 3,000 cards so for every 1 tree, 176 people send cards to their loved ones

• President Eisenhower was the First President to send an official Christmas card from the White House in 1953

• Christmas cards are the top of the list in the US for seasonal card sales at 61%

• The amount of card used over Christmas could cover the London Eye 50,000 times

• Sales of holiday cards in the U.S. dropped from 1.8 billion in 2009 to 1.5 billion in 2011

• There are more than 3,000 Christmas card publishers in the US

fun and Eco friendly alternatives

Why not try one or more of the below ideas:

• Avoid any cards with foil, glitter, batteries or laminates on them. They cannot be recycled and must be thrown into the general waste bin to avoid contaminating recycling waste. Make sure any with wildflower seeds in them are planted and not recycled. Batteries and electronics must be removed from cards and recycled - find out how based on your country: UK / USA / Canada / Australia / Germany / India

• Support charities selling Christmas cards so you can help them plus they are usually recycled material or FSC approved paper

• Support small and local businesses where possible - check out Etsy for some lovely designs. Please try to avoid any glitter or batteries etc

• Buy wildflower cards so people can plant them afterwards and grow some flowers to help the bees

• Make sure any cards you buy are printed from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved trees

• Reuse cards sent before - cut bits up to create gift tags or new cards

• Make your own cards using flowers, stamps (such as English Stamp Company), recycled card, twine, holly

• Send cards via email - check out Paperless Post and eCo2 Greetings

• Forego the card and have a phone call

• Save any cards you receive for next year to use as tags or to make into new cards before binning or recycling them (see point 1 about recycling cards)

FUN QUIZ QUESTION - find out the answer tomorrow!

What were postmen in Victorian England called?

Good luck and happy card making!

Please note, I am not affiliated with any company mentioned in this post.