"green" Christmas Cards For This Holiday Season

Can you believe it? Christmas is fast approaching and it's time to start picking out your greeting cards. Recipients of your cards may exclusively be friends and family, or your list may also include business-related folks like your colleagues and customers. This year, you might consider "going green" by sending recycled Christmas cards. Once upon a time, recycled cards looked recycled. Today, they are beautiful and friendly to the environment, so you are sending not only holiday greetings but also an eco-friendly message.

Recycled Christmas Cards: Then and Now

When recycled greeting cards were first introduced to consumers, they had a similar appearance and quality as the brown paper that you find in huge rolls at stores catering to those interested in arts and crafts. In those older cards, you could literally see particles and flecks on them from the recycling process, but those old recycled cards are ghosts of Christmas past and have been greatly improved for present-day consumers.

Now, you would be hard pressed to distinguish brand new paper used for Christmas cards from those made with recycled paper because they are so clean and bright - unless you peek on the back of the card to see whether it has the symbol that indicates that it was made entirely from recycled fibers.

No Compromise Needed with Recycled Christmas Cards

Today, recycled holiday cards are available in a wide array of choices with a tremendous selection of styles, designs, and colors to choose from. You can choose ideal holiday cards that were recycled for all of the folks on your list without compromising the quality of your season's greetings. At the same time, these recycled Christmas cards meet your concerns about the environment and promote awareness of the needs of our planet to those who are receiving your holiday wishes. You can have it all!

Photo Cards for Christmas Offer a Personal Touch

Many people have a tradition of sending holiday cards that feature a recent photo of their family. If this is your tradition or even it's your first time to share photos with loved ones during the holidays, you can choose to use recycled stock for your photo cards to also reflect your concern for the environment.

There are several ways you can customize your Christmas photo cards so they reflect your personal style and intended message:

a. Choose your design from a template and select colors for your cards

b. Upload the photo (or photos) that you have picked for your card and have it customized to size

c. Select the fonts you want for your message

d. Either choose a pre-written message for your card or make up one of your own that reflects your (or your family's) personalized holiday wishes while conveying how dedicated you are to the environment by using recycled stock

Another great idea might be to find a website that specializes in personalized greeting cards with photos (whether using recycled paper or not). Some of these online shops offer easy-to-follow steps to lead you through this whole customization process with a few clicks of a mouse. Of course, you will need a digitalized copy of the photo for your card since you are submitting it online.

More Tips to Go Green with Greeting Cards

There are many ways to reuse some of your past holiday memories. Some holiday cards that you receive may contain a special photo, message, or letter that you want to keep after the holidays, so store them away or put them in a scrapbook for your later enjoyment. Another option is to cut out certain parts of those cards and make Christmas tree decorations out of them by punching a hole near the top and inserting a piece of string or ornament hanger to put them on your tree. These cutout images can also be reused as gift tags for your presents during the next holiday season.

For those holiday cards that you receive, but will not be keeping once the season passes, you can recycle them by putting them in a trash bin that goes to a recycling center. Another way to reuse cards for the next holiday season is to shred them or cut them up with scissors, bag it up, and then use it as packing material when you ship gifts for the holidays next year.

By choosing to use recycled Christmas cards, you limit your environmental impact while celebrating the holiday season with loved ones.