Christmas Card Day
Christmas Card Day is celebrated on December 9th each year.
It may surprise you to learn that Christmas Cards have been around since the 1600s. Four centuries plus of sending Christmas Cards. That is a lot of paper and a lot of stamps.
While the first recorded Christmas Card was received and sent in 1611, that was just the beginning. Today, over 1.6 billion Christmas Cards are purchased each year.
The date of December 9th is believed to honor the date of printing the first commercial Christmas Card. Sir Henry Cole is credited with introducing the mass-produced cards in 1843. Read on for FAQs, fun facts, quotes, jokes, and captions.
FAQ’s
Here are frequently asked questions about Christmas Card Day.
How do I Celebrate Christmas Card Day?
If you haven’t started addressing and mailing your Christmas Cards, Christmas Card Day is an excellent day to start. You can go to a store and buy cards or shop online and pick out your favorite design.
When you post messages and photos to social media, be sure to use the hashtag #christmascardday.
Make your own Christmas Cards and send them to family and friends. Grab some paper, glue, glitter, markers and see what you can create. If you run out of ideas, there is an abundance of helpful hints online. You can also find websites that have templates for making cards.
You may be one of those people who keeps their old Christmas Cards. Christmas Card Day is an excellent day to reflect on the messages and thoughts written in the cards. You can also make a display of your past Christmas Cards that can serve as a decoration.
Sit down and write thank you notes for the Christmas Cards you have received. It’s a good time to start sending Happy New Year wishes too.
What is the History of the Christmas Card?
The Prince of Wales, Henry Frederick, received the first hand-made Christmas Card in 1611. The card was sent by Michael Maier, a German physician who was visiting England. Maier also sent a Christmas Card to Henry’s father, King James I.
As previously stated, Sir Henry Cole created the first printed card in 1843. The card carried the image of a family raising a toast. This was controversial because you were not supposed to drink on Christmas.
Tt took until 1875 for German immigrant Louis Prang to start printing Christmas Cards in the U.S. By 1881, Prang manufactured five million cards per year. He was highly successful but in 1910 things changed.
In 1910 J.C. Hall and his brothers William and Rollie created the Norfolk Post Card Company. The company made postcard-sized greetings. Postcards began to fade out, and the brothers’ Hall decided they would change greeting cards forever.
They changed the size of a card to four inches by six inches folded and added an envelope. Christmas Cards were the biggest seller in this new size.
A Hallmark Moment
The company continued to grow by adding a new invention, wrapping paper, to its line. They were now printing everyday greeting cards in addition to holiday cards. In 1928, the company name was changed to Hallmark.
Today, Hallmark accounts for $3.8 billion of the total greeting card market. In addition to greeting cards, Hallmark owns Crayola, LLC, Hallmark Gold Crown Retail Stores, the Hallmark Hall of Fame T.V. Series, and the Hallmark Channel.
In addition, the company is currently working on a satellite radio channel, the Hallmark Channel Radio for Sirius XM Radio.
What is the Most Popular Image on a Christmas Card?
In 1977, the most popular Christmas Card of all time was a simple illustration of three young angels. Two of the angels have their eyes closed, and the third is looking at the reader. To date, the card has sold over 34 million copies.
Do They Send Christmas Cards in Other Countries?
While the U.S. leads in sending Christmas Cards, many other countries send cards as well. England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Austria, Germany, Canada, Spain, Mexico, China, Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, and all South American Countries.
What is the Average Price of a Christmas Card?
Christmas Cards cost an average of two dollars to four dollars. The least expensive card you can buy is fifty cents, and intricate designs are as much as ten dollars.
How Many Christmas Cards are Sent Each Year?
More than 1.6 billion Christmas Cards are sent each year. Over 90% of American Families buy an average of 30 Christmas Cards each year. Total sales of Christmas Cards are over $7.5 billion. Women are responsible for 80% of overall retail purchases of all greeting cards.
What are the Smallest and Largest Christmas Cards?
The smallest Christmas Card measures 15 x 20 micrometers and is thinner than human hair. To give you an idea of the size, 200 million cards could fit inside a single postage stamp. The National Physical Library created the card in the U.K.
Crisis Skylight Center, offices in England, created the largest Christmas card. The card measures four meters high by three meters wide. It is taller than a double-decker bus. The card was assembled by the charity to raise awareness for the homeless.
Fun Facts About Christmas Cards
Christmas Cards from the late 1800s have been auctioned for over $30,000.
The Christmas wreath we see depicted on Christmas Cards is from an ancient Swedish custom. On Saint Lucia’s Day, shortly before Christmas, Swedish girls wear wreaths in their hair.
The wreaths are decorated with lights. Saint Lucia’s Day remembers the life of a young girl who was martyred for her religious beliefs.
Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings are the two most common messages printed on the front of Christmas Cards. Happy New Year is the most common message on the inside.
E-cards appeared in the 1990s and are now over 20% of all Christmas Cards. E-cards big advantage of e-cards is they are instantaneous—no need to mail e-cards two weeks in advance.
The British Museum has a collection of Queen Anne’s early 1900s Christmas Cards. The Museum that celebrates Charles Dickens houses a collection of Christmas Cards. It includes one of the original printed cards from 1843.
It is estimated there are 3,000 Greeting Card Publishers in the United States.
Xmas Card Trivia
Millennials may be the key to reviving sagging Christmas Card Sales. Millennials spend an average of $6.00 for a Greeting Card. Other market segments spend an average of $2.00 to $4.00.
The average person receives 20 greeting cards per year (most come at Christmas time).
Hallmark’s four-inch by six-inch folding card format was an answer to customer complaints. Customers said that Christmas Post Cards didn’t have enough room to write messages.
Christmas Cards were once a status symbol because they were expensive and cost-prohibitive to send. When the U.K. introduced a new postal system in 1843, the cost to send cards became inexpensive. Public workers looked for a way to promote the new postal system.
The founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir Henry Cole, had a plan. He commissioned a postcard-style Christmas Card and mailed them to family and friends. A tradition was born.
Quotes About Christmas
Christmas is not a time nor a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
Calvin Coolidge
Christmas is the day that holds all time together.
Alexander Smith
Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
Larry Wilde
It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.
W.T. Elli
Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves.
Eric Sevareid
Sayings
The best of all gifts around the Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
Burton Hillis
Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.
Charles M. Schulz
I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens
Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.
Edna Ferber
Taking down the Christmas tree makes it feel official: time to get back to joyless and cynical.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Top Ten Traditional Christmas Messages
Joy to the World!
May your days be merry and bright.
Let it snow!
Have a Merry Little Christmas.
Deck the halls!
All is calm. All is bright.
Yuletide Cheer!
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.
Happy Holidays!
See more Happy Holidays messages.
Jokes About Christmas
What did the Christmas Card say to the Postage Stamp? Stick with me, and we’ll go places.
It looks like there is going to be a shortage of advent calendars. It turns out their days are numbered.
Even angry mice send each other Christmas Cards. Except their cards are called Cross-Mouse Cards.
Santa’s elves keep their money at the local Snow Bank.
If you were a sheep, you might wish someone a Merry Christmas by saying Fleece Navidad.
Hey, I smell carrots said one snowman to another.
I know a guy who is so cheap he gives away dead batteries as Christmas presents. They are free of charge.
Santa went downstairs in the workshop and found the elves dancing to Wrap Music.
Santa had to stop going down chimneys. It turns out he has Claustrophobia.
Everyone tried to avoid the Vampire Snowman. They didn’t want to get frostbite.
In the Garden of Eden on the day before Christmas, Adam called, “It’s Christmas, Eve.”
A guy gave his wife, a lovely diamond ring for Christmas. His brother-in-law saw this and said, I thought she wanted an SUV. The guy says she did, but where was I going to find a fake Jeep?
Xmas Humor – Santa Claus-Style
An abdominal snowman: A snowman who works out and gets a six-pack on his stomach.
There are four stages in a man’s life. They are:
- You believe in Santa Claus.
- You don’t believe in Santa Claus.
- Required to dress up like Santa Claus.
- You look like Santa Claus.
Instagram Captions for Christmas Card Day
A tree, a tree, my kingdom for a tree!
A white Christmas is in the cards.
Look up; you are under the mistletoe.
Keep calm and send Christmas cards.
Christmas is so close I can taste it.
Smile – this is going to be our Christmas Card.
May the Kringle be with you.
Christmas isn’t Christmas without Cards.
You give me that Christmassy feeling.
A Christmas card sends love.
By Tim Moodie
For a long time, Tim Moodie wrote greeting cards, including Christmas Cards. One of his cards was surprisingly simple. It said, “Merry Christmas and Happy New York!”
Etcetera
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