Eco-friendly Ideas for Christmas Cards

What do you do with all the Christmas cards you receive once the holiday season is over? Recycle them? Well, you should at the very least do that, but there are so many more creative and environmentally friendly ideas that you can do with them instead.

I always look to purchase products that are eco-friendly over products that are not. So when choosing my Christmas cards, I look for recycled paper holiday cards or eco-friendly windpower Christmas cards. In addition to seeking out green products, I try to be creative with reusing items, like greeting cards, as much as possible.

I keep all the Holiday cards that I receive, and over the years, have found many uses for them. I have cut out ornaments, trees, and wreaths to use as gift tags. I have made collages out of different holiday designs to decorate my house for Christmas. If I am feeling extra creative, I will even use stamps, markers, and stickers to add an extra special element. I have even cut out part of my greeting cards to use as place cards around the dinner table at my Christmas parties. Not only were my friends impressed with my beautifully decorated dinner table but they were happy to hear that I was reusing what might have otherwise been tossed in the trash. I also saved some money in the process!

I’m sure if you think about it for a bit you can come up with a bunch of different ways to reuse your personalized Christmas cards. So this year, why not come up with your own innovative projects and crafts to reuse your cards. And try to keep the environment in mind along with your holiday spirit.

The History of the Christmas Wreath

Do you ever wonder where the tradition of the Merry Christmas Wreath comes from? The roots of this tradition can be traced back to the ancient Greeks when wreaths made of laurel were placed on the heads of victorious athletes in the original Olympic Games. Wreaths were also used by the Romans when worn on the heads of leaders such as Julius Caesar.

Some say that the circular shape represents eternity since it has no beginning or end. Today, the most popular use of the wreath during Christmas is the Advent Wreath with its lovely candles representing the coming of light or spring. The most popular wreath is the Merry Christmas Wreath made from evergreen branches, which hangs on the wall or door and invokes feelings of warmth for the season.

The symbolism of the wreath is in the shape of the circle that has no beginning and no ending. Some say that this may represent the circle of life or the eternal nature of God’s love. The evergreens used in wreaths are said to represent immortality because they live through winter, signifying strength. The wreath is a colorful welcoming touch whether used during the Christmas season or any time of the year. It has the uncanny ability to invoke feelings of warmth and family.

What are Business Christmas Cards?

People I meet inevitably say, “You work at a greeting card company? Really? Which one?” And inevitably I explain, “Well you wouldn’t have heard of us, but we are the leader in Business Christmas cards.” I go on to explain we are The Gallery Collection by Prudent Publishing and that our website is www.GalleryCollection.com, but before I get to that point, I always have to explain what Business Christmas cards are. “It’s simple,” I say. “You know those cards that companies send to each other at the holidays? The ones that say Happy Holidays from all of us at Acme Corporation.” Everyone understands pretty quickly what Business Christmas cards are once I explain it like this. However, what I think most people never quite realize that is terribly obvious is that Business Christmas cards or Corporate holiday cards or company Christmas cards (whatever you want to call them!) are really for the most part used as thank you cards. People in business like to take a pause, exhale and say, THANK YOU! Or at least smart business people do! Certainly the holidays are a religious time, but more so they are a time to reflect and to say thank you.

Patriotism and Traditions

Call me old fashioned but I love to show my patriotism, which I can thank my grandfather for. Although he is mostly known around town from his beauty supply store, what most people don’t know is that my grandfather served nine proud years in the United States Navy.

No matter how you knew him, my grandfather always carried the tradition of showing his American pride, whether it was by attaching a mini American flag to his car antenna, spending time with other veterans, or mailing Patriotic Corporate Cards to his customers. I learned a lot from him, which is why I carry on a few of his traditions.

For instance, I proudly show my patriotism by flying my all-weather American flag outside my house whether rain, snow, sleet, or shine. I show my support for veterans by attending our local Memorial Day parade each year. And one of the greatest, and best-tasting, patriot traditions my entire family follows is baking an American flag cake for our 4th of July barbeque, iced with red, white, and blue frosting.

While some of these traditions may not mean a lot to others, they mean a lot to me. So I will continue to carry them on each and every year. In fact, I feel so inspired right now, I may go out and buy a mini flag for my car antenna.

Holiday Cards for the Troops

There is so much to write and say about the flurry of activity at our company for the past week. We have been excitedly working on what is the largest charitable act our company has ever embarked on. What are we up to? Well, we have decided to donate over 280,000 holiday cards for American troops serving in the combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan! 140,000 of these cards are effectively beautiful thank you cards to the troops that we are imprinting with a special message and the Soldiers Angels logo. And, the other 140,000 are cards that are blank on the inside for the troops to write home. This is a massive undertaking for us but it does just feel “right”. Everyone at our company feels good about it. The troops are human beings and they need love and caring just like the rest of us. Many of them are just young kids. We appreciate their service to our country as we know that all Americans do, regardless of being for or against the war.

Here’s a quick photo of the inside of one of the first cards produced. We’ll have to post more info on this effort soon, but we are BUSY BUSY! It always seems like no matter what we do everyone wants to wait to order their business Christmas cards and corporate holiday cards at the last minute. No one ever really seems to understand that with personalization, Thanksgiving is getting pretty late(!) to order.

Well…actually it looks like photo uploading isn’t working right now for the greeting cards blog…So, here is a link for now and better info/photos of the cards will follow:
https://www.gallerycollection.com/card/GoodwillOrnamentHolidayCard.htm

And the blank card for troops to write home on will be this one:
https://www.gallerycollection.com/card/SnowyMornHolidaySeasonsGreetingsCard.htm

P.S. – Soliders’ Angels is a good organization. Their founder was recently honored by Microsoft and the USO. Her name is Patti Patton-Bader. Here’s info on the honor that was recently bestowed upon Patti: http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/federal/AboveandBeyondAwards/PattiPattonBader.mspx