Not your momma's Christmas card

December 3, 2011 9:41 PM

With money being tight this year, I am only going to be able to send cards to my family for Christmas. Where can I find the awesomest Christmas cards ever?

I have to get cards for a variety of different people, and I'd really like to taylor the card to the individual recipient, so I'm not really looking to buy a box of a whole bunch of the same four cards. I'd like to buy them separately. Some of my family are religious and some aren't, so both kinds of suggestions are more than welcome. I'd like to find cards that are exceptionally witty or beautiful or meaningful or whatever. I just want them to be special. The Christmas cards at the grocery store are all lame. I'm in Phoenix if you happen to know of a good brick-and-mortar store I can go to, or else online is fine as long as I can get them quickly.

posted by Weeping_angel to Shopping (12 answers total)

Etsy has some gorgeous letterpress Christmas cards.
posted by iconomy at 10:01 PM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I bought a few cards from this girl in person once, there are some pretty great ones.
posted by jacalata at 10:19 PM on December 3, 2011

I've always liked the pop-up cards I found at the MoMA store.
posted by Marky at 10:27 PM on December 3, 2011

iPhoto lets you put together cards with your photos and text. Flickr does the same thing, I think, through a third party. You design it and order online, and then they print and mail it.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:36 PM on December 3, 2011

Best answer: my cousin worked out how to make simple images (like a penguin) with cut-out construction paper, and sent out home-made cards. They were awesome.
posted by jb at 11:18 PM on December 3, 2011

Best answer: I can't believe I'm the second person to suggest this, (Hi JB!)

But yeah, get a bunch of coloured card, and stencils, and cut out a contrasting colour shape for each different person, and stick it to the front.
It's a lot sweeter getting a personally made card, as long as it looks nice.
posted by Elysum at 11:21 PM on December 3, 2011

Yes, make them yourself! You could even find a tutorial online to make a simple pop-up shape.
posted by pintapicasso at 3:20 AM on December 4, 2011

Thirding making them yourself! I did that last year, and rocked out 50 individualized cards for friends and family for $25. Draw pictures, use glitter, use brightly colored paper, make big simple cut-out shapes of something the person likes, or something holiday-y. Write a nice note about a fun memory or an inside joke. Have fun!
posted by BigJen at 7:11 AM on December 4, 2011

I know money is tight (and I don't know how many cards you have to send), but one year, I bought this book and made a different design on each card (I did have to use padded mailers, though). Everyone was very impressed, except the 10-year-old who promptly announced "you got this from a kids book!"
posted by dogmom at 8:12 AM on December 4, 2011

I was surprised to find TONS of unopened sets of Christmas cards at a thrift store last week. Plenty of them were lame but I bought a set of 18 with 3-demensional art work (paper piecings) on the front for just $3.
posted by LadyBonita at 11:17 AM on December 4, 2011

The best cards I have ever bought were sold at our local art museum. You see cards there that you would never see in any store.
posted by brownrd at 7:00 PM on December 4, 2011

this girl sells funny/witty homemade cards.
posted by carpediem at 7:02 PM on December 4, 2011