Sending and receiving Christmas cards during the holidays is a tradition most of us enjoy every year. But even though Christmas has been celebrated for nearly 2000 years, sending cards at this time only started about 150 years ago.
Sir Henry Cole of England introduced the first holiday cards in 1843. He hired an artist named John Horsley to create the cards, and Horsley came up with a three-panel drawing showing a family toasting the holiday above the words “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” Cole sold the cards for a shilling each.
Other cards soon followed, but they didn’t have the winter or Christmas themes we’re familiar with today. Instead, early Christmas cards depicted flowers, fairies and other illustrations that looked forward to the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
It wasnt’ until 1875 that Christmas cards came to America. Louis Prang was the first printer to offer cards in America, and they were popular for awhile until postcards came along and briefly put a damper on the tradition. But in the 1920s, paper Christmas cards with envelopes returned, and we’ve been enjoying them ever since.
Of course, Christmas cards have continued to change over the years, and trends have come and gone. Patriotic images were popular during the World Wars, and risque cartoon humor become popular in the 1950s. Today you can find holiday cards with a wide range of images and greetings. Nostalgic, sentimental, and religious images continue to be popular, and, now you can also purchase many “cool” Christmas cards that can do double-duty as Christmas letter, calendars or or tree ornaments for individuals and businesses. There are also now manufacturers specializing in recycled business holiday cards.
However, sending out paper Christmas cards is on the decline. The number of cards received by American households dropped from an estimated 29 in 1987 to 20 in 2004. But for now, printed cards are still popular, with about 1.5 billion cards sent in the U.S. during the holidays, according to Hallmark.
In some shape or form, holiday greeting cards will be with us for a long time to come.
