The holiday season is almost upon us! That means festive decorations, planning your gift list and — perhaps the most underrated annual tradition — sending out a holiday card!
Yes, it takes a little bit of forethought, but getting a personalized piece of snail mail is one of the greatest joys in life, and these nine sites make it incredibly easy. Plus, if you’re unable to see loved ones this holiday season, a personalized holiday card is a great way to send a special note.
Whether you want to send a one-of-a-kind illustration or a traditional photo portrait, get ready to sleigh the holiday card game when you order from these places.
Before you start card shopping, sign up for RetailMeNot’s cash back program. That way, while you shop, you’ll earn cash back in your pocket to spend on other holiday purchases.
Where to Order Your Custom Holiday Cards
We rounded up the best sites to order customized holiday cards. Whether you want to upload your own family photo (or several) or work with a pro to create a design that’s exclusive to you, here’s a quick rundown of our favorite services’ best deals:
- Editors’ Pick: CVS Photo
- Lux Pick: Minted
- Tried and True: Shutterfly
- Level Up: Tiny Prints
- Easy Ordering: Amazon Prints
- Best on a Budget: Snapfish
- Same-Day Pickup: Walgreens
- Best for Minimalists: Artifact Uprising
- Does It All for You: Postable
- Unlikely Option: Vistaprint
- Endless Options: Etsy
Editors’ Pick: CVS Photo
CVS Photo makes creating beautiful customized holiday cards easier than ever! You can choose from a variety of festive holiday designs featuring vibrant colors and fun finishes. You’ll also get your choice of card types from matte or glossy photo cards, two-sided cardstock and premium cardstock.
Why we love it: With CVS Photo, you can personalize everything on your holiday cards, all the way down to your favorite fonts and colors! Adding photos is super simple, with the option to import photos from your camera or mobile device, or directly from your Facebook, Instagram, Google or Flickr accounts.
Shipping time: The best part about getting your holiday cards at CVS Photo? You can get free same-day pickup on a number of best-selling cards, making it the perfect option for those in a hurry.
Offer: Take 50% off your CVS Photo order — and score 15% cash back!
Lux Pick: Minted
Minted takes care of the entire holiday card process from creation to delivery with the help of their community of 16,000+ designers. And if you’re extra, they also offer card “booklets” that showcase all of your favorite family photos in a brochure-like format that has multiple pages.
Why we love it: Minted offers unique templates and designs sourced from independent artists. There are also plenty of ways to customize your cards with color schemes, messaging, card stock, letterpress, foil and even wax seals, free recipient addressing and card styling assistance!
Shipping time: 3-7 business days.
Offer: Get 20% off, plus earn 3% cash back sitewide.
Tried and True: Shutterfly
Shutterfly is a great place to shop and personalize hundreds of different holiday card options. From traditional to more playful, there’s a card for every family. Choose your favorite photos and customize details like color, trim and cardstock, or add some glitz and glam with foil or glitter accents!
Why we love it: Not only do we love the designs and site experience for customizing your cards on Shutterfly, but we also appreciate the “super rush” shipping option of one to two business days for an additional fee. It’s great if you’re a procrastinator and order your cards way too close to Christmas Day.
Shipping time: 1-10 business days.
Offer: Take 28% off any regular-priced purchase, plus earn 10% cash back on your first Shutterfly order (or 3% back for returning customers).
Level Up: Tiny Prints
Tiny Prints and Shutterfly have combined forces to create an adorable and affordable collection of holiday cards. Besides the usual customization options, there are also unique features like trims, glitter and colored foil to make your card stand out from the stack. Holiday cards start at $1.38 each.
Why we love it: Previous customers love Tiny Prints’ customer service. They even provide a satisfaction guarantee, and if you’re not happy about your order (with the exception of typos that are not their responsibility), Tiny Prints will reprint at their own expense. Tiny Prints also provides a service to address and mail the cards for you for an additional fee. And just like Shutterfly (their parent company), Tiny Prints also provides the same “super rush” service for orders to ship cards within one to two business days.
Shipping time: 1-10 business days.
Offer: Get an extra 20% off when you sign up for texts from Tiny Prints.
Easy Ordering: Amazon Prints
If you’re already a Prime member who does most of your shopping on Amazon, ordering your holiday cards through the world’s largest online retailer is already in your wheelhouse. And yes, you can select from several designs on Amazon Prints and customize with your own family photos if that’s what you’re looking for.
Why we love it: The fact that we’re already ordering things from Amazon just makes things easier. You’re probably already logged in, so no account creation is necessary. Prices are also budget-friendly with designs as low as 78 cents apiece — and when you order 25, Amazon Prints will also print your return address on included envelopes for free.
Shipping time: 3-5 business days.
Offer: Amazon Prime members get free shipping on most orders (otherwise, spend $35 or more for free shipping).
Best on a Budget: Snapfish
Snapfish offers a huge variety of personalized options for greeting cards as low as $1, including exclusive designs and the ability to customize with your own photos. The high-quality card stock along with trim, background options and embellishments like silver, rose or gold foil ensure your holiday card will stand out from the stack.
Why we love it: The endless options (if you’re not too overwhelmed by them) are awesome for a truly custom card. We also appreciate the awesome offers that pop up and are prominently displayed on the site so you don’t miss a deal.
Shipping time: 3-5 business days.
Offer: RMN has exclusive offers for 50% off orders over $30, 60% off orders over $50, and 70% off orders over $70 — plus 5% cash back for purchases sitewide.
Same Day Pickup: Walgreens Photo
If you’re in a rush or not a fan of waiting for your holiday cards to be shipped to you, Walgreens Photo is a great option. You can still customize your cards online after choosing from various festive templates, but set it for same-day pickup or delivery.
Why we love it: Same-day delivery and in-store pickup options mean you’ll get your cards sooner than the others on this list.
Shipping time: 0-3 days.
Offer: Find the latest promo codes, including 50% off everything for a limited time.
Best for Minimalists: Artifact Uprising
Sometimes less is more. With limited designs that are not as loud as other holiday cards, Artifact Uprising is perfect for the minimalist. But don’t let the number of options fool you. You’ll surely find a beautiful design that’s still pretty festive without all the bells and whistles.
Why we love it: Navigating their site and making a card is as simple as the designs themselves. And if you want to elevate your simplistic design, there are foil print options for an additional cost. They can also address your envelopes for you for 40 cents.
Shipping time: 5-12 days.
Offer: Save up to 20% on your entire order.
Does It All For You: Postable
Postable creates, stamps and mails the cards for you. This greeting card company even uses a clever handwritten font to make it look like you wrote on the card yourself. But one thing to note: You won’t be able to see the cards before they’re mailed, while other card companies will send you the cards first for you to mail out yourself.
Why we love it: If you don’t want to lift a finger beyond selecting a cute design and uploading a spreadsheet of addresses, Postable is for you. And if you don’t have a family photo to use for your card, Postable has so many cool card options that are still personalized but don’t require a portrait from you.
Shipping time: 2-6 days.
Offer: Get 25% off sitewide.
Unlikely Option: Vistaprint
You might think of Vistaprint as a purveyor of business cards and promotional prints, but the online printing service makes awesome customized holiday cards, calendars and gifts!
Why we love it: Easy to customize on their site at great prices (with some designs costing as little as $0.78 per piece), there are endless options in templates, color schemes and cardstock trim. You can also select embossed foil, scalloped borders and other custom touches to create a one-of-a-kind greeting for family and friends. Various envelope styles and free addressing service also awaits you at Vistaprint. You can also opt into their Graphic Design Service to have a pro design your card for you for a fee (which varies by designer).
Shipping time: 3-8 business days.
Offer: Earn 5% cash back on your order, plus 25% off for first-time customers.
Endless Customized Options: Etsy
By now, you should be familiar with Etsy. If you’re not, Etsy is a marketplace of handmade, custom, vintage and craft items that span various categories, like jewelry, home, and yes, season’s greetings.
We like these floral custom cards from AcetiDesignCo ($9 for a digital file and prices starting at $25 for 10 printed cards).
Here are some of our other favorite Etsy sellers who offer customized designs for your holiday cards:
- Caricature Christmas card from IllustrateMeDonna
- Printed family Christmas cards with photos from Beeandbungalow
Why we love it: Not only are there endless options of designs and themes, but supporting small businesses from around the globe is pretty rad.
Shipping time: Varies by seller but can take longer than the others featured on this list. Keep that in mind, and allow for additional time for possible revisions.
Offer: Get free shipping on thousands of items.
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