The world is evolving fast, both culturally and technologically. Conventions are being rapidly overhauled, and new trends are setting in. Most notably, there is increasing disenchantment with traditional greeting cards. The enthusiasm that comes with such traditional greeting cards is fading as most people don’t really value them anymore.
This is not entirely out of place, considering the emergence and consolidation of digital technology. Even more alarmingly, sending greeting cards during the holidays is becoming costlier. The cost of stamps appears to be on an eternal rise.
When you combine card costing and postage costing, sending bulk traditional greeting cards can be financially unnerving. This is even aside from the added cost of custom printing. All these inconveniences for some generic cards the recipient will likely not value. Not a good idea, right?
It is no wonder people are resorting to more effective alternatives to traditional greeting cards that wouldn’t cost them their arms and legs. Precisely, personalized greeting cards are better at sending the right and beautiful messages to their loved ones.
We will explore some contemporary alternatives that can capably fill in for your regular greeting cards when you want to send your loved ones and colleagues those emotional well wishes. This is even as the holiday season beckons.
Some of these options we will be hitting on are far cheaper than your typical greeting cards. This is much-welcomed news, as you get to spend less showing love to those you appreciate — sparing more money for more pressing needs.
The added spice is that these unorthodox traditional greeting card alternatives are going to evoke more gratitude from your recipient being that you stepped out of the box — to send them something more unique and customized
These alternatives include some “weird” but exciting ideas to get around traditional cards, yet getting your recipient gushing appreciation when they get the greeting items.
1. Tellinga
Story cards are some of the best-personalized greeting cards you can send if you are bored with the traditional cards. These emotion-provoking story cards tell the most fantastic stories to share memories with your recipient and build stronger bonds with them.
Indeed, these personalized greeting cards are miles apart from the generic traditional greeting card you would toss at your recipient (which he is almost sure to drop in the garbage bin the next day).
These are unique stories possibly drawn by expert artists on greeting cards, which are then stamped and sent to a location you specified via snail mail.
Tellinga is your best destination to get those fantastic personalized greeting cards made from 100% hand-drawn storybooks. These are the best gifts you can send to those special people you care about on their special ceremonies or just to spice up their regular days.
Cutting across a variety of themes like birthday, holiday, marriages, Tellinga’s seasoned artists will tell your story with the most enchanting drawings on a 5.5" x 8.5" greeting card-sized postcard. This will be done in such expertise that it will be one of the best gifts your recipients will ever receive in a very long while!
Tellinga is a Houston, TX-based start-up that creates 100% personalized hand-drawn greeting cards that tell your story through snail mail. Story recipients receive illustrated stories about themselves based on unique preferences. Tellinga is truly reimagining the traditional greeting card by turning it into an experience. It can be fun, dramatic, thoughtful… anything.
How it works:
-Select your story length (options-one day, one week, two weeks, or one month)
-Upload a photo and add a description of your desired story (you can reminisce a memory from your past or create a brand-new story)
-Our team of talented illustrators and artists will start working on your story
-A few days later, the designated recipient of the story will start receiving unique hand-drawn greeting card-sized illustrations every other day in their mailbox until the package ends
We live in such a digital world these days as we are always emailing, text messaging and following each other’s social media accounts. Things such as traditional mail have somewhat been forgotten, and for those that still frequently check the mail are often disappointed by the number of bills or junk mail.
Tellinga offers a way to tap back into the tangible and traditional by providing a product that you can touch and feel on a deeper level rather than staring at another screen. It provides that old level of eagerness and anticipation of looking forward to checking your mailbox every day.
It is the same exciting feeling of when you were exchanging letters of a pen pal or loved one growing up, looking forward to that new edition of your favorite magazine, or the expectation of receiving a greeting card from a loved one.
The goal is to provide an extremely personalized gift that brightens a loved one’s day by delivering little hand-drawn story surprises in their mailboxes. It gives people the chance to be a character of their own mailbox story sent out piece by piece!
2. Are you tired of your typical greeting cards? Try art prints then!
Art prints are perfect when you want to show love on a budget. These are customized artworks that your audience will terribly relish. Art prints efficiently send that message of affection to your recipients without costing you much. When compared to your traditional greeting cards, art prints allow you more space for customization and artistic expression.
There are several places to get handcrafted art prints from like Etsy.com. These canvas prints can be befitting wall décor for your recipient. If framed, these art prints can last far longer than your traditional greeting cards, which could be disposed of almost as soon as they are received.
3. Postcards are excellent if you want to avoid traditional greeting cards
Postcards are great options when you are looking to bypass those ugly conventional greeting cards. These amazing personalized greeting cards are far more affordable upon being more versatile. They give your recipients the message straight up rather than the bureaucracy of having to open parcels.
If you don’t share the same religious beliefs with your recipients, then you may not necessarily be able to send them holiday cards that reflect their exclusive spirituality. In such instances, you can send simple postcards (with no seasonal or ceremonial undertone) to such recipients.
4. How about personalized video greetings?
It is the era of video, remember. With John Wick 3 (Parabellum) grossing an unbelievable $93.3 million worldwide just in its opening weekend, you can rightly guess people are crazily in love with video today. Custom-made video greetings, just like personalized greeting cards, are far more emotionally laden than your “boring” traditional greeting card.
There are a couple of amazing platforms where you can easily record brief videos and share them as visual greetings to your loved ones or colleagues. One great platform, as described, is Animoto.com.
There, you can create beautiful slideshows from your pictures and videos and then share them as video greetings to your family. This can be readily done over the email or physically via a DVD.
Such video can even be a music or party video of you and your loved ones (or clique) dancing enthusiastically about or thrilling, playing a musical instrument. So rather than send someone those old school greeting cards, you can go modern and send them customized video greetings adorned with special effects. You can be assured your recipient will be overjoyed getting or viewing it. More interestingly, this will cost you almost nothing if done online.
5. Have you thought about writing that “crazy” letter?
Agreed, when we talk about letters, your mind races back to the 1800s. Amid the proliferation of social media smart messaging, you will be right to ask who yet sends letters. Well, the truth is people still do — people always send beautiful letters.
Letters are emotionally rich and say much more than a flimsy traditional greeting card. If you want to go for something personalized, effusive, and passionate, you can craft a handwritten letter and send it as a greeting to your recipient.
Your recipient is sure to be touched. Not only for the rarity of such handwritten letter wishes, the time and effort you possibly invested in creating that heartfelt letter is also a striking testimony of how deeply you value them.
6. Would you like to go “green”?
Today, the need for eco-friendliness is raging with loudening talks of climate change. So rather than go for traditional greeting cards and yet add to the pile of eco-unfriendly waste, you can resort to greener personalized greeting cards.
There are many exciting ideas to try out. Have you thought about creating that beautiful message on real letterpresses cotton? You can even try out real birch wood. This is more retainable and durable than the conventional greeting card.
You can also send that shout out via merrier options like food! How crazy does that sound? If you have a foodie recipient nearby, you can send them savory vegetable letters. Let us imagine you have a couple not too far away, celebrating their marriage anniversary.
Now, you would masterfully arrange some sumptuous fresh vegetables on a plate styled as “Happy Anniversary.” After all the excitement, your recipient can yet work the supposed greeting item into a nice meal! Not bad, right?
7. Go digital using Postagram
It is no secret — traditional greeting cards suck. That is why you should go for more personalized greeting cards at any chance. Luckily, you can send your recipient postcards from your phone. This is even easier when done with apps like Postagram and Photogram.
In the case of Postagram, you can easily pick a photo from your gallery and send it to a designated recipient’s address. There are bountiful templates from Postagram to make the postcard more appealing. You can also leverage the array of customizable backgrounds. Postagram prints this personalized greeting card and deliver them to the address you specified.
8. You can try out tailored ecards
If you want to go entirely digital when sending those charming personalized greeting cards, then you may want to consider customized photo ecards. In this instance, there may be no need for printing. So you wouldn’t have to bother about snail mailing.
In the case of these ecards, many digital platforms allow you to build your ecard from scratch or modify existing templates. There are a couple of platforms where you can obtain such captivating tailored e-cards. Snapfish readily comes to mind here. You can send either to a single recipient or send it in bulk to an assembled email list.
These personalized greeting cards offer you greater design flexibility and expression. You can choose from a wide variety of themes cutting across animal lovers, comics, or even religious ideas. This way, you can easily pick out a custom design that rhymes with your personality while yet harmonious to that of the recipient.
9. Yes, you can call!
A call is an extremely weird alternative to traditional greeting cards for its simplicity and commonness. Well, why burn your hard-earned money, sending a generic greeting card to someone when you can readily pick up your phone and dial them? Come on, we are in the twenty-first century, right?
So instead of all the hassle of sending someone a birthday greeting card, you can just pick up your call them and even sing that happy birthday song to them. It doesn’t matter if you have gotten a scary toad voice or an angelic Ed Sheeran voice.
Conclusion:
There are many greeting card alternatives that simply don’t suck. All of the options listed above are sure to provide a unique greeting card experience suitable for that special someone in your life.
Tellinga is your best destination to get those fantastic personalized greeting cards made from 100% hand-drawn storybooks. These are the best gifts you can send to those special people you care about on their special ceremonies or just to spice up their regular days.
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