subject: Things You Need To Know About Your Favorite Greeting Cards [print this page] The tradition of conveying best wishes from one person to another have been a part of every important occasions in our lives. In fact, a person receives an average of 20 cards every year for different occasions. In Australia, around $ 500,000,000 are spent on these greeting cards. In the United States, the greeting card industry earns as much as $7.5 billions annually.
There are different cards that are aesthetically designed for almost all types of occasions. Greeting cards are actually divided into two main categories, everyday and seasonal cards. Birthday cards are the most popular and widely bought everyday card which is comprised of 60% of the overall greeting cards sales. Anniversary, friendship, sympathy and get well cards complete the remaining sales on everyday cards. Seasonal cards include Christmas , Valentines, Easter and Mother's and Father's day cards.
Ancient Greeting Cards
The act of sending a greeting card to convey a person's best wishes to another started in ancient China and Egypt. The ancient Chinese and Egyptians used cards as their means of communication to bid their love ones and friends a prosperous and happy New Year. Papyrus scrolls were used to deliver their messages of goodwill. Handmade paper greeting cards made its way in Europe in the early 1400s. In Germany, New Year wished were sent through woodcuts. However, sending greeting cards back then were expensive and only the elite were able to afford them.
When the 1850s arrived, sending and receiving greeting cards became more popular even among the common people. This is due to the innovations in mechanized printing and the invention of postage stamps made greeting cards an affordable means of communication. In 1843, the first Christmas card was created for a man named Sir Henry Cole. He hired Calcott Horsely to make a card for his friends and bid them a merry Christmas.
Variations of Greeting Cards
Generally, greeting cards vary on their contents, materials used and the manner in which they are sent. Only high-quality paper is used to make a standard greeting card. It is usually folded and rectangular in shape. Beautifully designed pictures are placed in front of the card. Inside of the card is a pre-printed message which defines the general purpose of the card. Standard type greeting cards also usually come with an envelope. It may be a simple white envelope or something that is creatively designed with the use of fancy materials such as glitters and ribbons.
Another kind of greeting card is called a photo greeting card. It makes use of photos that may either be inserted or printed on the card. An inserted type of photo greeting card has a hole in the middle to make it look like a framed photograph. While the printed photo is generally a mixture of the photo and artwork that is printed on top of the card. Most of the times, photo greeting cards are used for holidays such as Easter and Christmas.
There are also other types of greeting cards such as musical, pop-up, electronic and personalized cards.
