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1. What Are Virtual Holiday Cards?
Virtual holiday cards are electronic cards through which you can send festive greetings to anyone worldwide. These cards are digital in format and can be sent via the Internet.
Many E-card providers allow users to create and send virtual cards for all occasions. There are various options to customize each card with photos, videos, and personal messages to make the greeting more unique and heartfelt.
2. Why Virtual Holiday Cards Are Becoming So Popular?
2.1. Cost-Effective
Designing, printing, stamping—many expenses are involved in sending out traditional holiday cards in envelopes sent through snail mail. With virtual holiday cards, you don’t need to spend much at all as you send holiday greeting cards to everyone on your list.
2.2. Environment Friendly
Traditional paper-based holiday cards go through printing processes that generate greenhouse gases. They also require paper, which is made by cutting down trees. Not to mention, these cards eventually end up as waste.
Virtual cards don’t require these processes and can help reduce your carbon footprint.
2.3. Instant Delivery
Virtual holiday cards can be created within minutes and instantly sent to anyone worldwide. You only need a working internet connection to send and receive one.
2.4. Customization
Virtual holiday card providers offer a ton of flexibility for the cards you send out—you can customize each one with very little effort and send a truly unique greeting to loved ones.
3. Best Virtual Holiday Card Providers (Free+Paid)
3.1. Paperless Post
Paperless Post offers premium greeting cards, invitations, announcements, religious events, thank-you notes, and more. They also have personalized stationery items and notecards. Their cards include digital envelopes, making everything more authentic for the receiver. RSVP tracking and Google Calendar integration are two practical features on the platform.
Key Features
- Schedule Send: Set a date and time to send greeting cards.
- Customizations: Create unique cards by choosing from a long list of colors, styles, themes, etc.
- Guest Management Tools: Track opens, appoint co-hosts, send reminders, and more.
Pricing: Free and paid options (base package costs $12)
3.2. Greenvelope
Greenvelope has contemporary and elegant greeting cards, announcements, and invitations made by their in-house design team. Their holiday greetings collection spans more than 1,500 designs with envelopes that are all one-of-a-kind. All of them come with customization options.
For an additional fee, you can opt for designer support when personalizing your cards.
Key Features
- Personalization Options: Choose from various layouts, fonts, colors, photos, and more.
- Track RSVPs: Collect RSVP updates through daily notifications.
- Auto-Reminders: Alert guests about RSVP deadlines and other event updates.
Pricing: The base package starts at $4.56 for 20 recipients
3.3. Smilebox
With Smilebox, you can easily create greeting cards, flyers, invitations, announcements, and more. You can also use various tools to help you make your own coupons, certificates, birthday videos, etc. They upload 100 new designs to their catalog every month, so there’s never a shortage of options.
Key Features
- Customizations: Add/swap animations, background, music, photos, logos, text, and more.
- Downloadable Option: Save your designs to your computer for later use.
- Unlimited Storage: Safe storage for all your photos and slideshows.
- Schedule Send and RSVP: Schedule cards in advance and track guest attendance.
Pricing: Free and paid plans (starting from $3.99 per month)
3.4. Adobe
Adobe is the best virtual holiday card maker if you want to be as creative as possible with your greetings. It has a vast library of fonts, icons, graphics, and other elements with advanced add-ons like text effects. The user interface is easy to navigate, so anyone can create cards within minutes.
Key Features
- Adobe Express Library: Templates for every style, theme, aesthetic, color, etc.
- Animation Presets: Easily add motion to text, graphics, photos, videos, etc.
- Convert Files: Convert files to PDF, GIF, and more in one click.
Pricing: Free and paid plans (starting at $9.99 per month)
3.5. GroupGreeting
Holiday season greetings, boss’s day, and everything in between—GroupGreeting’s templates have you covered. They specialize in group greeting cards that come with unlimited pages. Apart from the customization options, you can even add a gift card!
Key Features
- Unlimited Signatures: All group members can sign at the same time.
- Customizations: Add photos, GIFs, and stickers to your cards.
- Optional Gift Card: Add a gift card from 350+ partner merchants.
- Unlimited Pages: Enough room for everyone’s messages on the virtual card.
Pricing: Paid options start at $4.99 for one card.
3.6. JibJab
If you want to make your virtual holiday card stand out, JibJab has just the solution. Their video E-cards are hilarious and sure to get your recipients in the festive mood. From Christmas canines singing carols to a surfing Santa, they’ve got fun, one-of-a-kind, quick-send cards. But their main offering is animated cards where you can swap a character’s face for another person’s.
Key Features
- Send Later: Schedule your card for a future date up to one year ahead.
- Multiple Sharing Options: Share your video E-cards via email, Facebook, or a link.
Pricing: Free and paid plans (starting at $24 for six months).
3.7. Punchbowl
Punchbowl is great for those who frequently create greeting cards and invitations on the go. It works on laptops and mobile devices all the same. They offer a wide variety of Disney-themed templates, which are great for children’s birthday cards and party invitations. There’s also a video message feature so you can put a heartfelt video in your digital greeting. But their best offering is their handmade art invitation collection, which is made by scanning handmade artworks using chalk, paint, and other art materials.
Key Features
- Text Message Delivery: Send virtual holiday cards and invitations to your recipient’s phone.
- Optional Gift Card: Add a thoughtful gift card from popular partner merchants.
Pricing: Free and paid options (starting at $5.99 per month for up to 100 invitations)
3.8. American Greetings
American Greetings is a great online platform that offers some of the best virtual holiday cards in classic style with unique customizations. They offer E-cards, printables, party supplies, and much more. You can also try their many smashups—send your contacts an animated digital greeting that calls out to them by their first name.
The only drawback is that customizations are limited.
Key Features
- Reminders: Set reminders for important events to receive notifications for creating or sending cards on time.
- Schedule Send: Schedule virtual holiday cards up to a year in advance.
- Optional Gift Card: Surprise your recipient with an attached gift card.
Pricing: Paid plans starting from $29.99 per year
3.9. Blue Mountain
Blue Mountain’s E-cards are fantastic for evoking nostalgia in your recipients. Choose from an extensive collection of virtual holiday cards featuring beautiful animations, jolly characters, and cheerful music.
However, there are only basic personalization tools, such as putting your name into the cards. Thankfully, they upload fresh content every month, so you have a lot of options to choose from.
Key Features
- Gift Card Option: Combine your holiday card with a gift card from top retailers.
- Reminders: Notifications to help you keep track of special occasions.
- Schedule Send: Schedule your E-cards to be sent on the date and time of your choice.
Pricing: Free trial and paid plans (starting from $6.99 per month).
3.10. Postable
With Postable, you can send E-cards instantly and mail out a physical version of the same card. They accommodate orders for mass mailings, and you can set up an online address book to track every card you want to send out.
While there aren’t many customizations, and the inside page is blank, there are options for handwritten fonts. These are great for writing a personalized message so your card looks and feels more authentic.
Key Features
- Online Address Book: Store your friends’, family’s, and coworkers’ contact information and birthdays to send them cards for all occasions.
- Schedule Send: Choose a time and date to send an E-card and physical card.
Pricing: Free account with paid plans for sending cards (starting at $3.99 each plus stamps for 1 to 19 cards). The plans are more affordable for higher volumes of cards.
3.11. 123Greetings
If you want to send E-cards to your loved ones or coworkers for free, there’s no better choice than 123Greetings. There is an extensive library of virtual Christmas cards and designs to choose from, all for free. If you want a very specific themed card for a holiday or occasion, you’ll find it here. They have all kinds of fun animated virtual cards.
While they offer customizations, we found them to be limited compared to other providers.
Key Features
- Address Book: Store the names and email addresses of recipients.
- Schedule Send: Pick a date and time (up to 60 days ahead) to deliver your card in advance.
- Calendar: Keep track of upcoming events.
Pricing: Free
4. FAQs
4.1. How Do I Create a Virtual Holiday Card?
To create a virtual holiday card, simply choose a virtual card-making platform that suits your needs and design preferences. Select a pre-set template from the many options available and begin customizing it. Consider the available add-ons, such as gift cards to popular online merchants. Add photos and videos for a more personal touch to your message for the recipient. You can send it out immediately, schedule a date and time for delivery, or even save the card to your device for future use.
4.2. How Do I Send a Virtual Holiday Card?
You can send a virtual holiday card using an E-card website. You can make your card and send it to the recipient through email, social media, a direct link, or even SMS, depending on the provider. You can also save the card to your computer and send it later.
4.3. What Are Some of the Most Popular Virtual Holiday Card Themes?
Some popular virtual holiday card themes are Santa and elves, ornaments and lights, Christmas lights, snowy landscapes, celebrations, and confetti.
