I love getting a Christmas card, especially a photo one. But, I have to admit that I usually end up tossing them shortly after the holidays. Between all the stuff my husband and I have, and all the pictures and projects we save from the kids…we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff. I just don’t have the room to keep them and can’t handle the clutter. The cards still bring a holiday cheer into our home every year! And I love the idea of using them as gift tags.
I display all the cards we receive in a Christmas tree shaped metal hanging display I got at Pier 1. After the holidays are over, I toss all the cards. I don’t consider it a waste for the folks who sent it to me - most are photo cards, so they basically sent me a $2 picture that me and my family enjoyed on display for two weeks.
If you are worried about it being tossed, try doing the magnet photo cards. You can get them at Hallmark and similar places. People will be more likely to leave them on their fridge longer than just the few weeks of Christmas/New Years.
My mom used to make Christmas Tree ornaments for all the neices, nephews and her children and give them as gifts. She would get a nice peice of wood and have my dad cut the wood into 1/2" thick oblong disks. Then she would cut the front scene of the cards and glue it to the wood with hodge podge. Then she would file the edges of the card until they matched perfectly to the shape of the wood. Then do one more coat of hodge podge to make it smooth and glossy. Then dad would drill a small hole for the ribbon or hook and she would write a little message on the back for each child. They were so nice and I still to this day love taking them out and hanging them on my tree. I think that has to be the best re-use of a Christmas card that I’ve ever witnessed!
Merry Chirstmas!
My friend cuts the pictures from the front and saves them to use as name tags on next year’s Christmas packages.
We have been doing family photo cards for, probably about 15 years.
I save all the photo cards I receive and put them in my albums.
Regular cards, I sometimes save and cut up to make gift tags (especially if they have extra pretty graphics or embellishments.)
Everything else gets displayed and enjoyed during the holidays, then tossed out or recycled!
let the kids have at them with the art box. my kids used to make bookmarks and ornaments etc out of them. there are some beautiful christmas cards out there. I run a craft show ever year at our parish and there is a lady who makes the most beautiful framed pictures with christmas cards.
We get a lot of photo ones and we tape them to one of the doors in our kitchen. After the season, we typically toss them. Sometimes I’ll find them in the boxes of Christmas stuff the next year though.
I display the cards throughout the holidays then I put the photo cards in a scrapbook and cut out decorative touches from the other cards to enhance the pages. It is so much fun to look at our family and friends through the years!
I put them in a book.
We send out family/kids pictures for ours… Which I just picked up tonight. ugh
Mostly toss them with the rest of the paper recyclables. If they’re photo cards I keep them.
I love sending and receiving real holiday cards. I’m really not a fan of ecards.
I keep the photo cards for the hypothetical albums I intend to make someday in the never future. LOL
I sometimes cut up a cover of to make gift tags for the next year. The first grade classes at the school use Christmas card fronts for craft projects.
I have a page pinned on my board (not a site on Pinterest, actual magazine page thumb tacked to a cork board) showing how to cut circles from the cards to make 3d ornaments. I might try that.