Category: Holiday Cards and Tidbits

Dare to be Different With Your Company’s Christmas Card

When ordering a card from The Gallery Collection’s wide selection of cards, it is already pretty difficult for your card to not stand out. If you want to stand out even more for your exceptional taste and styling, here are two options to really jazz things up. When ordering a card from The Gallery Collection’s wide selection of cards, it is already pretty difficult for your card to not stand out. If you want to stand out even more for your exceptional taste and styling, here are two options to really jazz things up.

Colored Foil

Launched as of March 2017, customers now have the option to choose blue foil, red foil, or green foil in addition to the gold foil and silver foil already offered. While we do offer red ink, black ink, blue ink, and green ink—foil is such an stunningly elevated choice for your Christmas cards. Not sure if you’ll like it? Ask for a sample to see it shine in person!

More Customization

Prices will vary depending on your selections and not all cards may be edited in the same way—but with the Gallery Collection you have the option to customize many aspects of your cards. For example, you are able to write your own greeting, add as many handwritten signatures (that we then print) that will fit, change the font and sizes on the card, print in multiple colors inside your cards, or edit the text on the front of the card.

Celebrating An Office Thanksgiving

The holidays seem to roll around faster and faster each year with less and less time to get ready for them. At least that’s how it seems to me, and as the unofficial office party organizer I’ve learned a few simple tips to help thing move smoothly.

Assuming your office does a chip in as we do where everyone either brings a dish or chips in to purchase one, then you the first thing you will need is a food sign up list. We store ours in a shared folder so everyone can see what others are bringing. We divide it up with spots for appetizers, side dishes, main dishes, desserts, paper goods and drinks. This way we ensure we have our bases covered.

Dollar stores are great for picking up some festive paper goods and utensils. Be sure whomever is signed up to pick these items up knows how many people will be attending so you don’t run short of things like napkins and plates.

Having a good party set up is essential to keeping people flowing through the buffet line and a brisk pace. Have all the paper goods, utensils set up at one table, salads etc. first followed by other food items and things like dressings, butter etc. that cause people to dawdle and the very end or ideally at a separate table as they exist the buffet table.

Be sure you have some clear guidelines on how long people can take to gather round for some food and socializing. You want to encourage your Thanksgiving office party time to be one where people take some time away from their desks and socialize and relax for a while. Check with your boss to see if some extra time can be gifted by the company to allow people the chance to participate in the festivities. Those little gestures by the company can be great morale booster. In fact, sometimes the company picks up the tab for a cake which is also appreciated.

One year, I handed out a little note leaf shaped pieces of paper to everyone and sent an email asking that they take a minute and write down something they are thankful for at work. They didn’t need to sign if they didn’t want to but merely drop it in a basket I had decorated near my desk. Before the party, I collected all the leaves and taped them up to the windows just next to where we all gathered to stuff ourselves full of goodies. I can’t tell you how much people enjoyed reading them. Some were funny, some were serious but for sure it put everyone in the mood of giving thanks. My boss really loved it and said it was her favorite office party to date.

Clean up – everyone’s least favorite part but if it is a task shared by all then the burden shouldn’t fall to just a few hands. After the party winds down, I like to send an email reminding everyone to clean up their dishes and help clean the general area.

With some good planning and organization your next Thanksgiving office party should be one that is enjoyed by all.

Christmas Cards From Your Accountant

My husband and I go through all our Christmas cards as they arrive and we check them off against our list of those we have already sent cards to and then start a new list. This new list is comprised of cards we have received from people we did not send a card to and now need to reciprocate.  It seems that every year our initial list gets longer. We always have gotten enough to cover everyone in the first mailing and have a few leftover for new acquaintances.  

We started out 38 years ago sending out only about 50 cards from the local drugstore when we were first married.  But, now we are up over 125 and found it to be so much easier to have them printed with whatever we want them to say.  We actually have our signatures printed on the cards also. They look absolutely gorgeous! We even get an extra 25 as a buffer.  Our cards look so nice that many have asked us how we do it and where we get them.  We always freely share the www.GalleryCollection.com website.

Our new accountant was impressed by our card 2 years ago and so we shared the website.  This past holiday, we got a beautiful holiday card from her today with the business information and a very professional imprint with the company name.  Who knows  maybe this year you might be getting Christmas Cards from your accountant too!

Card Imprinting For Business Christmas Cards: Which Foil Colors Work Best?


So you went on The Gallery Collection’s website. You’ve decided which design you want for your Christmas cards this year. You found the perfect greeting that suits your company. You even crafted the perfect imprint at the bottom. And you’ve decided you want to upgrade to the foil inside your cards as opposed to ink . . . but now you’re stuck. Which foil color do I use?

If you want the elegance and sophistication that foil exudes, foil is the clear choice. But The Gallery Collection offers several foil colors to dazzle your recipients. One deciding factor between them is to look at your design. If you’ve selected a photo-mount card the border of the picture will be in silver or gold. Generally speaking, cards will look more cohesive if these foils match. Some cards have prismatic or metallic elements or specks of foil glittering on the cover. The same consideration applies with these—watch the silent videos on the website to get a better idea of how the card looks when handled and choose according to your tastes.

While some cards might not include these glitzy details, even just looking at how the colors would complement the foil is worth thinking about. Still stuck? Think about your company’s colors or logo, which could help persuade your decision. Are you doing your greeting in an ink (red, black, blue, or green)? Or maybe you’re adding signatures to your card or an ink stamp of your logo? Think about which color(s) ink you will use and how that will alter the look of your card, whether it compliments or clashes.

Another thing to keep in mind is how the foil will appear on the card stock itself. If you choose a dark-stock card, foil is your only option, so there aren’t other colors on the inside to be concerned with. Another option is to use multiple foils inside your card. For some people it is harder to see silver foil on white cards. Others find gold foil on buff appears washed out. Based on your preferences and a little fore-thought, your cards will dazzle in the foil of your choosing.

Nervous about how your card will appear? Order a proof and receive your exact card before you have hundreds produced. Not to worry, the consistent quality and excellent customer service The Gallery Collection provides will leave you satisfied every time!

Send Your Business Holiday Cards As Soon As You Can

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The first time my employer sent out Holiday cards was 3 years ago. He was just starting out, the business had only been operating for about 4 months when I was hired. One day in early November we received an envelope which came to us from someone the owner had come into business contact with recently. It was a holiday card. Once he looked at it he got very excited and said “We’ve got to do this too!”

I called the company we got the card from and was given many options. Personalizing the card was more intense than I imagined. I never knew there were so many different types of holiday cards or realized how much thought can go into sending a business holiday card. I ordered a catalog and some samples to be mailed to us. We received the mailing and he decided what he wanted.

In the meantime he also contacted that business associate who sent us the first holiday card. He asked him some questions about how this helped his business. He then explained why you should send your business holiday cards as soon as you can. He was in business over a dozen years and in his opinion you get more visual advertising time for your money the longer these unique, beautifully personalized cards are on display in your customer’s office.

With all the chaos at holiday time, he decided to do it as soon as possible. It was very interesting when we got our first holiday card and we displayed it in a very visible area. Being the first one to send the cards out can help to start an opening dialogue point with some of your newest clients.

Holiday Cards for the Millennials

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Millennials were raised, for the most part, fully immersed in technology. This is why people commonly assume they would be disinterested in holiday cards; people think, “they grew up in this fast-paced environment, where everything gets to them immediately. Texts, emails; everything they send or receive is delivered in mere seconds. So why would they want holiday cards, which are such a dedicated and long process of buying, signing, sending, and then waiting even more to receive?”

But that long process is exactly why millennials would cherish holiday cards.

Millennials might be used to the world of texting and emails, but these things are very impersonal and don’t require much effort. It takes extreme effort and shows a lot of care to go out of your way to buy someone a card, make it out to them with a special, personalized message, and then going through all the effort of sending it early enough for them to receive it on a timely basis. This isn’t something most of their peers will be doing, so if you send a millennial a holiday card, you can be sure they will appreciate it twice as much as everyone else, just because of how rare it is.

In case you would like some ideas, here are some Gallery Collection cards that might really appeal to the beloved millennial in your life:

1. Show off your own technological skills with one of our digitally printed cards which allow you to even customize the front of your cards – Ribbon Tree Christmas Card

2. Make them laugh with this sweet and silly holiday card, featuring special tips for Santa Claus – Tips for Santa Christmas Card

3. Millennials will definitely be able to relate with this funny card explaining exactly what happiness during the holidays really is – Holiday Happiness Card

4. This card is a bright and vibrant card that is sure to appeal to the millennials who prefer a more contemporary card – Bright City Lights Christmas Card

5. This is another humorous card that millennials will certainly be overjoyed to receive – Dear Santa Christmas Card

Holiday E-cards: Not So Thoughtful or Nice After All!

Ecards might be a quick and easy way for you to get your message sent to loved ones during the holidays, but are they really as thoughtful as you think?

I’ve sent ecards that I thought were beautiful to some friends last year for the holidays. Let’s face it: it’s quick, easy, and usually free. Unfortunately, these days everyone’s mailbox is swamped with spam and junk mail, and many ecards are flagged depending on the receiver’s e-mail provider and privacy controls.

I’ve received many e-mails that look like this:

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I have to download the images and even then, sometimes the greetings do not show. Just overall impersonal and there is little personal touch.

Here is another example – this one is even worse:

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Aside from the subject line, nothing in the e-mail loads and so although I might think the ecard looks nice when I send it, the receiver sees something completely different.

Overall, ecards do not add the level of personal touch and care that a real physical card does. The verdict on holiday ecards: not so thoughtful or nice after all!