Hey my friends!

Do you still buy those boxes of Christmas cards and send them to friends and colleagues? I don’t know the last time I actually did that. I usually just send a cute text to my friends. The only cards I buy are for my immediate family members.

Do you know the history behind the Christmas cards?

A printer by the name of Louis Prang created the first official Christmas card in the United States in 1875. Prior to this, in the 1840s, the US had what they called Christmas cards created by Cole and Horsley. These cards were created as an easy way to respond to the many Christmas letters he would receive. In those times, it was disrespectful to not respond to letters. So Cole found this to be an easy way to respond to everyone. These cards were extremely expensive. Of course because these cards were expensive, only the very rich could send cards.

Years later, Louis Prang decided to create and print Christmas cards that would be affordable to the masses. These cards did not have any images of Christmas. They depicted flowers or animals with the simple saying of “Merry Christmas”. People loved the simplicity, yet vibrancy of these cards.

And as they say…the rest is history.

To read more about the history of Christmas cards, click on the link below

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-christmas-card-180957487/