Birthday cards - what a rip-off

moggins

What you can do with the Gift voucher cards, if you can find the ones that don't have the slots in them to fit a voucher in, is just to use the card and set the voucher aside as a sort of small savings pot for christmas.

If you have 15 birthdays over the course of the year where you just want to send a card then you will have £15 saved and not a single card that you had to pay for.

tiff

I used to spend a fortune on cards, but now I buy them from the newsagents near us that sell them for 59p each. They arent flowery cutesy ones either. I worked out that usually I spend about £20 ish on family Christmas cards, but this year I spent about £5.90

filigree_2

I just had a quick look at Ebay and you can buy cards there in bulk, works out really cheap per card but it depends if you're willing to spend £35 to get 350 cards of dubious quality!

It might be worth a try for cheap Xmas cards - my son has 40 kids in his class and I get the cheapest cards possible for that 'orrible lot

I have bought cheap cards in the past at country fairs etc, anywhere where small charities sell cards to raise funds. I got some lovely ones from a Cat Rescue group, with cute cat cartoons that could be used for just about any occasion. You don't get slushy poems inside, and they're not wrapped in cellophane, but who cares?

The Lottery used to do gift cards, you paid £1 and that paid for one Lottery line. Not a bad price for a card, and the recipient has the chance of winning a prize. I haven't seen them for ages, think they don't do them any more.

Anne_Marie_2

The Book People used to do packs of general purpose cards for about £3, which were quite good value. Can't find them on their website, but they usually have them in their catalogue https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk

culpepper

I do mine with the PC or paint them on good quality paper.
I did one of a rabbit family for our friends wedding and they liked it so much they framed it ( )
My neighbour buys a pack of assorted cards on wilkinsons which she says is very good value.

Alison_B

I used to shop at Card Warehouse but they put their prices up significantly when they moved into newer shops - not sure if this is national or just what happened locally.

I now use a shop called Card Factory. Their most expensive handmade cards are only 99p. The cards aren't "market" type cards but really good quality with really nice versus.

Alison

Austin_Allegro

Market stalls are worth a try. A lot of their stuff is tacky, but they do sometimes have 'arty' cards (impressionist paintings etc) for about 50p each.

If you have access to a computer you can make reasonably decent cards yourself. Just search the net for pics, film stills, celebs etc that you know the recipient will like, and add your own personalised text. You don't even need special paper, just normal A4 folded to A6 is fine.

chrisico

Have you looked in the charity shops? I know our cancer research shop does nice cards for 99p and wrapping paper as well. At least then the money is going to work in two ways!

Poppy9

For a few years now I do not send cards to work colleagues. Instead we have a collection for a charity. Our school has been promoting this too. More enviromentally friendly and better use is made of our money.

fazer6

I used to pick up a load in the sale for 10p or 25p at Paperchase.