I'm a bit old-fashioned when it comes to nice stationery and thank-you cards, which is why I'm delighted that the lovely folks at Hello!Lucky are giving away 50 digitally printed personalised note cards to one lucky Wee Birdy reader. The winner can select a design from their current stationery range and personalise it with their name or initials (I love the birdy design, natch).
All you need to do is leave a comment below (don't forget to enter in your email address!) telling me about the best Christmas card you've ever received. The Hello!Lucky crew will select the best/most creative answer. Entries close next Wednesday 25 November at 6pm (London time), and the winner will be announced on Monday 30 November.
Hi! Lovely papers. I remember when I was in middle school receiving a Christmas Card from a pen pal in Germany. Her little sister had recycled it from an old Christmas Card cutting out the picture and glueing it onto a new card with a little ribbon and ric rac glued around the edge. She had such nice handwriting and it was receiving a piece of the past from far away. I really liked how proud she was of her little sister's handcraft as well :)
Posted by: Rhelynn | November 19, 2009 at 09:22 AM
Last year my boyfriend made my Christmas card into the shape of a large green christmas tree. In front of it every morning he would leave a sticker and a chocolate coin - so it doubled up as my advent calendar. and by Christmas eve I had a gorgeous Tree which we had decorated together with the stickers. It was brilliant!
Posted by: Kathryn | November 19, 2009 at 09:30 AM
I can remember a few year ago buying a beautiful Chritsmas card which said ' friends are for life,not just for Christmas'. It was from M&S if I recall, I loved it so much I bought all of them in my local store and keep giving them to my friends each year, the good friends have spotted this and think its very special. Once they've noticed, I dont send them the same card again. Some of them still havent noticed 3 years later.... It almost kills me to send the cards though as the illustration is so lovely!
Posted by: Louise May | November 19, 2009 at 09:35 AM
I received my best christmas card 2 years ago. It was all hand drawn and coloured in with colouring pencils. There was a picture of a penguin looking like father christmas on the front and a beautiful message inside.
What made it even more special was that it came from France and from a lovely man who I was missing.
This year I get to spend Christmas with him!
Posted by: Clare | November 19, 2009 at 09:59 AM
hmmm, the best christmas card i've received? probably the ones my mom sends me each year. she goes out of her way to find extra pretty handmade cards. really simple and nice to the touch!
Posted by: abby | November 19, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Fabulous prize! My best Christmas card was from my boyfriend and had a picture of a girl laden with shopping on the front and said "Well that's all my Christmas shopping done" when you opened it up inside it said "Now I just have to get presents for everyone else!"
This pretty much sums up the pitfalls of Christmas shopping for me...
Posted by: Gourmet Chick | November 19, 2009 at 11:11 AM
The best Christmas card I ever received was from my artist friend. She had gathered loads of glitter, paper snowflakes etc and sealed them all in a heat laminator to make a little pouch to hang on a tree...it had a message in there too...
Posted by: Louise Naomi Best | November 19, 2009 at 11:17 AM
ooh how lovely. well it's hard. the best Christmas card I ever received is probably one that was all white and just said peace on the front.
Posted by: Rose | November 19, 2009 at 11:39 AM
My very best Christmas card was in fact two. Following a debilitating illness that left me infertile we adopted two children in 2003, and this was our very first family Christmas. Nothing prepared me for the depth of emotion I felt as they handed me the cards they had made at Nursery and Primary School and read their 'squibly' words. I have them framed on my bedroom wall. Thinking of that moment still brings a tear to my eye.
Posted by: Cara | November 19, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Christmas cards are either a real hit with me or a big no no. I'm quiet a traditional girl, so am not really a fan of robins, or snowmen on cards. A few years ago I was sent a card where its image was an enlarged phorograph of the madonna and child mosaic from Wetminster Catherdral. truely beautiful.
However I think the best, and most tounge in cheek card was from my Mum. The card was simply a map of Christmas Island. I'm a geographer and the thought that she had spent time tracking the card down just for me was wonderful. So many people just didn't get it either which really made me smile. It was little secret between my mum and I.
Posted by: philippa | November 19, 2009 at 12:30 PM
The best card I have ever recieved was from Cie the other year, to my boyfriend and I. It was amazing - a tiny little shape that opened out into a paper snowglobe, complete with little scene inside. We still have it now as we couldn't bear to get rid of it!
Posted by: Lauren Cooke | November 19, 2009 at 01:21 PM
ok so it's not a xmas card, but it may as well have been, for my birthday my ten year old sister got me a card, I thougt oo lovely, I opened it, its a picture of a girl face down in the grass, knickers on show with an empty bottle of vodka lying next to her, the caption 'after a few drinks she was able to keep her usual air of elegance and poise about her'... so this is what my ten yr old sister thinks of me.
Posted by: style muse/charli | November 19, 2009 at 03:28 PM
The best xmas card was the one I got as a child from santa claus. Stamped and send from Greenland and everything.
I had send him my list og wishes, and he actually answered
(well, it was a mailing service that excisted back then - you would post a letter to Santa claus, Greenland, and then you would actually get a letter from santa claus, sent from greenland)
Posted by: Mette | November 19, 2009 at 03:55 PM
The best card I ever got was from my boyfriend at the time. We travelled up from London to the Shetland Isles in the far north. When we arrived at his parents', he gave me a perfectly nice 'to my girlfriend' card. That isn't the one. A few days later, he proposed to me on Christmas Eve, and the next day he gave me a huge big soppy padded 'to my fiance' card, which he had managed to sneak up North along with the engagement ring, through shared packing, airport security and shared unpacking! That's dedication! 2009 is 20 years since we met.
Posted by: Kel_eh | November 19, 2009 at 06:05 PM
My favourite card was from a friend of the family who was a partner in a law firm. All the partners dressed and that year the theme was farming. I couldn't find our friend anywhere in the card, until my dad pointed out that he was in fact the sheep that the other partners were pretending to shear. I laughed so hard I cried and saved the card for years because it made me laugh every time I looked at it.
Posted by: Zoe | November 19, 2009 at 08:30 PM
My favourite Christmas card was the last one I received from my father (he died a few years ago from cancer). I can't truthfully remember what was on the front of the card - just that I always, always knew he would decorate the inside with lots of drawings and little cartoons of a worm character he'd been drawing in my cards since I was a little girl. The worm had his head just sticking out of the ground, with a little hat on, and a speech bubble which said "I love you, Suzy!" Sometimes they would say "Hello gorgeous!" sometimes it would be a joke.
I so miss knowing that I will never open another Christmas card and seeing that worm cartoon and the silly speech bubbles. I never kept them and I so wish I had! They made me smile. It makes me smile just to think of them. :)
Posted by: Suzy Nightingale | November 20, 2009 at 12:10 AM
Great giveaway - thank you x
My favourite Christmas cards have all been from my boyfriend. He spends hours in the run up to Christmas shut away in the evenings creating a card for me. I have had some amazing cards all made with recycled gadgets such as twinkling lights.
Last year's 'card' topped them all. He had recycled a small fan and made a snow dome with a working snow blower! He put cut-out photos of both of us in a little Christmas scene inside - it was amazing!
I can't wait to see what he comes up with this year x
Posted by: Claire Hurd | November 20, 2009 at 12:19 AM
OMG - they look so devine - they look delicious!
Posted by: Rie | November 20, 2009 at 04:27 AM
Best Christmas cards are the ones with pics of friends and family inside. This is not to be confused with the "family letter" christmas cards. Those are so monotonous. Thanks for including me. cowgirlinwellies@hotmail.co.uk
Posted by: Sandi | November 20, 2009 at 07:33 AM
My best card was suprisingly a corporate card. I collect snowglobes (sad I know) and this flatpack card was made out of strips of acetate that opened up to be a lovely sparkly snowglobe - which I swiftly added to my collection!
Posted by: fabhat | November 20, 2009 at 12:56 PM
My favourite Christmas Card was from my mother to my sister & I about 10 years ago. She put a gorgeous black & white photo of my Grandparents getting married (at Christmas) on the front of the card. It was a gift in itself - and it was even more special because both my Grandparents died before I was born. It really is a card to treasure forever.
Posted by: Georgina | November 20, 2009 at 02:46 PM
Must. Win. This!
My favourite Christmas card came a couple of years ago from my husband. It was the same one that I'd got him! Now that's what I call being in sync... x
Posted by: Alex | November 20, 2009 at 04:52 PM
The best Christmas card I ever received was when I was 17 from a boy named Dominic that I was totally in love with. There was nothing special about the card and no hint that he fancied me as I fancied him but the words inside still make me swoon. All it said was "Love Dominic". That's all. But it made my Christmas that year and I still think about it 16 years later. But don't tell my husband!
Posted by: Alison MacPherson | November 20, 2009 at 06:04 PM
My favourites are always family ones with some photo of them slide inside.
I usually make my own ones but these are just great!!! Lovely
Posted by: Catalina | November 20, 2009 at 06:39 PM
Hi,
The best christmas card I ever received was the one I received last year from my first class as a teacher. Each child had drawn a christmas drawing (bizarrely, one child draw a giraffe with what looked like tinsel round it's neck as we had read giraffes can't dance the week before!) Each child had signed their name and I had many different versions of 'mery crismast' as children signed the card. My school is in a trendy area of London and last year I received some lovely presents, however, my handmade Krismss card is something I will treasure for ever....x
Posted by: Fee | November 20, 2009 at 08:52 PM
Well the most memorable was when I was 14...from my boyfriend. Photo on the front was some hunk in a Father Christmas hat, naked and lying in a load of hay with a bit 'strategically' positioned to cover his shame (snigger).
"Fancy a lay in a manger?" it said inside.
Of course my parents were thrilled....
xx
Posted by: spudballoo | November 20, 2009 at 09:21 PM
Hi there,
Every year I always look forward to receiving a card from the Honduras. Through World Vision I have sponsored a little girl called Maryori and her little card makes my Christmas every year as it comes with a new picture of her and her family. I can tell she hates having her picture taken and her expression every time make me laugh! I like that she takes the time to write to me (with some help) at Christmas.
Posted by: Jane | November 21, 2009 at 11:24 AM
For birthdays and Christmas my dear Mamma makes me cards. They are always elaborate, interesting and contain pieces of our life together as well as hand drawn pictures, little stories and extra little bits that flap open...hidden notes, sweet quotes and just a lot of love. It doesn't matter what a card looks like or how it is made, but rather who gave it to you and more importantly that it comes from the heart.
Posted by: Nadia | November 21, 2009 at 08:28 PM
The hello lucky stationery is beautiful.
Every year my Grandparents give me and my sisters money for Christmas and every year it comes in a 'card' of some sort. This started out as an actual card but has progressed over the years to all sorts of unusual but beautiful items holding the money including a teeny tiny papier nmache boat with a rolled up cheque as it's mast. One year they were little knitted angels with the cheques as their scrolls. I have collected them all as they are so lovely (and also in the knowledge that they will not keep arriving forever).
Posted by: Rachel | November 22, 2009 at 02:00 PM
I'm a sucker for kids home made christmas cards with glitter on that falls off a lot!
LOL ref lost in translation - btw I was using artistic licence for comedic value, I wasn't in the least worried, they have deflated a bit but need attention and less food and drink.
Hope you are ok now xx
Posted by: Make Do Style | November 22, 2009 at 02:01 PM
My best christmas card was the first one I ever received from Father Christmas when I was little, I was such a believer!
Posted by: Lindsay | November 22, 2009 at 06:30 PM
Cute stationary!
Best christmas card?
When I was about 7 my friend Nick gave me a cute semi-circle card. It was of a girl and a boy bear on a see-saw rocking horse thing.
Not only was it the cutest little card ever because it had heaps of little holly berries on it (my name is Holly), it was the first ever card I got from a boy and I have still kept it. :)
Also my sister and I used to make home-made cards out of other cards and our own drawings. The cards she gave me are so cute and it's cool to see her progression in drawing skills. :)
Posted by: Holly | November 22, 2009 at 11:37 PM
The best Christmas card are from my kids they will use all my carfty materials in secret and I have to pretend I didn´t notice.
Posted by: Vicky Hernandez | November 23, 2009 at 12:53 AM
My all time favorite was a handmade combo holiday card/birth announcement. It was tri-folded and the pages played out like this:
front: one pair of little feet with "Tic" underneath.
inside flap: a photo of 2 pair of feet saying "Tac"
next: three sets of small feet lined up with "Toe!" under it.
inside: something clever about being thrilled to have added two more feet to the family, along with holiday greetings.
Across the bottom or the whole thing was a stripe of decorative ruler tape. And the older two kids played a game of tic-tac-toe on each envelope!
Posted by: Alpha Mama | November 23, 2009 at 04:03 AM
What a lovely giveaway!
The best chrsitmas card I ever recieved was when me and my fiance were first together we couldn't spend Christmas together. He left me a card, which led to another and another - so I had messages all day. They were all handmade - even though he is staunchly non-creative. It was so lovely :-) my email is me@eviekemp.com
Posted by: evie | November 23, 2009 at 05:54 AM
What with the lack of proper, snow-angel-making, igloo-making, sledging, snow-ball fighting, sticking-down-the-back-of-your-friend's-shirt, hot-chocolate-craving, snowman-making, slipping-onto-your-bum fluffy white, white, white snow at Christmas here in England, my friend cheered me up no end by filling a Christmas card to the brim with little bits of ripped up white paper. Instant snow all over my school desk! It made me smile! xx
Posted by: fester500 | November 23, 2009 at 11:56 AM
My very best Christmas cards are handmade by my two little boys. They spend sooo much time & effort making them, its delightful.
Posted by: Debbie | November 23, 2009 at 01:09 PM
I really hope the art of letter writing is never lost, but so often these days beautiful cards contain nothing much more than a name. I try to write to the older relations and friends of my family as much as possible, and when I get their responses, although I am delighted by pretty designs, it is the words inside that I treasure the most.
Posted by: Sarah Phillips | November 23, 2009 at 04:04 PM
I'd had a bad year and, not a fan of Christmas, my friend had illustrated needle, thread and stitching which read "When you're falling apart, I'll be your needle and thread." Cute, thoughtful and a far cry from all the over the top Christmas cards you normally get. :)
Posted by: Daniel Regan | November 23, 2009 at 05:31 PM
my favorite christmas card? there must be too many to count! of course, the best would not be a card at all but a heartfelt hug from my mother on christmas morning. [:
circleoffriends@cox.net
Posted by: Francesca | November 24, 2009 at 01:04 AM
I really love the stationary from Hello Lucky.My favorite is the 'warm things' xmas card.
Last year my sister send me a homemade card made from seed paper with a plant marker in the shape of a robin. The whole card could be planted - In april we had lots of lettuce and the kittle robin sits amid the salad!
Posted by: Abie | November 24, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Without a doubt it was the message in a bottle from a friend (way better than Sting's musical approximation)... literally a message on hand-torn paper covered in Christmas stamps sent in an old wine bottle. Pre 9/11 of course, because there's no way the post men would be able to handle such an anomalous shape now.
A true pirate of the postal seas! xx
Posted by: Jessica Teas | November 27, 2009 at 08:30 PM
I really love the stationary from Hello Lucky.My favorite is the 'warm things' xmas card
Posted by: Personalised gift editor | October 24, 2010 at 07:21 AM