The story behind the Christmas cards

Did you know that the first recorded use of 'Merry Christmas' was in a Christmas letter sent in 1534?

People have been sending Christmas greetings to each other for hundreds of years. The first known item that looked a bit like a Christmas card was given to King James I of England in 1611. This was more like a large ornamental manuscript rather than a card as we think of them today.

The custom of sending Christmas cards,  started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a senior civil servant who had helped set-up the new 'Public Record Office' (now called the Post Office), where he was an Assistant Keeper, and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.

Sir Henry had the idea of Christmas Cards with his friend John Horsley, who was an artist. They designed the first card and sold them for 1 shilling each. 

The first postal service that ordinary people could use was started in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. Before that, only very rich people could afford to send anything in the post. The new Post Office was able to offer a Penny stamp because new railways were being built. Cards became even more popular in the UK when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny - half the price of an ordinary letter.

As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers from about 1860. In 1870 the cost of sending a post card, and also Christmas cards, dropped to half a penny. This meant even more people were able to send cards!

By the early 1900s, the custom had spread over Europe and had become especially popular in Germany.

The first cards usually had pictures of the Nativity scene on them. In late Victorian times, robins and snow-scenes became popular. 

Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s. it was until 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today!

In the 1910s and 1920s, homemade cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and had things such as foil and ribbon on them. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.

Nowadays, cards have all sorts of pictures on them: jokes, winter pictures, Santa or romantic scenes of life in past times. 

Are you sending a card to your loved ones this year?

Hopefully you are!