Shots of the season: Tips on ordering holiday cards

By Paul Reynolds

A little behind on sending out your holiday cards, and planning to create cards that feature your own digital image? You’re not out of time yet. Even with regular service, in-store or online photofinishers can still fill your order.

You can now get photos emblazoned onto just about anything that will carry an image, from the usual mugs and T-shirts to such novelties as ties, postage stamps and even cookies (images are sprayed on in icing). These tips focus on making cards. Here our advice on turning that cute shot of Santa and the kids into a card, and pronto:

Go online for the most consistent quality. As our advice on choosing a photofinisher makes clear, the best online photofinishers we tested -- Kodak Easy Share Gallery, Shutterfly, Target Photo Center, Webshots, and Yahoo Photos -- yielded excellent results more consistently than the best in-store services. Online service is slower, naturally, but there are ways (albeit at higher cost) to speed things up.

Expect to pay a premium for speed. As with virtually all holiday shipping, speed will cost you. In-store processing generally costs more than going online, and the faster online options come with higher shipping costs. We placed a selection of card orders with online photofinishers in late November, opting for standard shipping (which typically costs 10 or 20 cents a card on orders of about 50 cards). With one exception (detailed below) orders arrived anywhere between three and five working days, which was within the promised delivery window. Most sites have express shipping that promises to cut at least a day from that time, typically for $5 or so more than standard shipping. Overnight shipping typically promises to shave two or three days off, but can cost double or more the express fee. 

Note that the stated shipping time usually doesn’t include the day or more that’s needed to actually make the cards; check the fine print for that time and add it on before deciding on your shipping speed. 

For in-store processing, consider uploading from home. In-store processors should be able to fill your order the day they get it (unless perhaps you’re ordering hundreds of cards). You can save time by ordering online in advance of heading to the store. 

Most in-store processors that also have online services offer this service, including Wal-Mart (our recommended Quick Pick for in-store processing), Target and the members-only warehouse clubs, Sam’s Club and Costco, which both offered comparable quality to Wal-Mart’s in-store service at even lower prices (not counting the cost of membership.) Some Web-based services also offer local pickup services, via retailers who use their equipment in-store. Examples include Kodak Easy Share Gallery, which will send your shots to chain drug stores such as CVS/pharmacy and Wegman’s. While picking up at retail can save on time and shipping fees, quality may be lower, as we note above.

 

Weigh card complexity vs. time and price. The simplest, cheapest, and most ubiquitous card designs are one-siders, typically 4 by 8 inches in size, with your photo (or, with some designs, a photo collage) set within a seasonal border that bears your personalized greeting. Including envelopes but not shipping, expect to pay 15 cents to $1 apiece, depending on the Web site and the quantity. Such “photocards” took the least time in our spot tests – three days or so from placing the order.

Traditional folding cards – typically 5 by 7 inches, with your greeting on the inside – cost $1.50 to $2, and took five days or so. Slowest (as the sites generally warn you) are the most complex cards, including multi-image “accordion” styles that typically cost upward of $2. The slowest order in our sample was a set of Martha Stewart cards, which serve as their own envelope, using an elegant, origami-like, design. They cost about $2.50 each and took more than a week.

Don’t under-order. Because of the hassle of reordering, err on the high side when deciding on quantity. The extra cards might not even cost you much more overall, since the more cards you order, the less each costs, as a rule.

Get your cards early next year. Many sites had sales (typically 20 per cent off) if you ordered cards by before the end of November. Mark your calendar now, and add holiday cards to next year's Black Friday shopping list.