History of Greeting and Holiday Cards Sending cards to friends, lovers and family is a tradition that goes back more than 200 years.  While the first greeting card actually dates back to the early 1400's greeting cards became popular in the mid 1800’s when the cost of color printing dropped and cards could be delivered for just a penny.  Greeting cards began to sell in the thousands, creating a new industry for artists and printers.  By the mid 1800’s, with the invention of postage stamps,  people all over the world began sending greeting cards to their loved ones.  Sir Henry Cole is credited with coming up with the idea for the first mass produced greeting card, which turned out to be a Christmas card he had created by his good friend, John Calcott Horsely. That year, Cole was late sending his usual holiday greetings letters to all his friends and relatives for Christmas. He contacted Horsely to ask if he was able to hand colour and engrave a thousand cards for him with a seasonal message which could then be sent to everyone. Horsely accommodated him, and thus began the tradition of sending holiday greeting cards. And so the first modern Christmas card was born. It depicted a young boy with a red scarf and the greeting 'Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year'. Sir Henry was delighted with the result. He even sold the left over cards in Old Bond Street for a shilling each! With the help of the penny post, which had been introduced in England a few years earlier, the practice couldn't help but catch on and grow. By the 1900’s, the Post Office was handling an extra 11.5 million letters in Christmas week alone.  In 1906, an individual named Jacob Sapirstein started his own greeting card business.  With a $50 loan acquired at his local bank, he began selling “Penny Post Cards” at local drug stores and quickly became a success.   As the concept grew for remembering Christmas by sending greeting cards, people found many occasions to send them, including other holidays, special occasions like Valentines Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.   People began to remember Birthdays and Anniversaries or just sending a card to say thank you or hello.  The greeting card became a fixture in American culture, continues to grow and evolve, and by the late 1980’s, was growing by 10% per year.  Small publishing houses and specialty card shops began establishing themselves, selling gift wrap and associated gifts on nearly every street and in every shopping mall.    You don’t have to go to a store to buy your greeting cards.  Computers and home printers have made it easy to create and print out your own cards at home, out of many different materials and embellishments of ribbons, beads, rubber stamping and hand painting with ink. Today, the greeting card business grosses over $7.5 Billion dollars per year, with literally millions of cards sent annually. All of that adds to the wonderful feelings we hold for our friends, family members and business associates, as we reach out to let them know how we feel about them!  The quality of Greeting Cards has improved with the introduction, variety and vibrancy of color.  Cards today are also being processed environmental friendly, some using recycled paper.  E-Cards were born when the internet arrived, but is limited to senders and recipients who have internet connections.  E-Mail greetings seemed to lack some of the pizzazz of a standard greeting card as they can not as easily be displayed on your mantel, desk or other favorite location.  The latest and greatest effort in sending Greeting Cards utilizes the latest technologies of the Internet and the World Wide Web.  Today, from any computer having access to the internet, you can choose from over 13,000 different cards, write a personal note in your own hand writing and then hit the “Send” button.   This Greeting Card system will print your card on quality glossy paper, stuff your card in an envelope, place a real stamp on the envelope (no metering or postal labels) and deliver your personally created card to the Post Office.   Most location in the United States will receive that card within one to four working days.  You can create cards that include your digital camera pictures as the front or inside of your card.  You can personalize your cards by sending along a Gift Card, a box of brownies, cookies or other food items.  All this can be done from your computer, in a matter of minutes, making this process easy, fast, and cheaper than going to the store, shopping for greeting cards and gifts, hand addressing and wrapping, then back to the post office to get your package in the mail.  This system will definitely save you time, gas and money, and becomes the best personal assistant you could have.   If you would like some help in remembering a special occasion like:  Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Valentines Day, just double click on the link to see a demonstration of a greeting card system, that will allow you to send your first card FREE.  This tool will save you time and money, is convenient to use, and most importantly lets the special people in your life, (your family, friends and business clientele) know that you care!