The Top 5 Ways To Make Luxury Christmas Cards

The sending of custom, photo Christmas cards is tradition and personal expression wrapped into one. Adding fancy, premium accents to your cards—from brilliant, metallic foils and glitter to luxurious cardstock and envelope options—is a sure-fire way to make something truly exceptional (and, as well, surprisingly affordable). In our list of the top five ideas for making gorgeous, luxury Christmas cards, we’ll explain differences in appearance, feel, and production process relative to each high-end holiday card option, and we’ll help you decide which premium touches are right for you in your quest to make—hands down—the best Christmas card of 2023.

1. Set Your Family Name in Gold Foil

Of all the ways to add charm and elegance to your Christmas cards, putting your family name in gold, rose gold, or iridescent foil has to be at the top. Our personalized foil Christmas cards do exactly that and while setting other card elements—from greetings to accents to borders and more—in the same luminous foil. The light-catching, metallic tones in these cards is the result of metallic ink digitally printed directly on the cardstock, creating an embossed effect that further sets these details apart. These are luxury Christmas cards through and through—all offered from Shutterfly at affordable prices, making this our most popular premium option every holiday season. The distinction of setting one’s family name or the given names of you and your spouse and kids in luxurious, shimmering gold foil is what sets these cards apart from our foil-stamped Christmas cards (which, as you’ll see below, have their own winning appeal)—creating a visual contrast and interplay between the subjects of your photo Christmas cards (you and your family, for instance) and your names, alit in shiny, metallic foil.

rose gold foil cards with lambers last name and red happy holidays card

Long before Christmastime, our team of independent designers does an amazing job at choosing which holiday card details to set in foil and how to use font choice and other stylistic aspects to augment card design and photo placement. You’ll see some foil Christmas card designs that, because of color tones used or other issues of composition, look spectacular with gold foil and while others, for the same reason, look better with, say, red or iridescent foil. Of course, everyone’s eye is different and that’s a large part of what makes each personalized Christmas card unique. Toggle the foil color options on your card of choice—especially after adding your family photo (or photos) to the template—and you’ll see interesting differences in how each particular foil color interacts with both the card design and your photos. Through a process of comparison (and maybe even healthy debate), you’ll arrive on a favorite bound for your circle of loved ones.

2. Make Elegant, Foil-Stamped Christmas Cards

While foil-stamped Christmas cards are in many ways similar in appearance to our personalized foil cards, they’re produced using an entirely different method. The metallic color in these cards—whether gold, rose gold, silver, or red—is not the result of an ink printed to paper, but, rather, a process wherein real foil is physically pressed onto the card surface. This is made possible by virtue of heated dies and a device that, upon applying pressure, adheres foil to card, and it’s because of this extreme pressure that a visible stamp is created in the cardstock where the foil has been pressed. The result is not only the addition of gorgeous, luminous gold foil (or other colored foil) accents to the card, but also a striking visible depth. This foil stamping leaves an impression available to both the eye and touch—taken together, one’s reminded of hand-made cards and traditional letterpress techniques, lending our foil-stamped Christmas cards a classic, vintage look and feel at once nostalgic and decidedly high-end.

foil stamped chrismtas cards with joyful gold foil

Of course, the greetings in our foil-stamped Christmas and holiday cards get this special treatment, with the letters that form these greetings—whether Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyful, or one of our other variations—comprised of gold, rose gold, red, or silver foil impressions into the paper. It’s something that needs to be seen (and felt) to be properly appreciated. Additionally, many of our foil-pressed Christmas cards feature radiant foil design accents of foliage, trees, stars, snowflakes, and other festive, seasonal details. Photo greeting cards that feature these illustrative details in foil are visually mesmerizing and understandably customer favorites guaranteed to draw the attention of your friends and family members, even as dozens of other holiday cards stream through their mailboxes. To put it plainly: foil-stamping will set your Christmas photo cards apart.

3. Design Fancy Glitter Christmas Cards

Yet another option in the premium or luxury realm is our glitter Christmas cards, which, by their very nature offer a classy and distinctly celebratory touch. And, yes, they really do sparkle. That special twinkling effect that glitter provides is on full display here, lighting up card details including your family name, your holiday greeting, borders, and more. Critical to these cards—and something particular to Shutterfly—is that our glitter will not rub off. This is the result of both optimal cardstock choice and an ideal adhesive. Everyone wants their glittery Christmas cards to be mess-free and that’s exactly what these are. The glitter on our holiday cards comes in two colors: silver and antique gold. Those looking for that something extra for their holiday cards should look no further—glitter Christmas cards deliver all that and more. With a vibe that’s as much modern as it is Roaring Twenties and an aesthetic like no other, this is a card choice that will have everyone on your list fluttering with excitement for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the start of the New Year (2023, for those who are keeping count).

glitter happy holidays card with 4 photos of family members on a green card

 

4. Add Luxe, Double-Thick Cardstock

One often overlooked way to make fancy, DIY Christmas cards is by upgrading cardstock. While all of our paper options are tremendous, our Luxe Double-Thick Cardstock is in a class by itself. Twice the weight and thickness of our Signature Smooth Cardstock, holiday cards of this ilk announce themselves with unmistakable high-end significance: truly deluxe, keepsake-quality Christmas cards. The effects are not simply to be felt with these cards, either. They also provide an ultra-smooth texture that results in the sharpest photo and printed design quality around. We’re thrilled, as well, to announce that our Luxe Double-Thick Cardstock is not only made in America, but also with renewable wind power and responsibly forested materials. The upshot is a luxury Christmas card with an unrivaled look, feel, and pedigree—its eco-friendly, sustainable profile being an essential part of its appeal. To print your cards on our double-thick cardstock, simply select the option from the available Paper varieties at any point in the card personalization process.

5. Send Premium Envelopes

Of course, the first glimpse of your custom Christmas card, Hanukkah card, or New Year’s card will come from its envelope. Adding luxury accents to your envelopes—including custom color, festive illustrations, and classy foil liners—will go a long way toward creating a high-end, elegant impression. Once you’ve personalized your Christmas photo card, make sure to explore the array of colorful, expressive illustrations and greetings to spruce up your envelopes—signaling, these holiday-themed accents, that inside is no ordinary card. That said, nothing will impress your friends and family like holiday card envelopes pre-lined with real foil. Our pre-lined envelopes come in gold, rose gold, and silver foil, adding a dash of unparalleled luxury to your greeting cards and providing a gorgeous, coordinated match for those who’ve created Christmas cards with personalized foil, foil-stamping, or glitter.

collection of three christmas and holiday cards with personalized foil envelope liners and decorative beads