Holiday Photo Cards: Who Has the Best Deals?
POSTED BY Amy at 7:00 AM
We love to give photo cards for the holidays because the card itself feels like giving a gift. We have family all over and loved ones who don't see our children regularly so photo cards just made sense for us.
Photo cards can be expensive though and when you are doing mass quantities of something, you need to really make sure you are getting the best deal possible.
Shopping around and utilizing coupon codes are your best bet when it comes to purchasing your cards online. Here is some general information on pricing for this year's photo cards. To keep it simple, I am sticking to a basic 4x8 card with a single photo. There are many different variations on the cards now that can add to the cost of your cards so be sure to check the pricing when shopping around and remember all of those extra frills often end up in someone's trash or recycle bin. Splurge on the things that really count!
Winkflash-I was surprised to see the current pricing for Winkflash on their cards, but in a totally good way. They offer a one day turnaround and a money-back guarantee on their cards. Best of all, this online store requires no minimum order and a flat $.23 per card for their current sale. No sneaky pricing deals and you gotta love that! It does say to take advantage of the $.23 rate you need to use the coupon code GREATCARD8 and the offer ends November 16th! That is 40% off their normal pricing listed, but even with the normal prices it is still a great deal!
I bet you can guess where I will be ordering from this year!
Pricing on 50- $11.50 (sale price)
Pricing on 100- $23.00 (sale price)
Sam's Club- Of all the brick and mortar places I have explored, Sam's Club wins on price overall. I have ordered through them for a couple of years now and I have yet to be disappointed by the quality of the cards. One downfall with shopping through them is that they are going to be more limited on the backgrounds, but if you take a really great picture of your kids, that is all that really matters in the end.
Pricing on 50- $14.50Pricing on 100- $25.00Walmart-If you don't have access to a Sam's Club, Walmart also offers photo cards for a great price. They also have more backgrounds available. The nice thing about Walmart is that you don't have to make a large quantity commitment, as many websites do require you to buy a minimum of 25. If you just wanted to do photo cards for close family members, you could order your cards individually. They also offer more templates to pick from so you do have more of a variety than you would through Sam's Club.
Pricing on 50- $16.50Pricing on 100- $33.00Shutterfly-One advantage of shopping through an online resource is that you can cash in on great coupon codes that aren't often available with the brick and mortar stores. Shutterfly also takes you through a fun three question "card style finder" process where you can pick pictures that have represented the holidays to you and helps you chose a template that fits you best. The templates are amazing,but the prices are going to range widely because they have so many options. The pricing we have pulled is for one of their more basic templates.
Pricing on 50- $26.00Pricing on 100- $44.00Walgreens-Walgreens offers their card quantities in twenty to a box for your ordering needs. They offer a wide range on selection and are rewarding their early bird customers (ordering before November 15th) using coupon code WRAP33 with a 33% discount on your photo order.
Pricing on 40- $19.98Pricing on 60- $29.97Pricing on 100- $49.95Snapfish-Snapfish is one of the more affordable online retailers for photo cards and offer a wide selection of holiday backgrounds. Pricing is said to be around $.29, but that is only if a quantity of 240 cards is ordered. I used the basic paper, standard 4x8, with no frills for this pricing scenario. Pricing will vary based on the extras.
Pricing on 40- $22.00Pricing on 60- $33.00Pricing on 100- $45.00CVS Photo Center-CVS offers a larger selection with 94 holiday backgrounds to choose from. These cards come in boxes of twenty and can be ordered online and can be picked up at your local CVS location. The pricing, however, is not as good as the superstores, but they do tend to offer coupon codes that can be redeemed towards your order.
Pricing on 40- $26.99Pricing on 60- $35.99Pricing on 100- $53.99Photoworks-Photoworks is a little sneakier with the pricing system. When you click on a card that says it is $.36, that number is really only acheived by ordering nine or more boxes of 25 cards. I may be in the minority, but I doubt I would need that many cards for one holiday mailing. I picked a basic card with one basic picture and came up with this rough pricing amount.
Pricing on 50- $33.00Pricing on 100- $66.00How do you save on those photo cards?-
Order early- Now is the time to start jumping on early bird specials. Online stores tend to reward their early customers with really great coupon codes so take advantage of those lower prices and stage a photo session with your kids that will work for the holiday season.
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Look for coupon codes- Try to cash in on those discounts and take advantage of things like free shipping or companies that are offering a free photo gift that could be use for the holiday gift-giving season.
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Buy larger quantities to redeem the bigger discounts on card pricing, but only if you will be able to use the cards that you are ordering. Make your card list first to decide quantities and then order your cards to make it the most cost-effective for your family.
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Try buying a template and then having them printed at an inexpensive printing place or printing them yourself, if you have a photo printer. You can still have a very personalized design, but pay a flat fee for the template. My friend,
Simple Mom, is offering a discount to those who order early at
Chickpea Designs.
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Shop through a rewards shopping site like Ebates. I am a huge fan of the company and try to do the majority of my shopping through them. You can sign up and get $5 automatically in your account and companies like Shutterfly, for example, offer 8% back on your shopping order. The site will also list coupon codes that you can use towards your order. I would love if you used
this referral link because those sign-ups help with our Christmas shopping for the year.
(Photo Source: Eszter Hargittai)Do you do photo cards? Where do you order from and how do you keep the cost low on your cards? Another fun question- how many cards do you send out? I am always curious about that!Labels: Holidays, Shopping
27Comments:
"Amy - I love that you did this! I was planning to do a comparison and find the best deal and you did it for me! I think I'll try the Winkflash! Thanks so much! Love your site. :) And I signed up for ebates because of you sometime last year and I'm up to $27 in my account!"
Angie at Baby Cheapskate
"Hi Amy,
Great post,
I know it can be challenging doing price comps on the photo sites.
There will be some great photo codes for discounts on cards within the next three to four weeks. Serious deals.
Another way to save money is to sign up with a new photo printing site, get the free prints, and buy a couple of boxes of those cards you stick the photos into. One thing I like about those is that the photos are removable if someone wants to frame them or put them in an album."
Amy
"Great tips, Angie! Yes,working out the current pricing was a challenge. I hope everyone is able to score some killer deals with coupon codes. These are just the base prices. I do think it makes it more challenging to figure it all out when the sites say things like, "get these for $.29" but that is only ordered in a ridiculous quantity or they only tell you the cost of each card, but not the box prices. It can be tricky to navigate those actual prices.
Hopefully, this will save a little effort and then people will know if the coupon codes are as good as they seem :)"
Rachel
"Great ideas. Last year, I took a picture of my daughter myself and it looked pretty good! I printed wallet sizes at WalMart and paid $8or so, then I slipped them into the Christmas cards. I am planning on doing the same thing this year, but I might use some of these tips for next year!"
Your Frugal Friend, Niki
"In the past we have always sent out photo cards. But I don't order them.
Dollar Tree gets the ones with a cutout that is 4x6 in the front each year. $1 a box. Target also gets nice ones if you can catch them on sale/clearance.
I then take a really cute pic and take advantage of free or cheap print deals from local pharmacies or online printing companies like Winkflash or Snapfish.
Cheap, cheap, cheap! And when the holidays are over family can slip the pics out and keep them. They love it!
We generally send out about 40-50.
:)"
kendra@shopping for two
"Wow! That must have taken a lot of work to figure out all that pricing. Thanks so much for posting this. In previous years I've designed the card myself, but last year I surrendered and bought my cards through Snapfish and will probably do the same this year. I was very happy with their quality, however I do miss having an actual notecard to write in. Making them myself and inserting a photo was so much cheaper, however much more time consuming! During these young years, I'm all about saving time!"
Taylor Design
"Thanks so much for this post. I am getting ready for my first born to arrive in 3 short weeks and I want to get a head start on where I'm ordering his announcements/Christmas cards from. So helpful!"
affectioknit
""
affectioknit
"As a pastor's family we send out a lot of cards - and I'm all about frugality and recycling too!
I often design a border scan it and using a photo editor place our family photo (usually just snapped in front of our tree in the living room) in the center or off to one side depending on the design - then have that printed on regular 4X6 photos at 9 cents each (sometimes 7 or 8 cents if I have a coupon - usually through York Photo).
I also have a template for a 4X6 envelope and I save office paper that only has a little bit of print on it and cut out and glue our envelopes - I do this all year long - not all at once at Christmas - so the envelopes could be free as well - but 4X6 is a standard (and inexpensive) envelope size."
Sarah P
"Hi Amy,
I've been a reader of your blog for a while now. I enjoyed this post. I own a custom online paper company called For Keeps Design so we're always trying to listen to what others are looking for in their Christmas card orders.
We specialize in custom, unique modern designs so we can't offer 23 cents a print, but we do have a lot of great designs for 99 cents. You can visit us at www.forkeepsdesign.com
Also, we've got a 10% coupon code through 2009: HOLIDAY10.
Thanks again for the post!"
Lori
"I've never heard of Winkflash; thanks for introducing me to them.
I order through Walmart because they are the easiest place to deal with to get free s&h. I use a scrapbooking template for a 4x6 card and save more money that way."
Kara
"Hi, Amy, thanks so much for researching this. I was planning on doing my own research soon and you've made it a lot easier.
Last year I got a great deal on photo cards at Walgreens that was good the day after Thanksgiving only. I don't remember the price or if it was less than winkflash, but I think I'm going to get the photo ready and wait to see what offers come out for Black Friday.
I usually send out about 100 cards, but this year I had my 20th high school reunion and I reconnected with a lot of my old friends. I've also recently reconnected with many of my college friends as well, so I will have about 50 additional cards to send this year. So, getting a good deal is really important this year!"
TopazTook
"We are doing photo cards at least while our daughter is young, and we generally send out about 75 of them.
I usually wait for Shutterfly deals -- which means I already have my cards (now I just have to get them addressed and signed, of course), since they had their buy 50 get 25 free special a while ago. I took a picture of my daughter in her Christmas outfit (which I bought at a thrift sale in August).
I like the idea in the comments about slipping pictures into cheap photo frame cards -- maybe next year."
Hello, I'm Sally.
"Thanks Amy! I just ordered some from WinkFlash. Now, I just need to get them all sent out this year!"
Jamie
"Oh thank you for this list! I appreciate that you looked into it all and shared with us!"
Saver Queen
"Carelton Cards is offering 33% to Club Card members (and you can use your points, too! I just got $12 of free products using my points!)"
Alicia
"This is really awesome. Thank you!"
"We do photo cards, because I think they are fun, people like to get an updated photo of the kids, and I like to use it to document our holiday. But I also like to GET photo cards. I have a large photo album, with the slide in holders that I put all my photo cards. It has a place next to each spot to write the name of the family if the card doesn't say (sometimes I have to cut cards down a little and the writing has to go). The album is pretty red, and everyone loves flipping through it and seeing how families grow and change."
snarflemarfle
"I save money by making my own photocards. I have very limited digital scrapbooking skills, so I make a 4x6 "page" and design it however I want with my pictures and text. Then I can just print 4x6 photos...those are much cheaper than photocards.
There are several great digital scrapbooking programs available (some for free!) and if you are computer savvy and have minimal design skills, this would be a great way to go!"
Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom
"I am a total winkflash junkie. They have great photocards (got this great $0.23 last year too!) regularly offer 6 cent print deals, and have good quality photo gift options as well.
Make sure to look at the cost of shipping when you're trying to decide how many to order - it might help make the decision for you, as the shipping costs are on a graduated scale.
Great post, Amy!"
Heather
"I can recommend vistaprint.com - right now the photo cards are 11.99 for 50. Printed on great heavy cardstock, and you can print in black & white on the back for free!
http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/holiday07/holiday_4X8_single.aspx?xnav=top"
Caroline
"Great post! I can recommend Muddy Paws Graphics for great designs, high quality and reasonable prices. You can customize the designs and add photos at no extra charge. They're offering FREE shipping right now, too. Check them out at www.muddypawsgraphics.com."
Kimberly
"I second the recommendation for vistaprint.com. We have ordered from them for a few years now and their cards are built and designed well. And with their specials, you can get great deals! I got 60 cards for $13!"
"I love Tiny Prints. Gorgeous, high quality photo cards-- I wait for promotions. I use them for custom invitations as well. I love their customer service as well. We send out about 100 cards."
emerzim
"Just wanted to say thanks for this post. I had never heard of winkflash, but ended up ordering our cards through them. For a lot less than I spent on Snapfish last year. Thanks."
SoBella Creations
"I usually get my cards from Shutterfly, Snapfish or Costco. It really depends on who has a background and format that I love.
We usually send out around 30 cards."
"I liked what I saw at some of the retail stores, but I loved www.forkeepsdesign.com . I was able to personalize my cards and the service was soo fast!"
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