Greeting Cards Overview

Sometimes a card says what you want to say… sometimes it serves as a starting point… and sometimes you just want to create your own. Hallmark can help.

Greeting cards help fulfill an enduring need people have to connect with others. People say there’s something special about finding “just the right card” – one they know will get a reaction from the person who receives it. They say giving cards is affirming. It feels good to send them, and it feels good to receive them.

More Ways Than Ever

At Hallmark, we strive to make our products as relevant to as many people as possible. With one of the world's largest creative staffs – around 800 artists, designers, stylists, writers, editors and photographers – and the best researchers in the industry, we provide a year-round greeting card selection of more than 23,000 designs.

While Hallmark can't provide a card in stores for every situation or holiday, Hallmark.com offers people the ability to customize their own cards with messages, photos and sound clips. Cards can be chosen online and personalized at anytime. Hallmark professionally prints the cards, and can even stamp and send them, making the “perfect” card available to anyone. 

Hallmark.com also provides a variety of e-cards to enable consumers to connect digitally. Some e-cards feature popular music, TV and movie clips, animation, interactivity, and personalization. Hallmark Card Studio software provides the tools to create greeting cards on a home printer.

In addition, people can compete to have their creations featured in Hallmark cards through a series of competitions at www.hallmark.com/you.

Product Features

Hallmark’s Classic Card Collection is the core line of Hallmark greeting cards providing a large range of prices, designs and messages. This collection features anniversary, birthday, wedding, thank you, baby and sympathy cards among hundreds of others. Some of the cards contain extensive verse, while others say very little, allowing the sender to contribute to the message. In recent months, the captions in this section have expanded to include cards that address unique family situations and other niches. The collection also includes cards in Braille for the sight-impaired.

People seeking to connect through humor have long been fans of Hallmark’s Shoebox cards. The Shoebox line has expanded to include additional humor cards that push the envelope, giving people more chances to share a laugh. The Journeys line of encouragement cards is meant to help people through difficult times, celebrate life’s successes, or brighten someone’s day. The Fresh Ink line, with short sentiments and round or square-shaped cards, takes an offbeat approach to saying something real or unexpected.

Many of the cards found in Hallmark stores are culturally specific. The Tree of Life collection features cards for Jewish holidays, occasions and celebrations. The Mahogany line of cards is for African-American consumers to honor their relationships and heritage in compelling and culturally-relevant ways. Hallmark Sinceramente Spanish-language cards feature a wide variety of design and editorial styles, including a number of Latin artists on Spanish-language sound cards. The cards provide English translations on the back and some are bilingual.

Hallmark continues to introduce new and innovative greeting cards that offer the sender fun and interesting ways to connect with the people in their lives through sound, light, voice recording and other exciting formats. Cards With Sound play original music by original artists or audio clips from favorite movies and TV shows. Recordable Cards With Music enable the sender to record a 10-second message that plays before a pre-recorded song. Cards With Motion play a fully animated two-second scene when you tip the card from side to side.

Some Hallmark cards appeal to those who want to make a difference with their purchase. Specific greeting cards benefit charities such as (PRODUCT) RED™, UNICEF, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Hallmark cards vary greatly in price, with value-priced cards beginning at just $.49. Hallmark recently updated its 99-cent card selection to make it even easier to make someone’s day by sending an unexpected card.

For business needs, Hallmark Business Expressions offers personalized corporate holiday cards and greeting cards for all occasions and events.

Product History

• Hallmark’s long history of selling greeting cards began in the early 1900s in Norfolk, Neb., where brothers Joyce, Rollie and William Hall began selling postcards wholesale as the Norfolk Post Card Company.
• In 1910 at the age of 18, Joyce moved to Kansas City, Mo., where he continued wholesaling postcards from his YMCA room.
• The Hall Brothers company was formed in 1911 when brother Rollie moved to Kansas City.
• In 1915, the Halls started producing their own greeting cards as the popularity of postcards waned and they recognized the public’s desire for greater privacy with cards mailed in envelopes.
• The word “Hallmark” first appeared on the back of a card in 1925.
• By 1928, the brand name appeared on all the company's cards.

In Stores

Hallmark greeting cards are available at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores nationwide, as well as drug stores, mass merchandise stores, discount stores, grocery stores, and other fine retailers. Use the store locator on Hallmark.com to find the nearest Hallmark Gold Crown store.