Opportunity: Shutterfly Holiday Cards

Well, tonight is Halloween which means that we all officially need to start thinking about the next holiday. Wellll maybe not getting too into it (I have a firm policy of fully celebrating my birthday before really getting into Christmas), but at least starting to plan for it.

I'm one of the people who sends out cards every year. As my Christmas card list has grown over the years, my cards have changed, as well. I used to hand write long notes on every card that were customized to the person. Those notes over the years slowly shrunk. With the birth of the wee ones, I added a typewritten letter to people I didn't see often and an even shorter handwritten note. I also began including a family photo in the cards, which started to get pretty expensive.

I finally moved to photo cards with my letter, which made it far easier. Anyone who needs a little more update on what we're doing gets the letter - and it's easy enough to add some handwritten notes on that instead of on the actual card. The challenge for me is making sure that I get my cards ordered in time to send them out. I can't just go to the store and grab a pack of them at 8pm the night before I want to send them out anymore!

Enter Shutterfly.

Shutterfly has all sorts of great holiday cards. While I've used the phrase "Christmas cards" a few times, I do have several friends who are Jewish or otherwise don't celebrate Christmas, which means that offering more widely appealing holiday photo cards is a great bonus.

I love that with Shutterfly you simply upload your photos, design your card, and you're done. They offer the option of also stamping and mailing cards for you in addition to sending the completed cards to you for you to mail yourself (and add that special letter!). With a variety of shipping options, including next day, I no longer have an excuse for not getting my photo cards done.

As I perused the site, I saw plenty of cards that I would love to send out. The Joy Magic Story Christmas Card 5x7 folded card is a beautiful classic design that allows me to still write a quick personal note on the inside - and I love receiving hand signed cards still. Call me old fashioned.

The Bright Red Snowflakes 5x7 folded card is another design I love that again is folded and allows me to make my card a little more personal with notes while still being a lovely card that shows off the wee ones with three different photos of my choosing. I can also choose between a matte and glossy finish, depending on my preference (matte, I think!).

I am a big fan of cards that allow me to showcase multiple photos, and many of Shutterfly's Christmas photo cards do just that. While the folded holiday cards cost over a dollar a card (and worth it, in my opinion), there are also great options that are flat cards that are less than $0.50 per card. The Classic Snowflakes Christmas 4x8 photo card would cost me $0.47 per card for my needs with the 25% discount they have going until November 3 - see, shopping early pays! Even though this one has "Christmas" in the name of the card, the greeting on the card is not preprinted and can be completely customized - don't let yourself be thrown by the descriptors of the cards.

And I will be choosing one of these cards for my holiday needs this year. I will receive 100 cards from Shutterfly for posting this. And bloggers - you can get some free Shutterfly cards, too. How? If you do your own blog post about Shutterfly's holiday cards, you can earn 50 free cards from Shutterfly, too. How awesome is that?

In the interest of full disclosure, this post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I will receive 100 free cards from Shutterfly. I received no compensation, and all opinions expressed are my own.