Your Family Photo on a Christmas Card
Photo Christmas cards are Christmas cards printed with your own photo. Each design in this range has a space for a photo, and the wording is edited around that photo. Households and couples order them when they want to send a family photo greeting at Christmas. The Christmas Frame design is a folded card printed by digital printing on Paperlust Matte at 127 x 178 mm, and a 20-card order costs A$120.
Getting Your Photo Onto the Card
You build photo Christmas cards in the online design tools on the product page. That is where you upload your photo and replace the sample image. The same tools let you edit the text wording, font type and font size, so the card can carry your own greeting around the picture.
Before you approve the proof, check how your own photo might change when it moves from screen to paper. A screen lights the image from behind, so the printed photo is likely to look a bit darker than it does on your monitor. Intense neon colours also lose some of their detail in print. To see the likely result, print the digital proof at home and look at that copy while you check the wording and layout.
For photo and design ideas, see the guide to Christmas card ideas.
Folded, Flat and Postcard Formats
Three formats are available for photo Christmas cards: folded, flat and postcard. The examples below show each format.
- Folded: Christmas Frame is folded once, so the card opens like a greeting card and stands on its own after it is opened.
- Flat: Coral is one single panel, printed on its front only as standard, and it does not fold.
- Postcard: Home for Holidays is one panel printed front and reverse, showing your picture on one side, and it comes without an envelope.
To print on both sides of a flat card, use the create back side button in the editor. A second printed side raises the order total, as Coral shows at 20 cards: A$110.40 for the front only and A$115.40 for both sides.
Light the Way is a flat card in flat foil, with gold or rose gold as the foil colour choice.
For designs without a photo space, see the Christmas cards range.
Price Guide for Four Designs
This price guide compares four photo Christmas cards at their smallest order and at 100 cards. Prices are order totals on the default paper. Paperlust Matte is the default for Christmas Frame, Coral and Home for Holidays, and Paperlust Heavy is the default for Light the Way. The table also shows whether a Premium White envelope is included and the production time after proof approval for digital printing and flat foil.
| Design | Format and print | Envelope | Smallest order | 100 cards | Production after proof approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas Frame | Folded, digital printing | Premium White included | 10 cards A$95.10 | A$351 | 3 to 5 working days |
| Coral | Flat, digital printing | Premium White included | 10 cards A$77.70 | A$280 | 3 to 5 working days |
| Home for Holidays | Postcard, both sides, digital printing | None | 10 cards A$79.80 | A$300 | 3 to 5 working days |
| Light the Way | Flat, flat foil in gold or rose gold | Premium White included | 30 cards A$372.60 | A$518 | 7 to 10 working days |
The lowest order total among the four examples is Coral at 10 cards for A$77.70.
The wording on any design can be changed, so a photo card can carry a New Year or season's greeting rather than Christmas wording. That lets the designs on this page work as holiday photo cards. The separate holiday cards range lists holiday designs.
Names, Envelopes and Sender Details
Use Add Guest Names at the top of the customise page to print a different name on each card for A$0.40 per card on all four examples. Printed recipient addresses on Premium White envelopes cost A$0.20 each in black and white or A$0.35 each in colour. Because the sender's own photo and wording are on each card, the finished set is unique to the household or couple sending it, and adding guest names makes the wording on every card personalised to the recipient. For cards sent from a company, see the business Christmas cards range.
From Order to Delivery
Order online after editing the design. Within 1 to 2 business days of ordering, a designer sends a free digital proof. Check the photo in its space, the guest names if you added them, and the wording. You can ask for unlimited edits until everything looks right. Production starts only after final proof approval, with production times shown in the table above. The cards are printed in Melbourne. Delivery is free with StarTrack Premium. Metro addresses typically get the parcel on the next working day after it is dispatched. From dispatch, regional and rural addresses take extra transit days.
Frequently Asked Questions
After ordering, email the high-resolution file to support@paperlust.co with the invoice number as the subject so the file can be matched to your order. For anything else you need, type it into the special requests box on the customise page before checkout. The designer reads those notes and includes them in the first proof for your check.
Digital photo designs have a quantity selector between 10 and 300 in steps of 10, with a minimum of 10 cards. Light the Way starts at 30 cards. The price per card falls as quantity rises because printing costs are set on volume. Coral is A$7.77 a card at 10 cards and A$2.80 a card at 100 cards.
Premium White envelopes are included at no charge with Christmas Frame, Coral and Light the Way. Home for Holidays is a postcard and comes without envelopes. Recycled and coloured envelopes cost extra per card, with recycled envelopes at A$0.80 each.
Expedited printing is A$50 per order and is chosen at checkout when the design qualifies. It shortens production only, to 1 to 2 working days for digital printing and 3 to 5 working days for flat foil after proof approval. Expedited orders use white or recycled envelopes only, and the option is not offered on Home for Holidays. Delivery time is added after production.
Christmas Frame offers Paperlust Matte, Metallic, Luxe and Heavy. Coral offers Paperlust Matte, Luxe, Heavy and Matte Double T. Light the Way is printed on Paperlust Heavy only. Each design's paper list is on its own product page. Paperlust Matte is uncoated and bright white, Heavy has a smooth coated matt finish, Luxe is silky-smooth, Metallic has a subtle shine, and Matte Double T is two layers of card.
A sample pack for A$5 shows the papers and print methods, so you can see and feel the papers a photo card would be printed on before ordering. A custom sample of one chosen design is A$15, and a swatch kit is A$20. Sample orders go by regular mail, with 5 to 7 business days in transit.
Colour is judged on the proof because exact colour matching across papers and print batches is not offered. If the printing itself is faulty, the 100% Print Happiness Guarantee applies. The first remedy is reprinting the cards. If reprinting cannot fix the fault, Paperlust offers account credit or a refund. You have 30 days from dispatch to make a claim. Errors in names or wording that you saw and approved on the proof are not covered by the guarantee.
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