8 Eco-Friendly Christmas Cards for Sustainable Seasonal Wishes
Gifting Christmas cards to your loved ones is an age-old tradition that has been around for centuries. It's a wonderful and special way of pointing out the importance of people in our lives and expressing our love and care for them over the festive period.
But this holiday season, why not give something a little more meaningful - go green with eco-friendly Christmas cards! Not only will you reduce your carbon footprint, but each holiday card chosen carries its positive message - demonstrating how much environmental consciousness matters to you.
While pondering who’s on your Christmas card list you might also like to read up on our guide to a zero-waste Christmas, full of useful tips to minimize waste this season. While to go with your cards, our rundown of zero-waste gifts and eco-friendly stocking stuffers has loads of ideas for environmentally friendly gifts to go with your sustainable Christmas cards.
What to Look for When Christmas Card Shopping
When choosing Christmas cards to send to your loved ones, there are a lot of things to think about. Alongside the message, cover design, and so on, consider the qualities of eco-friendly holiday cards to help ensure they minimize harm to the environment. Here are some things to look for when you're shopping for Christmas holiday cards:
- The holiday card should be made out of recycled paper.
- The holiday card shouldn't use plastic or other materials that aren't recyclable.
- The holiday card should be biodegradable, which means it will break down and not harm the environment when thrown away or composted.
- The holiday card shouldn't have plastic glitter on it. This glitter isn't biodegradable, and it can be harmful to the environment.
- The envelope should also be made out of recycled paper.
- They shouldn’t be wrapped in plastic
- Holiday cards that come in packs can come with envelopes and inserts that aren't recyclable. Ensure the inserts are also eco-friendly before purchasing.
8 Eco-Friendly Christmas Cards to Choose From
Discover eight sustainable Christmas cards that are sure to bring joy, and serve as a reminder of how valuable preserving nature is while keeping your friends and family close at heart this holiday season.
1. Arbor Day Foundation
Arbor Day Foundation sells Give-A-Tree Christmas cards which are perfect to say happy holidays. For every card purchased, a tree is planted in honor of the gift recipient, making it a thoughtful and eco-friendly choice. Each card can be personalized at no additional cost, with no minimum order needed.
The eco-friendly Christmas cards from Arbor Day Foundation come in an array of festive designs featuring the outdoors in winter and fall that capture the holiday spirit. They are perfect for anyone who loves the outdoors and wants to do something good for the planet. These holiday cards offer recipients the chance to become part of the reforestation movement and make a difference in the environment.
Give-A-Tree holiday cards are sure to make any Christmas special this year by giving friends and family members a unique gift that supports reforestation efforts against climate change worldwide!
2. Paper Culture
Paper Culture's eco-friendly Christmas cards make great options for sharing the holiday spirit and warm wishes with your loved ones! Crafted from 100% post-consumer recycled paper, Paper Culture offers greeting cards to help reduce waste and offset their entire manufacturing and transportation carbon footprint. Paper Culture plants a tree with every order - aligning its mission with this holiday - a time of giving. In doing so, they have already planted over 1 million trees!
With a wide selection of festive holiday designs, it's easy to find the right holiday cards for your family or friends. From traditional designs to modern twists on classic Christmas favorites, Paper Culture has a card for everyone!
3. WeMadeBoutique
WeMadeBoutique's Christmas cards are the perfect way to add a special touch to your holiday greetings this season. These 3x5" handmade recycled seed paper cards feature random stamped tree designs that will capture the recipient's attention and imagination.
Not only does each pack of 10 plantable holiday cards come bundled in twine with kraft brown envelopes, but you can also save when you buy 50 or more! These holiday cards have the Stamped Tree design on one side and leave plenty of blank space on the opposite side for a personal message, along with a line that says, "Plant this card. Grow wild flowers."
WeMadeBoutique has specifically crafted these holiday cards to be eco-friendly and visually stunning works of art that bring joy to everyone they reach while giving back to nature. With their unique design and inspiring message, these holiday cards are sure to make an impact!
4. Greenvelope
Greenvelope offers a huge selection of stunning animated, e-cards to emulate the experience of opening traditional cards. But tree-free, without the paper waste and potential junk mail. Not only do the e-cards look amazing, but they also save time, money, and trees by eliminating the need for printing materials. To further express its commitment to creating a greener future, Greenvelope donates a percentage of every e-card sale to Mountains to Sound – a non-profit organization devoted to maintaining forests.
With these beautiful and eco-friendly cards, you can show your friends and family how much you care about the environment while sending out Christmas cheer. You can choose an e-card for tree-free Christmas cards.
5. HappyDappyBits
The Creator of HappyDappyBits, Jane, has been an artist since she was a young girl. She developed a deep appreciation for the environment, as seen in her eco-friendly holiday cards. Her sunny studio is powered by solar energy, and all of her products are designed from her own sketches.
This featured HappyDappyBits holiday card is the perfect way to spread Christmas cheer. With its kawaii charcoal-colored robot, big pink/red heart, red Santa hat, and festive Christmas lights, this greeting card shows your loved ones how much you care. Measuring 5.5 inches by 4.25 inches, the card is printed on eco-friendly 100% post-consumer recycled paper.
The inside of the card reads "Wishing you a supercharged Christmas!" or "Wishing you a supercharged Holiday!" in green type with a red decorated ornament for extra sparkle. Show your friends and family that you care about them and the environment this season by sending this special holiday card!
Every one of their eco-friendly holiday cards is shipped from NY, USA, in sturdy 100% recycled brown cardboard mailers via First Class/First Class International, so you can be sure your holiday cards will make it safely to their destination. Give somebody special a HappyDappyBits Christmas Card this season, and let them know just how much they mean to you!
6. Green Field Paper Company
Green Field Paper Company is great for everyone looking for sustainable and eco-friendly holiday cards this season. Naturally colored with earth pigments and made from recycled paper, Green Field Paper Company's greeting cards are infused with a natural look and sustainability.
Green Field’s cards contain post-consumer pulp blended with non-traditional additives such as seeds, hemp, coffee chaff, denim, junk mail, and garlic skins. Not only are these holiday cards ethically sourced, but Green Field Paper Company also produces them in the United States without using dyes or bleach.
Even better, these are plantable holiday cards. They are embedded with wildflower seeds, so your card recipient plants a tree when they plant this card.
From classic holiday-themed designs to modern artwork, you'll find something special that your friends and family will appreciate. Give the gift of sustainability this year by choosing Green Field Paper Company's eco-friendly Christmas cards.
Shop on Green Field Paper Company
7. Botanical PaperWorks
Botanical PaperWorks, one of our favorite greeting card companies, offers a range of plantable cards that are not only sustainable but also a fun way to make the season special.
These festive greetings are made from post-consumer waste and embedded with seeds that will grow into a vibrant display of wildflowers when planted. Botanical PaperWorks’ plantable cards are available in various designs and feature different flower seeds, such as Bird's Eye, Clarkia, Black Eyed Susan, Sweet Alyssum, Catchfly, and Snapdragon.
Not only do these beautiful flowers bring joy during the holidays, but they are also beneficial for birds and bees while reducing paper waste.
8. Homemade cards
Homemade Christmas cards are a great way to express your feelings and send holiday cheer while being kind to the environment. Not only can you be creative with the design and materials, but you can also use recycled paper or fabric to create something unique that is sure to stand out this season.
Making homemade Christmas cards significantly reduces the amount of waste produced, compared to buying pre-made cards. You can use items such as post-consumer recycled paper, seed paper, and fabric remnants for the cardstock–the possibilities are endless! After completing your design, you can add embellishments like ribbons, buttons, or plastic-free sparkles to make it more festive.
A simple guide to creating an eco-friendly homemade Christmas card:
1. Gather the materials you will need
Recycled paper, scissors, glue, markers, colored pencils or paints with eco-friendly inks, and other decorations.
Good eco-friendly card decorations include recycled fabric scraps, ribbons made from bamboo or organic cotton, twine made from hemp or jute, buttons made from wood or corn-based plastic, and other organic materials. You can also choose to buy eco-friendly paper and decorate it.
When adding sparkles or other embellishments, choose sustainable ones such as vegetable-based glitter or biodegradable confetti.
2. If you have wildflower seeds, you can also make your own plantable seed paper.
How to make plantable seed paper:
- Gather all the necessary materials: recyclable paper, a blender, some water, seeds of your choice, and a towel.
- Tear up the recyclable paper into small pieces and put them in the blender. Add some water to it and blend until you have a nice pulp.
- Stir in some seeds of your choice into the pulp and mix them well. The ratio of paper pulp to seed should be 3:1, respectively.
- Strain the mixture through a sieve or cheesecloth to remove as much water as possible from your mixture.
- Once strained, spread the mixture onto a clean towel to dry out both sides evenly by patting it down with your hands gently. Make sure you don’t leave any lumps, as these may impede germination in the future when planted in the soil!
- Let both sides dry for at least 24 hours before taking your new seed paper off the towel. Your paper is now ready for use as eco-friendly holiday cards.
3. Decide on the design for your card – it can be a drawing of a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, a snowman, etc.
4. Cut the recycled or plantable seed paper into the size of your card and fold them in half.
5. Decorate your card with markers, colored pencils or paints, sustainable glitter, and other decorations you have gathered. Check out our guide to eco-friendly pens and pencils for some options, and our list of eco-friendly school supplies has lots of crafty picks.
6. Once you have completed decorating your eco-friendly holiday card, write a personalized message to the recipient inside.
7. Send your card in an envelope made of recycled paper or with a reusable stamp.
Conclusion
Sending eco-friendly cards is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint over the festive period and show your loved ones that you care about their well-being and the environment. You can purchase greeting cards or make them home with some recycled materials. So, this Christmas season, choose an environmentally-friendly card giving and spread the joy!
Jen’s a passionate environmentalist and sustainability expert. With a science degree from Babcock University Jen loves applying her research skills to craft editorial that connects with our global changemaker and readership audiences centered around topics including zero waste, sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity.
Elsewhere Jen’s interests include the role that future technology and data have in helping us solve some of the planet’s biggest challenges.
