Getting Personal

                Getting More Personal With Your Birthday Cards | Personalised Cards from GettingPersonal.co.uk
            
                Special occasions can sometimes provide something of a battleground amongst close friends because everyone wants to get the birthday boy or girl the best gifts and make them the most happy. It's the same sort of story with greetings cards and as you browse the isles of a greetings card shop you're probably desperately trying to find something which fits your friend's personality perfectly, or alludes to an in-joke you share.

I find buying greetings cards from card shops one of the most annoying and boring things ever and I usually end up going for something silly and trying to persuade myself it's the ultimate joke, or coolest art photo. However, you don't need to go through that trauma if you opt for personalised cards instead.

Most people don't even realise that personalised cards exist, but they're based on a simple principle. The greetings cards which you give to your friends should be directly for them and mean something to them straight away, not just have a boring or generic picture on the front!

Buying Personalised Cards
If you are wondering what personalised cards are and where you get them, fear not a full disclosure is on its way! You can buy them on the internet. You basically choose a design and then you can add whatever name or age you like directly to the front of the card and there are tons and tons of designs to choose from too. 

So if you're looking for something for Grandma Iris, or little Baby Emma, or a friend who likes to watch the footie or even an enemy who likes to torture you... well, you get the idea, there's a card for almost any taste. 

Unlike gift shop or card shop cards though, you can make the design cooler yourself! You can add a nickname to a greetings card and play around by choosing the basic design of the card carefully. Obviously, if you decide to buy personalised cards you can get them for the same sort of price as a regular card too, they're almost always under £3.00 each!

Sending Them
For your £3.00 most personalised cards companies will also toss in free delivery to any where you like and you can also type in the message you want printed inside the card to make it super fast and simple. Then the card is printed with your adjustments (such as a name or nickname and age), has the printed message added on the inside and is sent directly to the recipient within the timeframe you chose when you ordered. Awesome, huh?

It's a real card, personalised for the same price as a regular greetings card and it's practically as easy to send out as an E-Card! If you want to give a personalised card to the birthday person in the flesh though, you can. All you need to do is specify that when you order and it will be sent to you plain, outside of its envelope so that you can do the honours.

Alternatives
Although we love personalised cards to bits, we thought it was only fair to mention a few alternatives too. Firstly, you could make your own cards and you can't get much more personal than that!

However, it does take time and effort and can cost a lot of money if you have trouble printing things to the correct sizing on a home computer or aren't that arts and crafty! This is really one for hardcore card making hobbyists we think, because buying one which you have personalised is so much easier and can work out cheaper.

Another cool alternative to a birthday card is a birthday brownie, shortbread or muffin. Some companies have started sending out one little cafe sized baked treat of your choice with a note card for around £5 each and you can also buy these online, adding your message on the website and deciding when the treat gets posted before you pay for it. 

We think the big baked bundles are even better though, because the same companies provide massive cake tins crammed with goodies that are perfect for offices and to give to big families! 

Of all the things we've mentioned in this article we love personalised cards the most because they're convenient to send and are so much more meaningful than a boring, bland store bought card. They also cost the same so to us it's a no brainer! Don't give your friends and family really tacky cards from a high street card shop. Make them really happy and surprised instead by personalising a card online! I know which I would choose. Do you?

Related article: More Than A Number (Personalised Cards)