How to Send Greetings Cards Via Email

Sending a Christmas card via email is a quick, easy, inexpensive and environmentally friendly way to send holiday greetings to family, friends and colleagues. You can create a card suitable to send via email with a variety of resources available online. While some sites will send the greeting for you, other programs such as PowerPoint or Microsoft Word will allow you to send the card through your own email provider. Using either method makes it easy to personalize the card for each recipient and include current family photographs and events.

ECards

1 Visit a website such as bluemountain.com, americangreetings.com or hallmark.com for a large selection of Christmas eCards.

2 Pick one and personalize it. Maybe select a different one for family, friends and colleagues.

3 Input your recipients' email addresses and click send. The website will send the card to your Christmas card list.

4 One advantage to using these websites is that you can send a lot of cards at once and also include a different personalized message for every person on your list. Note that some of these websites offer a yearly subscription: $14.99 for bluemountain.com, $15.99 for americangreetings.com and $9.99 for hallmark.com, while others like 123greetings.com are free.

ECards

1 Visit a website such as bluemountain.com, americangreetings.com or hallmark.com for a large selection of Christmas eCards.

2 Pick one and personalize it. Maybe select a different one for family, friends and colleagues.

3 Input your recipients' email addresses and click send. The website will send the card to your Christmas card list.

4 One advantage to using these websites is that you can send a lot of cards at once and also include a different personalized message for every person on your list. Note that some of these websites offer a yearly subscription: $14.99 for bluemountain.com, $15.99 for americangreetings.com and $9.99 for hallmark.com, while others like 123greetings.com are free.

Design Your Own eCard

1 To create your custom card, visit a website like smilebox.com.
2 Personalize by picking a background, selecting or uploading an image and then building your card.
3 Preview the card.
4 Add recipients and click send. The website will send the card on your behalf.


Photo eCard

1 You can create your own photo eCard with a free online service, such as Photobucket.
2 Upload your photo to photobucket.com and click on "Edit Image," revealing several tabs that allow you to alter your picture. For example, using the decorate tab, change your photo into a Christmas card by adding holiday text, color and a frame. You can even add decorative stickers, such as presents and bows.
3 To prepare the card for dispersal, save your modified picture on your computer.
4 Send it through your regular email program as an attachment. This method makes it easy to create a different card for each recipient.

eCard Letter

1 Creating a card as an attachable document using a word processing program is more work but more personal for the recipient. Open Microsoft Powerpoint or Word on your computer, insert pictures representing events from the year, and add text describing those experiences.

2 You can make the document any size, from a standard-sized card to an 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch letter, allowing you to include more than one picture and event. You also can add a general or personalized Christmas greeting for your family, friends and colleagues.

3 Save the document to your computer in an easy-to-find location, naming it something distinctive. It may be advisable to save the file as a PDF document in case your recipients' computers do not have the program you used to create the card.

4 To send, open your email provider, create a new email and click on "Attach File." Select your document, either in its original format or as a PDF and add your recipients in the address line preferably as a BCC (blind carbon copy), which allows you to send to a group of people while concealing their email addresses from each other.