Sunday, February 22, 2009

How Christmas Cards Affect the Printing Industry

Author: Bella Harris

Each day during the Christmas season, many businesses and private individuals turn to printers, asking them for personalised calendars and corporate Christmas cards. Writing Christmas cards became a tradition in the XVIII century, when the British royal family started to use them as a form of congratulation for social acquaintances.

So, Christmas cards became the ideal way to congratulate someone during the holiday season, without having to spend a lot of money on the purchase of gifts and wrapping paper. Furthermore, Christmas cards could be sent by mail without any problem; as the XX century advanced, more and more people turned to Christmas cards as a solution to an increasing social ambiance and to lessen the need to provide tokens or gifts of friendship that overwhelms their entire financial income.

Even so, Christmas cards became a great advertising and marketing opportunity since trade cards started to appear. Trade cards are prints on one single sheet or card, with the business simply wishing the customer a Merry Christmas; but the idea of the 'Christmas card' as we know it started to appear and become more popular in the XX century. In 1961 only 2000 of them were printed, while in 2005 an average of 1.4 million Christmas cards were printed, sent and distributed.

This makes Christmas cards one of the strongest money-makers for the printing industry, not only from the private sector, but also from the commercial sector that seeks to elevate their business higher in the ranking of the target market, in contrast to their competitors.

Frequently, printing workshops linger through the year with a small amount of work, according to the difficulties and economic events that happen in the location where they are found; it might be that all the work they do relates to marketing promotional products. Big printing companies do not worry much about the off season, since they carry on the printing requirements for other companies, however, the small printing business, the one that suffers the changes of the printing business season, suffers the consistent reduction of marketing promoting products.

The Internet, with its online marketing potential, makes it less necessary for advertisers and marketers to use promotional products to enhance the presence of a product, service or business in the target market. Consequently, printing workshops have to subsist as much as possible on alternative means, until the Christmas season. Christmas cards are still popular among private citizens and businesses; however, the appearance of the laser printer and the increasing use of the Internet has modified greatly the way Christmas cards are viewed, printed and even created.

In yester years, Christmas cards were printed on cardboard and decorated with water colours and even glitter; now, even serigraphy is taken off the Christmas cards, making laser printed Christmas cards the new fashion statement; this might end up reducing the printing workshops to a thing of the past.

Despite it all, Christmas cards are still the biggest income source for all printing workshops alongside the printing of catalogues and calendars. Therefore, the effect that Christmas cards have on the printing industry is evident to the naked eye.

About the Author:
Solopress is a UK printing company dedicated to providing you a variety of printing services and products to successfully promote your business.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/how-christmas-cards-affect-the-printing-industry-784676.html

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Exterior Christmas Decorations

Author: Terry Henman

Decorating the exterior of your home for the Christmas holidays is an essential but criminally overlooked part Yule Tide plans if you have children or you are having guests over for a get-together at any point. the front of the house is the first thing people see when they arrive so setting the tone for fun and excitement from the very beginning will start things off with a real bang and ensure plenty of anticipatory grins before anyone has even stepped foot inside.

Despite the obvious extra safety precautions needed to fit exterior decorations, it is actually a much simpler and less fussy job than decorating the whole interior of a house. It is mainly just a lot of lighting..... and perhaps the odd six foot Santa! Before you head to the nearest garden or DIY centre, take a pen and pad outside your home and sketch a really basic outline of you home's façade. Pay special attention to its linear qualities or the edges of things like windows, the porch roof, the front etc as these are the areas where you will be hanging lights. Use a tape measure to gauge roughly how much lighting you will need. Although this is can be quite an ordeal in the cold weather, you will only ever have to do it once as you then have the measurements for future Christmases. Next, look around your garden for any other features you want to pick out- trees look especially magical with a cluster of lights entwined in them, you could also hang some waterproof baubles for a really pretty finish. If you have enough room, you will probably want a main feature for your front lawn. Blow up Santa's and snowmen are available but you might want to check the weather forecast before you buy, if snow is predicted it would be much better to create your very own feature, this is also a much more appealing and fun option for children.

It is wise to have a clear idea of a colour scheme for your lights before you arrive at the store. This will save you lots of time and make at least one shopping trip at this time of year stress free. A cohesive colour scheme of lights that picks out all of the main features of your house will look really professional and make your home the envy of the street. White or blue or a combination of the two works really well to create a winter wonderland theme, whereas red, gold or green will create a more traditional look.

If you plan on making a snow man with your children, a good idea is to keep a small roll of discount fabric at the ready. That way you can create a big scarf for your work of art then tie it into your scheme by creating bows of the same material for your trees, bushes and front door wreath.

It may be cold out there but I'm sure you will agree that a fun winter garden that really gets the festivities of to a flyer is certainly worth one two sniffles. You may even get an extra present or two for your efforts!