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Comparison

Best Non-Photo Christmas Cards, Personalized and Mailed

7 min readby ShipNote Team
Four ShipNote non-photo Christmas card fronts, Cardinal, Ribbon Wreath, Merry and Bright, and Snowfall, each printed with a sample family name

The best non-photo Christmas cards for a whole list are ShipNote's painted Christmas postcards. You need no photo: your name goes on the front, your message on the back, and every card is printed, addressed, stamped and mailed for $1.99 a card on 10 or more. That is the lowest price we found, with no membership, for a personalized non-photo Christmas card mailed to everyone on your list, each one greeting its person by name.

Below are the places to order non-photo Christmas cards, priced all-in per card with postage, and the designs ShipNote has without a photo. Disclosure: ShipNote is our product. Every competitor price is a list price read on the company's own site on November 13, 2026, with no codes or sales applied; most of these sites were running one.

Where can you order non-photo Christmas cards?

ShipNote, Minted, Papier, The Stationery Studio, Shutterfly, Paper Culture and Zazzle all print non-photo Christmas cards with your name. ShipNote mails every card for you as standard. Shutterfly and Paper Culture mail for a fee. With the rest, you address, stamp and mail them yourself.

Company All-in per card on 50 The non-photo card Who mails it
ShipNote $1.99 4x6 postcard: painted or typographic front with your name, your message on the back ShipNote, from the list you paste, First-Class postage included
The Stationery Studio $3.20 with an 82¢ stamp 5x7 flat card in an envelope ($2.38 on 50) You
Minted $3.30 with an 82¢ stamp 5x7 flat card in an envelope ($2.48 on 50) You; Minted prints the addresses free
Papier $3.51 with an 82¢ stamp 5x7 flat card in an envelope ($2.69 on 50) You; Papier prints the addresses free
Zazzle $4.03 with an 82¢ stamp 5x7 folded card in an envelope ($3.21 a card) You; Zazzle prints the addresses free
Shutterfly $4.08, or $4.90 if postage is extra 5x7 flat card ($2.59 on 50) Shutterfly, with Mail for Me at $1.49 a card (its bulk-order guide includes postage)
Paper Culture $4.65 with an 82¢ stamp 5.1x7 flat card on recycled paper ($2.74 on 50) Paper Culture, with Mailed For You at $1.09 a card plus the stamp

Each card is the company's standard paper for a non-photo Christmas design, at its list price for 50 (Zazzle charges the same per card at any quantity). Where the price leaves out the stamp, we added an 82¢ Forever stamp, which a 5x7 card in an envelope needs. Shutterfly's bulk-order guide says Mail for Me includes domestic postage, while its help page says postage is extra, so its row shows both.

ShipNote costs less per card than every card in the table, even the ones you stamp and mail yourself. On 100 cards the gap holds: Minted drops to $1.92 a card and Papier's folded card (a different card from the flat one in the table) to $1.95, both before the 82¢ stamp, and ShipNote is still $1.99 with First-Class postage and the mailing included.

For photo Christmas cards, the same comparison is in Christmas cards cheaper than Minted or Shutterfly.

Which non-photo Christmas cards does ShipNote have?

Painted scenes, classic type, faith cards and designs for families who keep both Hanukkah and Christmas. Every one prints your family or company name on the front, and none of them asks you for a photo. Pick one to start with it:

On the type-led designs you can switch the greeting with one tap, to Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings, or type your own. Change your mind later and add a photo? The photo designs start on our Christmas postcards page, at the same price.

How do you personalize a non-photo Christmas card?

Put your name on the front and write one message for the back. On ShipNote:

  1. Pick a design from the list above.
  2. Add your name. The Harris Family, Jamie and Sam, or your company name: it prints on the front, below the greeting.
  3. Write one message. Start it with [RECIPIENT] and each card greets its own person by name.
  4. Paste your list from a spreadsheet, a contacts export or last year's card list. Every address is checked against USPS records before you pay, and each card is mailed First-Class the next business day.

To arrive by Christmas Eve, order by December 14, 2026.

Send your Christmas cards →

Non-photo and photo Christmas postcards, addressed from your list and mailed with First-Class postage. $1.99 a card on 10 or more.

Who sends non-photo Christmas cards?

Anyone whose card is about the greeting rather than the picture. Non-photo cards are the default, not the exception, for a lot of senders:

  • Couples without kids, and singles. A photo card can feel like a family portrait; a painted card with two names on it does not.
  • Empty nesters and grandparents, writing to a list that is mostly their own friends.
  • Families who skipped the photo this year, or whose year was hard.
  • Businesses, whose clients want a card from the company, not a portrait. Logo cards are on our business holiday cards page.

When is another company the better choice?

When you want a card that is an object in its own right. Minted, Papier and Paper Culture sell flat and folded cards in an envelope, and Minted's designs come from independent artists. If a folded card in an envelope is the point, order there and budget an evening for the envelopes.

And if you write every card by hand anyway, a boxed set is cheapest of all: Hallmark's 40-count box was $18.99, about 47 cents a card, before 82¢ postage each. Nothing on it is personalized, and every envelope is yours to address.

For a personalized card to every household on your list, mailed for you, ShipNote's non-photo designs are the ones to pick.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get personalized Christmas cards without a photo?

ShipNote, Minted, Papier, The Stationery Studio, Shutterfly, Paper Culture and Zazzle all print non-photo Christmas cards with your name. ShipNote is the one that also addresses, stamps and mails every card from a list you paste, for $1.99 a card on 10 or more, postage included.

What are the cheapest non-photo Christmas cards?

A box of unprinted cards is cheapest, from 47 cents a card in Hallmark's 40-count box, but nothing is personalized and you address and stamp each one. For cards printed with your name, ShipNote is $1.99 a card on 10 or more with First-Class postage and the mailing included. Minted's non-photo cards were $2.48 a card on 50 before the stamp.

Are non-photo Christmas cards cheaper than photo cards?

Usually not. Minted, Papier and Shutterfly charged the same for a non-photo design as for a photo card of the same size and paper on November 13, 2026. On ShipNote every Christmas design is $1.99 a card on 10 or more, photo or not.

Is it OK to send a Christmas card without a family photo?

Yes. Plenty of people never send a photo card: couples, singles, empty nesters, families who skipped the photo this year, and businesses. A card with your name on the front and a real note on the back says as much as a photo, and arrives looking finished.

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