Christmas Cards 1950's

Christmas cards have been around since the 19th century, but they didn't really begin to challenge the postcard in popularity until the 1920's. The sale of Christmas cards over postcards increased each decade. Even during the depression Christmas cards were favored over the less expensive postcard. But, it wasn't until the 1950's that Christmas card sending reached it's peak.

In 1950's the country was thrilled to be done with war, it was a new optimistic decade and there were many families in the suburbs with more space and money then they'd ever had. Christmas was now a bigger event and so was the sending of Christmas cards.


Christmas cards in the 1950's were generally brightly colored, light-hearted and joyful. Hallmark introduced a line of comic Christmas cards during this time that were popular. Christmas cards were sent to everyone people knew: family, neighbors, friends, bridge club members, school faculty, co-workers and old buddies from the war. The lists were long and it was a lot to keep track of.

2 separate Christmas Card Record books

During this time many products were created to display, store and keep records of a person's card sending. I have a couple of these organization booklets shown here that were given away from M&M Savings in Springfield, Ohio.

back of record book

inside of Christmas Card Record

Christmas card sending reached a peak in 1958 in the U.S. and it's never since been matched.

Do you send Christmas cards? I love the tradition of sending them and receiving them. I like to have them displayed. It's certainly something that has faded over the years, but I hope it will always continue.

Here are a few more Christmas cards from the 1950's. Maybe they'll get you in the mood to send some Christmas cards.