The Very Best Animated Christmas Cards

Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Very Best Animated Christmas Cards

The Best Animated Christmas Cards

Save time and money this holiday season by sending an online animated Christmas card instead of a traditional printed card. Also known as e-cards, these online cards incorporate short movie clips, music and personalized text to create a one-of-a-kind greeting. Some cards can be personalized with your own photos and audio messages. E-cards are available in a variety of styles and themes to fit the personality of the sender and the recipient.

Jacquie Lawson Cards

This website's unique features include beautiful animated paintings of holiday scenes; original music by Mike Hughes-Chamberlain; and whimsical cartoons of a cat named Fluff and two dogs named Chudleigh and Bertie.

"The Sugar Plum Fairy" card shows a tiny fairy decorating an evergreen tree to the tune of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy." In "Winter Waltz," two dogs, a cat and a bird make a snowman while Chopin's "Minute Waltz" plays in the background. One card becomes a matching game; another is an interactive puzzle. Most of the cards feature secular themes, although "The Christmas Tree" includes an angel that touches glass bulbs on a Christmas tree to bring the Nativity story to life.

The website currently has 25 Christmas e-cards; new ones are added each holiday season. An annual membership, which costs $12, enables you to personalize and send unlimited e-cards for one year.

Hallmark

Hallmark has 91 different cards divided into four categories: classics, humorous, cute and religious. Some cards feature popular television and movie characters like Hannah Montana and Charlie Brown. Other cards include beautiful artwork from Marjolein Bastin or Thomas Kincaid. There's a card that includes a clip from a holiday episode of the "I Love Lucy" show and an animated "pop up" Christmas card that can be customized with your family's photos. The "Polar Bear Delivery" e-card can be personalized by adding your recipient's name to its video. Slideshow e-cards allow you to incorporate family photos to create a virtual scrapbook.

Some of the basic e-cards on the website are free and do not require an annual membership. Cards with music and animation start at $.99 for non-members; members can send them at no charge. A annual membership costs $9.99. They also offer Mobile Greetings, a service which allows you to create and send e-cards directly from some smart phones for $.99 each.

American Greetings

American Greetings has 36 different cards. Some of the e-cards can be personalized with your own photos or text or audio message. "Christmas Jukebox" allows you to add the recipient's name to the e-card's music.

Some of their cards are hilarious. One example includes a spoof of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This," where a man sings "I Can't Wrap This" while trying to package teddy bears, hula hoops and other hard-to-wrap gifts. The "I'm Too Festive" e-card is a spoof on Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" song.

The site has serious e-cards too, including the touching story that accompanies "God's Little Messenger" and the e-card that features Jim Brickman's version of the classic song "O Holy Night."

Some cards can be shared on Facebook with just a click of a button.

American Greetings offers a two week free trial of their e-card service. After that, it costs $15.99, which allows you to send an unlimited number of cards for one year. Their subscription also covers cards sent and created on smartphones.

Cautions

Stick with well-known, reputable websites when creating and sending e-cards. Some lesser known sites may transmit viruses when the recipient downloads e-cards.

Old computer systems

Thursday, January 30, 2014