Vintage Christmas Cards - 1940s and 1950s

I have a large box of cards that my grandmother gave me. Most of these cards belonged to her older sister, my great aunt. I love looking through these cards and reading the little notes that people wrote, seeing all the different styles of cards, and marveling at how much better everyone's handwriting was in that generation.

Since it's the holiday season, I thought it would be fun to share some of these cards throughout the month. I'm starting with a sampling below that is from the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the cards in my box have dates on them, because Aunt Alma kept most of the envelopes, but the cards in this post do not have specific dates on them.

I love this sweet little illustration. Below is the inside of this card.

A Noel themed card.

This is a nice example of a limited color palette being used well.

This is the inside of the sleigh ride card. As I've been looking through my box of cards and picking out ones to scan, I've been noticing that there was definitely a trend of couples having cards printed with their names on the inside.

Most of the cards are simply folded paper, but this was a good example of a cut-out design that was still in good condition. The stocking would flip open to display the message below.

I love the lettering style for the "Best Wishes" message.

A retro white Christmas tree.

I really liked this mailbox illustration card. For one, the artist used a dark teal and gold color theme instead of the standard red and green color theme for the holiday. The card was also an odd tall and narrow shape. Also, I absolutely love the script style for the message on the inside. Beautiful lettering. The front is on the left and the inside is on the right.

Here's another example of a card that is a tall and narrow design. The front is on the left and the inside is on the right.

Enjoy! More cards will be posted throughout the month of December.