Christmas

2008 Product News

• More than 2,000 individual Christmas cards, including the popular Cards With Sound that play favorite Christmas songs and audio clips from holiday movies and TV shows and Recordable Cards With Music that allow the sender to record a 10-second message prior to a pre-recorded song. Both formats also offer versions that allow the sender to add a 4-by-6-inch photo.
• Other innovative cards including Cards With Motion that play a fully animated two-second scene, Spin-a-majigs™ that spring into motion with the turn of a crank, Cards With Sound and Lights, and Candy Greeting Cards that come with 1-2 ounces of popular candies.
• More than 400 culturally relevant cards including more than 100 Mahogany cards for African Americans and more than 300 Sinceramente Hallmark cards for Hispanic consumers. Both lines also offer Cards With Sound.
• Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED™ and UNICEF cards that provide a way for consumers to give back during the holidays. A portion of the sales of (PRODUCT) RED cards support the Global Fund, which fights AIDS in Africa, and a portion of the sale of UNICEF cards help improve the lives of children around the world.
• More than 380 Christmas boxed card designs. Cards offer many extras including some with sound or motion, some to which photos can be added, and many that can be imprinted in stores with the senders’ names. Many of the designs feature more environmentally responsible packaging.
• Six gift wrap collections featuring papers with foils and glitter, bags with attachments such as ribbons and tassels, and dozens of accessories to dress up a package including tags, jingle bells, snowflakes, greenery, bows and ribbons. One collection includes gift bags with light and sound. Peek-buster technology (motion-activated sound) livens up three bags; when someone tries to peek, a voice lets them know they’ve been caught in the act.
• More than 300 all-new Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments featuring three new series, dozens of favorite licensed characters, and lots of the magic – including ornaments with sound, motion and lights.
• Hundreds of holiday gifts and decorations including the Season’s Treatings Singing Snowmen; holiday music CDs including Sheryl Crow Home for Christmas available at a special price; the Happy Tappers collection of singing and dancing holiday characters; snow globes – many with light, motion and sound; plush characters; ornaments; books; gourmet chocolates and foods; photo frames; Instant Scrapbooks; and Hallmark Gold Crown® gift cards.
• Everything needed for a festive holiday party including eight distinctive paper partyware patterns and unique invitations, doilies, place cards, food markers and decorative accessories.

Holiday History

Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. In the third century, efforts were made to find out the date of the Nativity, but only in the year 336 A.D. was the date of the Dec. 25 festival set in commemoration of Jesus’ birth. Pope Julius formally selected Dec. 25 as the day of Christmas in 349 A.D.

Roman Catholics, Lutherans, members of the Dutch Reformed and Anglican churches, and those of the German sects were most responsible for establishing Christmas traditions in America. Christmas customs spread with the westward expansion of the United States and by the late 1800s had become firmly entrenched in American society.

In Stores

Available at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores nationwide. Use the store locator on Hallmark.com to find the nearest Hallmark Gold Crown store.