How to Create and Print Your Company’s Holiday Cards and Invitations In-House

Holiday cards and invitations can become a large expense for businesses. Printing these items in-house on your multi-function printer or copier can save your business money as well as time, especially if you need to get those cards out sooner rather than later.

In this post, our Marketing Director Denise Dennewitz shares how to use Microsoft Publisher and your multi-function printer to create beautiful holiday cards and invitations. Other publishing programs such as Adobe InDesign could also be used.

1. Select and order paper

 

Our paper specialists recommend ordering a cover stock 60 lb paper.  If you are printing in color, white is your best option. Remember that the color of your paper will affect how a color design looks when printed.

2. Design your card or invitation

 

First, you will want to open Microsoft Publisher and create a new blank document. You will want to divide your page into four quadrants. An easy way to do this is to insert a 2 x 2 table as shown in the image below. This will create two cards per page.

 

Inserting a 2 x 2 table in Microsoft Publisher

 

Next, you will want to insert a duplicate page (this becomes the inside of your card). In the bottom left quadrant of your page, you will want to insert an image for the cover of your card. You can choose to insert an image you already have, possibly a wintry photo of your business, a holiday picture of your staff, clip art or a generic holiday photo. Microsoft Publisher has a gallery of clip art and photos available for use, but if you do not see one you like, you can find reasonably priced quality stock photos on websites such as 123rf.com and pixabay.com.

 

Insert a holiday picture in Microsoft Publisher

 

After choosing and inserting and image, you will want to insert a text box with a holiday greeting. The front of your card or invitation is now complete!

 

Insert greeting on the front of your holiday card in Publisher

 

Next, group together the image and greeting. Copy and paste the grouped image and text into bottom right quadrant.
Group your holiday card image and greeting

Be sure to leave an approximately 1/8″ gutter on either side of the middle line. This allows for easier cutting of the cards when complete.

Add a gutter between your cards

Now we need to create the inside of the card. You will go to the second (blank) page of your document. Insert a text box in the bottom left quadrant of the page and add your message.  Then copy this box and paste it in the bottom right quadrant of the page. Not sure what to choose for a greeting? We found a great list of 44 holiday greetings appropriate for businesses. If you are creating a holiday party invitation, take a look at these ideas on what to write and what information to include.

Add a gutter between your cards

Your card design is now complete!

3. Print your holiday card or invitation

Place your 60 lb. cover stock in the paper tray of your multi-function printer. In the print dialogue box, select duplex top binding.

Print Dialog Box Duplex Printing

In the media settings, I recommend selecting high-quality and 106-135 g/m2 settings to ensure a high-quality finished product.

It is always a good idea to do a test print of one card before printing the entire run. This gives you a chance to make sure that the text and photo are displaying just as you would like. It also gives you the opportunity to proofread the card and show it to several other people to proofread.

After you have printed a test copy and proofread, you are now ready to print, cut and fold all of your cards.

Ta-da! You have a professional holiday card or invitation for you business that did not cost you hundreds of dollars.

Finished Holiday Card

 

The ability to print items like this in-house makes having a color multi-function printer indispensable and cost effective. If your business does not already have a color copier or printer and is located in the Canton, Akron, Youngstown or Western Pennsylvania, contact us.

Categories: Education

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