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In a world that’s almost abandoned letters, we hope holiday cards won’t go away too soon. However… Hallmark cards? Again? Honestly, I spend more time picking an e-card than some people do choosing paper cards. It’s the gesture that matters, yes, but when the card is out of the ordinary the gesture will be twice as appreciated.

Not that there’s anything wrong with traditional cards, especially if Auntie Mary has been collecting Santas for 20 years. However, special people deserve special treatment, and if you’ve got a relative or friend with a great (and slighly weird sense of humor), the Wondermark Greeting Cards are the best choice.

How could you resist the woes of Mapquest (the Wise Men who accidentaly end up in China), a materialistic little girl on Chanukkah or a shepard with a blog (pictured - “Oh, I am so blogging about this”)?

Each card features an reproduction of a 19th century engraving with an irreverent text and a matching holiday wish on the inside. Not for the humorously-challenged.

(P.S. If you look closely, you’ll see the website also offers cards for other occasions, so don’t forget about it after Christmas.)

How much under $29.99?
A lot: $6 for 3 cards on Wondermark.com.

Via BoingBoing

Whether it’s a good friend’s birthday or you just want to say “hello” the old-fashioned way to someone who lives far away, there’s more options out there than the traditional greeting cards we all know. Of course it’s the gesture that matters, but an unique card will always make a special gift. You’d remember a person who surprised you with something special, wouldn’t you?

1. First up, there’s the environmentally friendly version: the Grow-A-Note Greeting Card. It’s a two-in-one present: each card contains wildflower seeds, so you can basically plant it in a pot and watch flowers grow.

2. For a really personalized greeting, Your! puzzle is the way to go. The card is actually a blank puzzle and you are free to express yourself however you want… write a message or draw a picture or play a game of tic-tac-toe. The sky’s the limit! Recommended for people talented at painting.

3. Arts and crafts are fun, and if you’re good at woodcarving (or just want to give it a try), then a Carve Your Own Postcard is the best way to go. The card is actually a thin piece of wood and truly unique.

4. Every time you give a card, you must consider who you’re giving it to. And while the above cards are unique, they are also suited for anyone; the geek in your life would probably appreciate something that says “this is for you“. Geeky Greetings come in a lot of models, for different occasions, but they all have one thing in common: unless you’re at least a bit of a geek, you won’t get them. But trust me: any geek will love them.

5. The Bendy Friends are the perfect combination between a card and a souvenir: they’re like flat fridge magnets printed with typical Australian animals. Never sentenced to gather dust in a closet, they can cheer up any kitchen for years to come.

Business cards have always seemed… odd to me. I felt that having them made you important, but I also associated them with a certain lack of freedom - “the business world owns you now”.

Fortunately, many tech companies are still more laid back, and the people there would go crazy over the Circuitboard Business Card Case (well, as crazy as you can go about something like this). The techy guys can have serious business cards, but for that little touch of geekiness they can exact them from a motherboard-lookalike and no one will give them funny looks. They even come printed with different patterns, just like circuit boards come are different.

Unlike the circuitboard necklace though, they aren’t made from recycled materials. You won’t save the planet, you’ll just look cool.

How much under $29.99?
Some: $19.99 on ThinkGeek.com.

Maybe I should have featured the Sweet Nothings set. They’re adorable little messages of appreciation for when you can’t find your words or right timing. But ah, the Unmentionables sound like so much more fun.

While they remind me of the Stop Talking cards, the Unmentionables are much more varied and evil. Among the 20 cards are messages like “Please don’t procreate” and “Thanks for the raise. I’m going to treat myself to a pack of ramen”, one for almost for every situation, collected in an elegant little pack with little cartoon monsters to accurately express your rage even if you’re too polite or shy to say it upfront. All of them are so mean they’re hilarious and need to be seen even if you don’t plan on ever buying one. (But at less than $6… it’s oh so totally worth it.)

I would love to see the look of someone who finds one of these on their desk or table… Hm… I have a few friends I could try them on.

How much under $29.99?
A lot: $5.95 on ShineBoxPrint.com.

Via Outblush

Postcards, no matter how lovely they are, usually end up somewhere in a box, stashed away for “sake keeping” (aka never to be seen again). So an Australian company combined cards, magnets and souvenirs and got the very cool Bendy Friends, probably the only postcards that will have a better fate.

They’re bendy because they’re made from a special flexible foam and they’re friends because, really, look how cute the Australian animals pictured on them are. Even the frilled neck lizard looks adorable, not to mention the koala.

But what makes them real special is the fact that they’ve got embedded magnets. They’re basically fridge magnets you can mail. And, as we all know, a big white fridges is boring and is practically begging for a kangaroo to cheer it up, so I’m betting most of these will adorn kitchens in the months and years to come.

How much under $29.99?
A little: $27 for a pack of 10 on BendyFriends.com.au.

Buying gifts for your “green” friends is difficult. You can screw up with “regular” presents because, let’s admit it, most aren’t environmentally friendly at all.

A full guide of green gifts is a huge project (and there’s probably one there already), but I can offer a starting point: presents go with greeting cards, so why not buy a special kind. Grow-A-Note Greeting Cards are unique: inside they have easy-to-grow wildflower seeds. Each card is blank, but has instructions on how to grow the flowers, and since paper is biodegradable it won’t make an impact on the environment. You can even plant the whole card and the paper will just decompose as the flowers go.

How much under $29.99?
Some: $6.49 on Amazon.com.

Via TreeHugger

If you’re a fan of handmade things but are a bit, well, lazy, you’ll appreciate Your! puzzle.

You get a blank puzzle and three markers. The rest is up to you. You can write a party invitation on it, or a birthday wish, or a bitchy message to your neighbour. Either way, the recipient will have a few minutes of fun assemling it and you’ll be remembered as the creative one.

All you need is some artistic talent. It’s the gesture that counts, yeah, but an ugly card won’t impress anyone.

How much under $29.99?
A lot: $3.99 on Ona.com.

Via Outblush

Some people like to hear themselves speaking. Whatever they’re saying is the most interesting thing in the world and/or the absolute truth. Sometimes, other (obviously inferior) people want some peace and quiet or an opportunity to get a word in.

The inferior yet polite people want to get their point across in a subtle way. Saying “shut up” is a bit rough, so what to do? One woman thought about this: Allison Riley created the “Stop Talking” cards. They look just like business cards, but they only have one thing printed on them: “Stop talking”, in an elegant typeface. The speaker will definitely shut up after receiving one of these. Out of astonishment if not something else. Each set of 25 cards comes in a black and just as stylish case.

How much under $29.99?
A lot: $8.00 on CharlesandMarie.com.

I’ve heard countless complains that the internet killed the letter. It’s partly true - why would you send a letter if you can convey that same information much faster by e-mail? But there’s more than information out there. Letters and postcards are sometimes just a means to show people you care enough about them. And finding something else than a bill in your mailbox is a great surprise! Actually, the internet has contributed to snail mail lovers: Postcrossing is an awesome (and addictive!) project.

I never knew there was an alternative to normal cardboard postcards… until today. Carve Your Own Postcard suggests not only writing cards, but carving them. The “card” is a 4″ x 6″ piece of thin wood on which you can carve the message of your choice. Memories of carving “Mary + Tom = LOVE” on trees, anyone?

The price tag is not particularly small, but I think a special occasion would warrant buying one of this. As a postcard lover, I can tell you I would be extremely impressed.

How much under $29.99?
Some: $12 on APlusRStore.com.

Via uncrate

We featured this website once before - last Christmas, when they offered a bunch of very cool geeky greetings.

Valentine’s Day is drawing near and they’re back. Six Valentine’s Day Geeky Greetings - the kind you should only give your girlfriend if she’s a gamer or a fellow geek. Otherwise you’ll get a “Critical… hit… eh?” But I am sure that, if your partner is into RPGs, he or she will appreciate that you acknowledged his/her passion for gaming and found something more appropriate. Hallmark cards are nice, but much too common, I’m sorry to say.

The cards feature messages like “You have my heart. (I failed my dodge roll and was hit by Cupid’s arrows)”, “Happy Valentine’s Day… My Precious” (a la Gollum) and “chown -R you ./myheart” (translation kindly provided by my friend who knows Linux stuff: “CHange OWNer Recursive to “you” for my heart”)

How much under $29.99?
A lot: ~$3 on GeekyGreetings.com.