What to Write in a Christmas Card

A Christmas card works when it says one specific thing. Not a summary of your year, not a stock greeting anyone could have written: one line that only applies to the person reading it. Two or three sentences is plenty, and the specific line is the one they remember.

Every order we send includes a free personalised gift card, so this is the question we get asked more than any other in December. Here is what to put on it.

For family and close friends

Write the way you talk. The instinct to reach for something formal is what produces cards that sound like they came with the box.

The shape that works: a warm opener, one specific thing from the year, and a forward look.

• "Merry Christmas. The lunch at yours in March is still the best day we had all year. Here is to more of that in 2027."
• "Happy Christmas to all four of you. Thank you for the school run rescues, which happened more often than either of us will admit."
• "Merry Christmas. It has been a big year and you handled it better than most people would have. Enjoy the break, you have earned it."

If the year has been hard for them, say so plainly rather than brightly. "I know this year has not been the one you wanted. Thinking of you at Christmas" lands better than forced cheer.

For someone you will not see

Distance is the thing to name. A card that acknowledges the gap does more than one that ignores it.

• "Merry Christmas from all of us. The table is smaller without you on it. Next year."
• "Thinking of you today more than usual. Have a lovely Christmas and call when you can."

For a colleague

Warm, specific, and about the work. You are thanking someone for a year of showing up, so name what they actually did.

• "Merry Christmas. Thanks for picking up the slack in June when it all went sideways. It did not go unnoticed."
• "Happy Christmas. It has been a much better year for having you on the team. Enjoy the break."
• "Thanks for a great year. Genuinely glad you joined us. Have a good one."

Avoid anything that reads as a performance review. "Your KPIs were excellent this quarter" is not a Christmas message.

For a client

Thank them for the business without restating it as a transaction. One sentence of appreciation, one of warmth, and stop.

• "Merry Christmas from all of us at [company]. Thank you for a great year of working together. We are looking forward to 2027."
• "Thank you for your business this year and for being straightforward to deal with, which is rarer than it should be. Have a lovely Christmas."
• "Wishing you and the team a good break. Thanks for everything this year."

Sign it from a person, not a department. A card from "the team at [company]" reads as a mailout. A card from a named person reads as a card. If you are sending to a whole client team, name the person you actually deal with in the message even if the gift goes to the office.

When you have thirty to get through

Write them in groups rather than one long sitting. Do all the client cards together, then all the staff cards, because the tone is consistent inside each group and you stop rewriting the same sentence from scratch.

Use the same three-part shape for each one and change only the specific line. That single detail is the entire difference between a personal card and a form letter, and it takes about eight seconds to think of.

If you genuinely cannot find a specific thing for someone, a short warm line is better than a padded one. "Merry Christmas, hope you get a proper break" is fine. Three sentences of filler is worse than one honest one.