Before we begin discussing what a Christmas card holder is we should start right at the
 beginning, way back in 1843. A chap called Sir Henry Cole, who worked for the Public Record Office, now called the Post Office tried to work out a way for ordinary people to use the service for which he was an Assistant Keeper.

A friend of his called John Horsley designed the first Christmas card which the pair sold for a shilling each. They sold around a 1,000 in that first Christmas. The first Christmas card had three panels with the outer two depicting people caring for the poor, with the inside panel showing a Christmas dinner scene.

Obviously, things have moved on significantly in the past 160 years, we still send Cards in great numbers and this poses an issue for those receiving large numbers of cards each year.

What to do with so many Christmas cards?

Those of you who are lucky enough to receive a volume of cards know that ledges, mantels and any spare space capable of hosting a card will be requisitioned for the display of cards. Some people take it a step further and keep ornate Christmas cardholders to use year-after-year.

These holders are positioned on display and add the festive feel of a room, they are capable of being used year-after-year and hold anywhere up to 14 cards at one time.

Novel ways of storing Christmas cards

In our quest to bring you the most novel, useless or funny ways to store Christmas cards we found the following solutions (some of them we don’t advise you try for fear of looking a little odd);

• Create a folder of received cards, laminated both front and back for visitors to flick through like a guest book.

• Create bespoke Christmas card pin boards complete with ribbons to hold the cards in place. Spread said pin boards around the room with the best effect of standing them on the floor against a wall.

• Blu-tack your cards to the wall creating a mural of Father Christmas

• Buy a card display unit from a retail display supplier and allow people to peruse your selection of cards as if they were in a shop

• Sort your cards by colour order and stack them around the house in mood or colour corners for people to go when they are feeling a little green or red, or blue – you get the idea.

We think the novel ways of storing your cards this Yuletide should be enough to convince you that a professionally printed Christmas cardholder or two is the best solution for storing Christmas cards.