Vintage Holiday Crafts and Free Printable Greeting Cards

Christmas is a time for children, so kids made obvious subjects for vintage Christmas cards. These little girls and boys are particularly cute, even if they do only represent a portion of the world’s population. From looking at these holiday cards (and the rest of my cards in my collection) you’d think that no other ethnicities existed before 1940. My apologies if you’re looking for something other than fair-skinned children. When it comes to vintage images, they’re hard to find. (UPDATE: I finally found an image of a non-fair-skinned child! She’s posted in the first row below.)

Click a vintage Christmas card below to view and download a larger version:

I think dogs used to be less popular than they are now, because it’s much easier to find vintage images of cats. But I did manage to find these nice examples of vintage dog art that span quite a few decades. My favorite is probably the one with Santa having to bribe a bulldog with a dog biscuit. It isn’t the highest quality of the bunch as far as artistic value goes. But I like the silliness of Santa having to beg a dog just to deliver his toys.

Click the vintage dog art below to view and download larger versions on some of the images (sizes vary):

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think men were in charge of designing these vintage Halloween cards, because each features a pretty woman! Some of the cards have hand-lettered type treatments, too, and are extraordinary examples of commercial calligraphy. Several also share a theme that seems to have died out over the years. Apparently there was a legend that said if you saw a man’s face in a mirror on Halloween, he was your true love. That belief was a little hard to sustain in the cold light of day, so that probably explains why you never hear it any more.

Click the vintage Halloween women below to view and download the larger versions: