A friend asked me the other day if it was too late to order custom greeting cards. His company made a last minute decision to send out cards and he was worried they wouldn’t get to their destinations before Christmas and Hanukkah.
The good news was that his run quantity was relatively small, only about 150 cards. Too small a run to offset print, I suggested going the digital route. They can generally be done in 2 to 3 days after proof approvals. You can choose whether you want to include matching envelopes.
He put in an order this morning and they’re scheduled to ship to him on Wednesday or Thursday. He’ll receive them on Thursday or Friday and he plans to get them into the mail by the weekend. If the Postal Service does it’s job, they should start arriving on the 19th of the month.
Larger quantities will require offset printing your holiday greeting cards. Turn around times are a bit longer, up to 5 days, depending on the job specifications. They can also be bulk-mailed to your recipients. It’s likely though that if you order them now, they’ll start arriving at their destinations just after the 25th.