Top 5 Holiday Card Makers

Personalize your holiday greetings with these shareware programs.

Linda L. Grubbs, PCWorld.com

1. Free Card Multimedia Greeting Cards: Shopping around for holiday cards that express the particular sentiments you want to convey can be a time-consuming task. Boxed card sets typically depict Santa or bear only a generic "Happy Holidays" greeting. This greeting card maker lets you personalize your holiday greetings with text, sound, and graphics. You can send e-mail, import graphics, and record messages from a simple interface. The Slim Show multimedia runtime engine powers e-cards created with the program, and you can choose from four transitions for the slide show. You can also print the card or save it as an.exe file.

I imported a bitmap image and selected a music file from the program's collection to go with it (the program supports only.avi,.bmp,.mid, and.wav). I then e-mailed it to my own e-mail address to test it. You can use your default e-mail client, your MAPI messaging system, or an SMTP server over the network to send greetings. The e-mail arrived with no problem, but the sound quality was a little scratchy. My only real complaint is that the program offers no options for changing the font size or color, so you can't give the greeting a little more pizzazz--but then again, you can't get everything for free.

2. E-Motional Greeting Card Creator: Break out the photos of the kids and get ready to send them to Grandma. This greeting card maker has everything you might expect to find, including an automatic e-mail function (available if your e-mail client is MAPI compatible), the ability to record or add sound files, and a preview window that let you see the cards before you send them. An intuitive setup program guides you though the five-step process of creating a personalized greeting card. You can change the font or background color and decide where the text message should be placed. You can resize the image or adjust the image quality as well. What I like most about this program is that it allows you to import images directly from a digital camera or scanner (TWAIN compatible) with a simple click. The program costs $20; you can use it free of charge for seven days, and then you'll get a reminder asking you to register it.

3. FunE-Cards: Christmas Set 1: Got a minute? That's all it takes to create a greeting card with this program. Pick from one of four cards (the company's Web site has more) that come with the program, and then type in your own message or select from the provided list of greetings. A wizard helps you create the card and allows you to add sound and import your own images or video. You can send your card as an e-mail attachment, but you'll have to register the product (for $10) first. And once you register, you can create an unlimited number of cards.

4. Multimedia Greeting Card Maker: This easy-to-use program comes with three animated holiday cards and one static graphic that you can replace with any image you like. Personalize the image by inserting scrolling text or sound (.mid or.wav). When you're done creating your card, save it and then e-mail it to family and friends. The registered version costs $25 but includes six more sets of music, voice, and graphics files.

5. Greeting Card Express: You're almost finished filling out cards for your holiday list, but you suddenly realize that you're short a card. This HTML-based card maker can help you on both fronts. It comes with a set of "welcome cards" that bear holiday, birthday, get well, romance, and friendship messages. An Explorer-like interface makes importing graphics and text very simple. I really liked how easy it was to manipulate photos and text boxes; I could resize them and position them anywhere on the card. A thumbnail view allows you to quickly choose a card, and the included spelling checker prevents you from making embarrassing mistakes. You also get stationery for borders, notes, and other fun stuff. You can create and send up to ten free greeting cards by e-mail with the trial version. The full version costs $20, and there's a wide selection of designer packs on the company's Web site.