Christmas cards spread cheer across Whanganui

Whanganui residents have been busy sending cards to their friends and loved ones. Photo / Bevan Conley

With Christmas only days away Whanganui has been hard at work buying, selling, and making Christmas cards to give to loved ones for the holiday.

Owner of local card business Awhi Mai Creations Petrina Clark said the holiday season had been a busy time and she had been restocking supplies at local retailers this week.

“We’ve been going for three Christmas seasons and every time Awhi Mai Creations have been out there, our cards are well received,” she said.

The business started off selling at the river markets three seasons ago and now sells at retailers like Paper Plus and New World here and across the country.

“We’re definitely selling a lot more in retail than we ever were in markets.”

She said that was thanks to her growing relationships with local retailers and people wanting cards in te reo Māori.

The Little Shop owner Yvonne Nyenhuis said locally made cards had been a hit in her store.

She said all of the cards sold in her store were locally made and had been very popular with customers.

“People like coming in and buying locally made things,” she said.

As well as buying local, people have also been creating their own cards.

Paula Theron from H&A Print said artists to everyday people had been using their services to print cards.

“Some of them are businesses that are going to send them out to their own customers ... we’ve had families, people who have had artwork who are selling them and the people who are [printing] them for their own personal use,” she said.

The Whanganui District Library has been hosting card-making workshops for all ages.

Children’s librarian Ellen Keen said roughly 100 people showed up to the workshop, including about 65 children with parents in tow.

She said she went to Sustainable Whanganui and got Vintage Christmas cards for the kids to cut up and make into something new.

“It’s been really good,” she said.

However, for some, cardmaking wasn’t as big of a deal.

Poppy Cards owner Stephanie Bell said Christmas was not a big time of year for them.

The company is based out of Whanganui and distributes to around 120 resellers around Aotearoa.

Bell said while they do make Christmas cards, the holidays were not a big part of the business.

“We just do a small Christmas card range every year and that’s picked up by a reasonable amount of resellers,” she said.

However, she said the Christmas market was difficult for boutique sellers like her because people tended to buy Christmas cards in packs from large chain stores and supermarkets.

In contrast, Poppy sells its cards individually and mostly in gift stores and independent bookstores including Paige’s Bookstore and Country Lane Originals in Whanganui.

“We get some sales of Christmas cards, which are people wanting something a little bit different.”

Along with this, some Whanganui residents didn’t feel the need to gift cards.

Whanganui resident Daniel Austin. Photo / Finn Williams

Daniel Austin said he doesn’t send out Christmas cards and never really has.

He said he doesn’t because his family doesn’t send cards either, so it never became a part of their holiday traditions.

Hamish Wing also said he doesn’t send out Christmas cards.

His main reason for not sending cards is because he doesn’t celebrate Christmas in general.

Whanganui resident Hamish Wing. Photo / Finn Williams

“I used to as a kid but not so much anymore,” he said.

He is part of the Hare Krishna religion so Christmas isn’t something he celebrates in line with his faith.

However, he and his friends in the religion still come together on Christmas Day for a big get-together and meal.

As part of the day, Wing said he’ll still send seasons greetings to family, but prefers to do so verbally.

“I’ll call my parents, I’ll call my friends but that’s as far as I go really,” he said.