Easy Christmas card envelope lettering: Make mailboxes merry
Part of the fun of sending Christmas cards is making pretty envelopes. That’s why our creative team came up with an easy-to-use template with fonts and holiday icon suggestions that will make hand lettering holiday card envelopes easy!
Grab a friend or another Christmas card enthusiast, get out your markers and set out to make mailboxes happy.
Inspired? Create and share by tagging @HallmarkStores.
What you’ll need for your envelope lettering
- Free printable
- Ruler
- Pencils
- Crayola markers
- Scrap paper or sketchbook
- Scissors
- Eraser
- Glue stick
- Christmas cards
Getting started with envelope lettering
We’re a big fan of this printable template. There are a variety of styles to choose from when lettering envelopes, and there are lots of cute holiday icons to decorate with. But before doing anything with your envelopes, we suggest sketching out little thumbnails of possible compositions:
- Maybe the address is in the center, with a larger poinsettia off to the left.
- Maybe the whole address is inside the shape of a present with a little bow on top.
- We like mixing fonts sometimes—the name can be one of the more formal, cursive fonts, while the rest of the address can be a casual print font.
Pro tip: When lettering your Christmas card envelope, keep enough room on the top right for a stamp, and remember to include a return address. The return address can go on the back flap of the envelope if you would like to use the full space on the front for your envelope art.
Tracing letterforms
Once you’ve chosen a font (or two) to use, start by using a ruler and pencil to mark out the lines your letters will go on. We’ve included blue guides on our template for you to follow. Mark out three lines using the ruler. They’ll help guide you where to draw the letters.
- The bottom line will be your baseline, where most letters will sit.
- The top will be the highest point of your letters.
- The middle line is your x-height—the height of lowercase letters.
Since addresses typically have three lines—the name, the street, and the city/state/ZIP code—repeat the step above two more times.
Now we’re ready to pencil in the letters!
When hand lettering holiday envelopes, it’s a great idea to sketch them out with a pencil first. As you pencil in each letter on your envelope, look at the template to see how each letter is formed. The three ruled lines can help tremendously in figuring out where to put each curve and stroke. It won’t be a perfect match, and that’s OK! You also have the freedom to improvise.
Remember to keep everything lightly sketched out. It’ll be easier to erase if you have a mistake or if you need to move things for spacing reasons.
At this point, you can also lightly pencil in any embellishments or icons you plan on using to decorate your Christmas card envelope.
Marker time
Once you’ve traced the letterforms in pencil onto your envelope, it’s time to use markers. This step can be scary because it feels so permanent, but trust us, it’s going to be OK.
If you plan on using a colored marker, you might want to lightly erase your pencil marks so that you can still see everything, but it won’t show through as much (markers are a little transparent).
Additionally, test out your marker on a spare sheet of paper to make sure it’s not dry, and that it’s the correct color and desired thickness. We used a thick Crayola marker for the name on this example, then a thinner one to write the address since the letters got much smaller.
Once you’ve traced over everything with markers, let it dry and set for a good 30 minutes. Test a small part with your eraser to make sure it won’t smudge, then erase the leftover pencil marks.
Add holiday icons
A little extra holiday cheer makes the envelope that more festive and special to receive in the mail. We included some cute Christmas icons and shapes to choose from when decorating!
Like we said before, they can show up anywhere on the envelope. If you’re not sure where to start, you could try:
- A line of houses below the address
- Two pine trees to the left of the address
- Putting the address inside a wreath or present
Also, look at the card you’re sending. There might be something on the front or inside of the card you would like use or complement when decorating the envelope.
These motifs can easily be made with markers and cut paper. If your markers are more transparent and the envelope is a brighter color like red or green, you may consider adding a cut paper decoration so there is enough contrast for it to show up on the envelope.
Use any scrap construction paper or computer paper to cut out shapes, then use a marker to add in details. Simply glue on using a glue stick!
More Pro Tips
- To make envelope lettering easier, instead of lettering the whole address, just focus on the recipient’s name. For the rest, use your regular handwriting.
- Enlist some friends to help and bribe them with your favorite Christmas treats, like these Snowman Cake Pops, Peppermint Ice Cream or buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies.
- If you have a lot of envelopes to letter, focus on one step of the process at a time. Pencil in all your envelopes, then use a marker on everything.
- Need ideas for what to write in a Christmas card? You know we’ve got you.
Looking for more ways to get creative this holiday season? Let’s do this!
- We put together a bunch of ideas for Christmas care packages. Check them out here.
- Looking to level-up your tree decorating? We have photo stylist tips for you. [link when posted]
- Put some adventure in your advent tradition with these family-friendly activities.
- Is this baby’s first Christmas? We have simple tips and zero mom guilt waiting right here.
If you try any of them out, don’t forget to tag us using @HallmarkStores.
Shop Christmas Cards
See allYou may also like
See more-
Birthday Free birthday coloring pages to add more fun to the celebration
The best birthdays are the ones filled with lots of little treats and fun activities, from sunup to sundown. If you’r...
-
Family Tips and ideas for preserving and displaying family recipes
Family recipes are a special kind of priceless heirloom—the kind that transport us back to our favorite times with ou...
-
Mother's Day Meaningful, personal Mother's Day gift ideas for every mom you know
It can be tough to come up with gift ideas for Mom. Most of us want to give her something meaningful: a gift that sho...
-
Father's Day Celebrating two dads on Father's Day: Tips and ideas inspired by real families
As a dad, I appreciate Father’s Day. Even though my family has never made a really big deal out of it, it’s always so...
-
Thank You 100+ teacher appreciation gift ideas to say “thanks for all you do!”
In 6th grade, my homeroom teacher made us illustrated, laminated bookmarks—each one a custom collage of our interests...
-
Christmas Dr. Finkelstein’s Lab Tree Topper
Fans of Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, we have a frightfully fun new addition for your tree! Kee...
-
Graduation Graduation gift ideas for every level of education
My little brother starts kindergarten this year, and I’m already bracing myself for the tears—mine, not his. I know t...
-
Lifestyle Free printable When Calls the Heart Bingo card to celebrate the Season 11 premiere!
Who's ready for a Heartie Party? You know we are! So much so, we created a bingo card to add a whole extra layer of f...
-
Christmas Star Wars: A New Hope™️ Collection
You don’t have to travel to a galaxy far, far away to experience an epic adventure! Each stocking holder performs sce...
-
Christmas Wreath of Memories Keepsake Ornament
Get a special behind-the-scenes look at how Keepsake Artists Gregor Benedetti and Rob Stanphill collaborated on the d...
-
Christmas Howliday Helpers First in Series Keepsake Ornament
Do you want the inside scoop on an im-paws-ibly cute new series? We’ll throw you a bone—Keepsake Artist Sharon Visker...
-
Christmas Keepsake Ornaments ShowToppers Mini Collection
We’re so excited to introduce our new ShowToppers collection. Featuring three unique designs, each tree topper is int...
-
Christmas Keepsake Ornaments North Pole Village Table Decoration
Keepsake Artist Sharon Visker is here with a special delivery of Christmas magic! Hear how she brought this bustling ...
-
Christmas Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets™️ Storytellers Collection
Ready for a little magic? Featuring light, sound and real dialogue from the movie, Harry, Dobby, Ron, Hermione and th...
-
Christmas Disney The Haunted Mansion Collection
Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion! Featuring interactive light, music and dialogue from the classic Di...
-
Christmas The Grinch Wreath
This amazing motion-activated wreath may not steal Christmas, but it’ll definitely steal the show! Complete with ligh...
-
Christmas Twelve Days of Christmas First in Series Keepsake Ornament
Watch as Keepsake Artist Gregor Benedetti and Senior Design Technician R.J. Stebbins collaborate on the first ornamen...
-
Christmas Christmas Is… First in Series Keepsake Ornament
Keepsake Artist Tim Bishop didn’t have to go too far to find inspiration for his first Keepsake Ornament series. Duri...
-
Christmas Cup of Cozy First in Series Keepsake Ornament
Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what the new Cup of Cozy series is made of! Hear how Keepsake Artist Iman...
-
Arts, Crafts & DIY 9 DIY memory box ideas to keep special days close at heart
Every incredible trip, amazing party and huge milestone comes with its own unique memories and little objects worth h...