Christmas Gift Cards for Your Business

When should I order gift cards for Christmas?

Count back from the day you want the cards on your counter. Production takes 7 working days from proof approval and payment, delivery comes after that, and before it you need time for your artwork and proof. Then add a few spare days.

Working days are Monday to Friday, and bank holidays and the Christmas and New Year period don’t count. The 7 days start the day after you’ve approved your proof and paid, and anything after 4.30pm counts as the next working day. Our terms give an example: approve and pay on a Monday morning, and a 7 working day order is dispatched on the Wednesday of the following week.

Before that, allow time for your artwork and the free email proof. Files that need fixing are the most common cause of delays, and each day a proof waits for approval is a day added at the end. If your cards carry numbers or codes from your own spreadsheet, production starts when the file arrives set up as we need it.

Express takes 3 to 4 working days: ask us for cost and availability. That’s the time to dispatch, not to delivery. Delivery is usually the next working day to England, and some areas of Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the offshore islands can take 2 to 3 working days more. Someone has to be there to sign for it.

For a set date, our guide to lead times suggests 5 working days as a safety margin. Ask us for this year’s last order dates at sales@cpcards.co.uk, and tell us the day you need the cards when you ask for a quote: we’ll confirm whether we can meet it before you commit.

Carriers and wallets ordered with your cards are produced in line with them and arrive with them. If you add a postal proof, allow around 5 working days for it before the full order goes ahead.

Should Christmas gift cards have a Christmas design?

Usually not. Print an all-year design and put the Christmas look on the carrier or wallet the card goes in. A card printed with snowflakes looks out of date in January, while an all-year card sells in any month, and next Christmas you only need new carriers.

Christmas is a big occasion for gift cards, but not the only one. In the State of the Nation 2025 survey by the Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA), 45% of UK gift card buyers had bought one for Christmas in the previous 12 months, and 66% for a birthday.

A Christmas design can still make sense if you only sell gift cards at Christmas. It’s a separate design, with its own minimum of 25 cards, so order only what you expect to sell.

Whichever you choose, leave the year off the card: see what to leave off a gift card.

Which carrier or wallet suits Christmas gift cards?

A landscape wallet suits cards sold over the counter: it holds the card, takes a handwritten message and fits a standard envelope. For cards hung on a display, use a euro slot carrier. Either way, the Christmas design goes on the carrier and the card stays as it is.

1. The cover carries the Christmas design. Folded, the wallet is 75 x 105mm.
2. A handwritten message goes inside, so the card is handed over as a present.
3. A machined crease lets it fold shut. Opened out flat, it’s 75 x 210mm.
4. Two die cut slits take the card’s top-left and bottom-right corners, as on our wallet template.

A wallet also answers a doubt many shoppers have. Of UK consumers who didn’t buy a gift card in December 2024, 47.9% said gift cards aren’t thoughtful enough as a gift (Gift Card & Voucher Association Consumer Report, January 2025). The association’s State of the Nation 2025 report names themed packaging and personalised messages as ways to answer that.

• Landscape wallet, as drawn above. For presents sold over the counter or sent by post.
• Euro slot display carrier. A6 (148 x 105mm), with a die cut slot to hang on a retail hook or spinner, and slits to hold the card. For a display by the till.

Our card carriers and wallets page has the other two formats, the standard display carrier and the card sleeve, and the prices for all four.

Every format is printed in full colour on 350gsm silk board and supplied unattached, so you add the cards yourself. The cards stay the same all year: next Christmas, order new carriers, and in between use everyday ones, or none.

Carriers are priced separately: standard display carriers start at £40.00 +vat for 25. Ask for the cards and carriers together and we quote them as one job. Our in-house design service can set up the carrier and the card together, and our guide on how to design a gift card carrier covers the layout. Carrier colours can look slightly different from the card’s, because the same CMYK colours read slightly warmer on board.

How many gift cards should I order for Christmas?

If your card has an all-year design, order for the year rather than for December: cards left after Christmas keep selling, and the price per card falls as the quantity goes up. Most small businesses start with 100 to 250 cards.

If you sold gift cards last Christmas, start from that number. With a Christmas design, order only what you expect to sell by Christmas Eve. Tell us how many cards and how many carriers or wallets you’d like when you ask for a quote.

Prices are for one design from your print-ready artwork. Delivery is free within Great Britain, and our delivery prices list the charges for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands. They exclude VAT, carriers and extras such as numbering and write-on panels, which are priced on your quote.

The price per card falls because much of the work in an order is the same whatever the quantity. Our guide to how much gift card printing costs goes into prices in more detail.

Running short in December? A reorder takes the same 7 working days from proof approval and payment, or 3 to 4 working days by express: ask us for cost and availability. The Christmas and New Year period doesn’t count as working days. Numbered cards carry on from the last number issued.

How do I sell gift cards in December?

Put them where people pay, have them ready to go, and offer them to the businesses around you. December is the peak: in 2023, the share of UK consumers buying a gift card for someone else rose to 25% in December, against 13% to 18% in the other months (GlobalData’s monthly tracking for the Gift Card & Voucher Association).

• By the till. Keep a few cards on show in their card carriers, with a small sign, and mention them when people pay. Euro slot carriers hang on a hook or spinner. Our gift card display ideas have more.
• Ready for last-minute buyers. Put cards in their wallets before the busy days, so each sale is quick: write in the amount and the valid-until date, and record the card in your register.
• As stocking fillers. A card in a card sleeve is small enough for a pocket or any envelope, and a smaller amount makes a small present.
• By post. The folded landscape wallet fits a standard envelope, so customers can send a card to someone far away.
• On your receipts, website and emails. A line about gift cards wherever your customers already look.

Running a Christmas offer, such as a bonus card with larger gift cards? Put the closing date and the bonus card’s conditions in the offer itself: the advertising code, CAP Code rule 8.17, says promotions must state their significant conditions, such as a closing date. Our guide on how to sell more gift cards covers bonus card offers and ideas that work all year.

Can I sell gift cards to companies for their staff?

Yes: offer them to local firms for staff and client presents. Businesses are big buyers of gift cards: in the second half of 2025, sales to businesses made up 52% of the gift card sales reported by 25 members of the Gift Card & Voucher Association. Those are members’ figures, not the whole UK market. Our guide to selling gift cards to local companies covers which firms to ask first and how to make ordering easy.

For a company order, give every card its own number and record each one in your register with the company’s name and the amount, so you can check each card when it’s spent. A spreadsheet works well: our gift card register template is one to start from. A wallet gives each card a finished look, with room for the company’s own message.

If the company asks about tax, HMRC’s trivial benefits rule means no tax is due on a staff gift that costs £50 or less including VAT, isn’t cash or a cash voucher, isn’t a reward for their work and isn’t in their contract. HMRC’s manual says a non-cash gift voucher can qualify. The company’s accountant can say whether the rule applies.

What happens to Christmas gift cards in January?

They come back to be spent, which brings people through your door after the Christmas rush. In the Gift Card & Voucher Association’s State of the Nation 2025 survey, 88% of people said they used a gift card within six months of getting it.

Many spend more than the card is worth, and some stay. About six in ten people who used a gift card spent more than its value (GCVA State of the Nation 2024), and 22% of UK gift card buyers said a gift card had made them a regular customer of a brand they were new to (GCVA survey, September 2024).

1. A number on every card, recorded in your register when it’s sold.
2. The amount, written on at the till.
3. The valid-until date, written on when it’s sold, so it runs from the day of sale.
4. Two or three lines of terms, with the rest on your website.

When a card comes back, check it against your register and note what’s spent. Once it’s all spent, keep the card or mark it used. Our gift card printing guide shows the routine, under keeping track from sale to spending.

If your cards expire, the date must be clear and the terms fair. Write the valid-until date on each card when you sell it, so a card bought in December runs from December, not from the day it was printed. It matters to buyers: expiry dates were the most common reason UK consumers gave for not buying gift cards, at 28% (GCVA State of the Nation 2025).

Whether VAT is due when you sell a card or when it’s spent depends on what it can be spent on: our gift card VAT and expiry rules explain both. For wording to print, see our gift card terms and conditions.

How do I order Christmas gift cards?

Email sales@cpcards.co.uk or use our gift card quote form. We often reply within minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Tell us:

• The day you want them on your counter, so we can confirm whether we can meet it before you commit.
• How many cards, and how many carriers or wallets, in which format.
• Your artwork, at 92 x 60mm with 3mm of bleed, or your logo and wording for our £29 +vat design service.
• Any extras, such as numbering or write-on panels, which are priced on your quote.

Our gift cards are 86 x 54mm and 760 microns thick, printed in full colour on both sides, then bonded between clear PVC sheets and cut, so the print can’t scratch or wear off. Every order gets a free email proof, so you can check the layout and wording before anything is printed. The colours on the proof are a guide only, because every screen shows colour differently. If a colour has to be right, add a postal proof.

Production takes 7 working days from proof approval and payment. Express takes 3 to 4 working days: ask us for cost and availability. Delivery is free within Great Britain, and our delivery prices list the charges for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands.

Where do the figures on this page come from?

From these reports and pages, checked in November 2026:

• Gift Card & Voucher Association (GCVA), State of the Nation 2025 (November 2025): gift card occasions, how soon cards are used, expiry dates and packaging.
• GlobalData for the GCVA, State of the Nation 2024 key takeaways (March 2024): gift card buying month by month in 2023, and spending more than a card’s value.
• GCVA, State of the Nation 2024, Volume 2 (November 2024): gift cards that made people regular customers.
• GCVA and GlobalData, Consumer Report, Peak 2024 (January 2025): why people didn’t buy gift cards in December 2024.
• GCVA, Sales Analysis & Outlook, second half of 2025 (March 2026): sales to businesses.
• GOV.UK, Tax on trivial benefits, with HMRC’s manual on the £50 including VAT (EIM21865) and non-cash gift vouchers (EIM21866).
• The Advertising Standards Authority, CAP Code section 8, on promotions.
• Our own pages: our terms and conditions and lead times, for working days, the 4.30pm cut-off and delivery.

The GCVA’s sales figures come from its members, not the whole UK market, and its other figures come from surveys of UK shoppers. This page is general information, not tax or legal advice.