Gift Cards and Vouchers for Salons and Barbers

Treatment voucher or money voucher: which should a salon sell?

Either, and many businesses sell both side by side. A treatment card feels like a thought-out present, and a money card lets the recipient choose. The difference shows when your prices go up, when your prices depend on the stylist, and in what your staff do at the desk.

Linden & Lash is made up for this page.

These are options A, B and C in our gift card printing guide; option D, a number your booking software reads, comes next. Selling spa days or packages? See spa gift vouchers.

Can a printed gift card work with salon booking software?

Often, yes. Several salon systems let staff type or scan the number printed on a card, so the system can find the card when it’s spent. The card carries the number and your software holds the rest: we supply the cards, and the balances are managed by your own system.

This is what each system’s own help pages said when we read them in November 2026. Features change, so check with your software supplier before you order.

In most of these systems, the number printed on the card becomes the gift card’s number: staff type or scan it when they sell the card, instead of letting the system make one up. Zenoti makes a number at the sale that staff can change, and Mindbody suggests switching its random numbers off if your cards are already numbered. A code that a system only creates at the moment of sale can’t be printed in advance, but a write-on panel lets staff copy it onto the card.

If your system isn’t listed, ask your supplier four things: can staff type or scan a printed card’s own number, which barcode type does it read, how long can the number be, and can you test a card first?

Not every system can tie a card to one treatment. Mindbody can’t, and suggests loading a value that matches the treatment’s price instead. If yours works that way, decide how you’ll honour a treatment card if the price goes up before it’s used.

Code 39 is the default on most of our orders. To try real cards on your own scanner first, add a postal proof: we post you a few identical real cards with the barcode in place. It’s optional, for full colour cards only, £65 +vat, and takes around 5 working days. We can’t test them for you, because every system and scanner is different. Our guide to gift cards with barcodes covers barcode sizes and number files.

How do I keep track of salon gift cards without software?

Give every card its own printed number and keep a register: record each card when it’s sold, check it when the client books, and mark it used once it’s spent. Treatwell’s advice to salons says physical gift cards are harder to keep track of than digital ones; a number on every card and a register deal with that.

1. SellWrite the valid-until date on the card.
2. RecordNote the card number, date, treatment or value, price and your initials in your register.
3. BookThe client quotes the card number when they book. Check it in the register.
4. RedeemMark the card used, and note any balance left.

A register can be a notebook or a spreadsheet: our gift card register template is a free Excel file to start from. Give us a start number and the cards run on from it, and re-orders carry on from the last number issued: see numbered plastic cards.

What should salon gift card terms say?

The usual gift card terms, plus one line that matters in a salon: if a treatment needs a consultation or a patch test (a small skin test for allergies) first, say so on the card, so the recipient books ahead rather than finding out on the day.

1. A card number and barcode, different on every card, if your booking software reads them.
2. A QR code to your booking page. It’s the same on every card, so it’s part of your artwork at no extra cost. Keep it at least 15mm square, with a white border of 4 squares all round.
3. A valid-until date, written in when the card is sold, so the time runs from the day of sale. Put the write-on panel on a white area of your design: on a colour, it picks up the colour behind it.
4. The patch test line. If you patch test before colour, lash or brow treatments, a card that can buy one should say so.
5. Short terms, with the full terms on your website.

Lines a salon can copy, with the words in brackets to change:

This is general information, not legal advice: your terms are your decision, and they should match what you say on your website, your booking page and at the desk. Gift cards can expire, but the date must be clear and the terms fair. Whether VAT is due when you sell a card or when it’s spent depends on what it can be spent on: our guide to gift card VAT and expiry rules works through a salon’s card. For fuller wording, see gift card terms and conditions.

When do salons sell the most gift cards?

In waves: Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, with birthdays all year round, and Father’s Day for barbers. In the Gift Card & Voucher Association’s State of the Nation 2025 report, 66% of UK gift card buyers had bought one for a birthday in the last 12 months, and 45% for Christmas.

Order well before each one. Production takes 7 working days from proof approval and payment. Express takes 3 to 4 working days: ask us for cost and availability. For Christmas, ask us for this year’s last order dates at sales@cpcards.co.uk.

Gift cards sell when people see them, so keep a few on show at reception and in the window all year, not only in December, and mention them when clients pay. A euro slot carrier hangs on a hook or display stand. For more, see gift card display ideas, how to sell more gift cards and Christmas gift cards for your business.

How should a salon present a gift card?

In a printed wallet or carrier. A card handed over bare undersells what the client has just paid for, and a wallet gives the buyer room for a message. The Gift Card & Voucher Association’s 2025 report suggests personalised messages and themed packaging can answer people’s emotional objections to gift cards.

• A landscape wallet for cards sold at the desk. It takes a handwritten message and folds to 75 x 105mm, so it fits a standard envelope. Wallets start at £89.00 +vat for 25.
• A card sleeve is the quickest to use: a printed pocket, 87 x 60mm, with a thumb notch, that the card slides into. It’s printed on the outside only.
• A euro slot carrier hangs on a hook or stand at reception, where clients can see it.

Carriers come unattached, so staff put the card in when they sell it. Our design service can set up the wallet and the card together. Our card carriers and wallets page has every format, template and price.

What should hair salon and nail salon gift cards look like?

Your name, the words Gift Card and one image that says what you do, in your own colours: scissors, a haircut, a polished nail or a butterfly for a salon, a razor or a barber’s pole for a barbershop. These are four of our gift card examples for hair, nail and beauty salons; select one to see its front and back.

The codes on the backs are only examples.

• Match your loyalty cards. Many businesses order gift cards and loyalty cards in the same design, so the two read as a set: see salon loyalty cards.
• A soft finish. Premium Matt gives a softer, understated look, for £20 +vat per order. High Gloss, which makes colours richer, is included.
• Gold or silver. A metallic base card makes the whole card gold or silver, or metallic foiling picks out your logo. White can’t be printed on a metallic base card.
• Start from an example. Any of our gift card examples can be the starting point for your own design, with our £29 +vat design service.

Do barber gift vouchers work the same way?

Yes. Sell a named cut, such as a haircut and beard trim or a wet shave, or a money value, with prices and barbers’ names left off and a number on every card. Haircuts sell as presents for birthdays, Father’s Day and Christmas, so have cards ready before each.

Our page on plastic cards for barbers covers a barbershop’s other cards, from loyalty and appointment cards to a business card for each barber.

How do I order salon gift cards, and what do they cost?

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:

• What the cards are for: treatments, values, or one design written in at the desk.
• Your booking software, and the barcode type it reads, if it takes printed cards.
• The numbers: a start number, or your own list in an Excel or CSV file.
• Your artwork, at 92 x 60mm with 3mm of bleed, or your logo and wording for our £29 +vat design service.
• How many cards, and whether you’d like wallets or a postal proof.

Salon 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.

How much do they cost?

Gift cards start at £75.00 +vat for 25, and the price per card falls as the quantity goes up, because much of the work in an order is the same whatever the quantity. Most small businesses start with 100 to 250 cards.

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 and extras such as numbering and barcodes, which are priced on your quote.

To see real cards before you order, our sample pack is £3.50.