Juvenile Cards

With trends and crazes changing year on year in the juvenile market, the greeting card industry is constantly kept on its toes, having to keep up to speed with what children are into and all the latest ‘fads’. Capturing what children are tuning into on the television, viewing at the cinema or reading in a book.

Greeting card licences are key in the juvenile market, but recognition is the majoring factor, and not necessarily just by children, Mums, Grandmas, Aunties all need to be familiar with the characters. At UK Greetings we have a host of popular ranges that continue to thrive.

Mr Men has been a part of youth culture, appealing to a vast audience for over 40 years and the empire is as popular now as it was in 1971, when the first Mr Tickle book was released. This is reflected in the fantastic, bold, colourful and inspiring Mr Men greeting card range from Carlton Cards.

The Flower Fairies epitomise the interests of young girls, Cicely Mary Barker’s enchanting creations “love to play – they sing, they dance and they go to parties”. The books have sold over 8 million copies in the last decade and the beautifully illustrated greeting card designs also from Carlton Cards, are captivating to all ages, young and old.

The World of Eric Carle, from Camden Graphics takes imagery from best selling children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The nostalgic and educational range of greeting cards and a Henry award winning gift-wrap collection, is a popular choice for the more in vogue shopper but still remains appealing to all.

Familiar characters work well in the market and Strawberry Shortcake is evidence of that. This character was born into the greeting card industry in 1977, and her fame has continued to amplify. Strawberry Shortcake moves with the times, updating her image at the same rate as her target audience.  The bright colours and friendly situations are right on trend, showing the traditional idea of pink for girls is still proving to be successful. 

As well as the popular characters and recognisable brands, a greeting card range must resonate with young person, depicting fun, excitement, stimulation and youth. Juvenile greeting card designing is about getting straight to the heart of what it means to be young while still being good value for money. Mums often find buying cards for all their children’s friends a pricey exercise.

With its eye catching, colourful designs and great value for money the newly launched Forget Me Not range is an ideal solution. With, badged cards, stickers, novelties and sound attachments, large graphics on age cards and whimsical characters that encourage imagination in situations of youth and adolescence.

For young girls princess characters, fairies and butterflies are sure to perform well. A popular character in the current range is a mermaid with a ribbon tip on – it’s bright, colourful and best of all, its very girlie. For boys, futuristic robots, rodents or jungle animals work and of course football. The younger market is attracted to striking visuals, images of things they aspire to become or want to experience.

Both Bubblegum Sunshine from Forget Me Not and Benny in Carlton Cards, have a great history as recognisable characters in greeting cards. The modern, quirky styles suit any age and the trendy editorial is great for kids big and small.

Juvenile greeting cards have always been, and will continue to be a popular send, but we are now seeing that high teens are becoming just as sought after. Once a child hits there ‘tweens’ they become young adults and want to be treated this way. Humour cards for this audience work the best or contemporary designs which are stylish and trendy.

The key to a successful range is to mirror what appeals most to young people. When designing new greeting card ranges UK Greetings look to the market as its best source of inspiration, buying habits, fashions, analysis of current trends, popular toys, books and movie releases.