PG - Focus on Kids Cards December 2017

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The Munch Bunch With Channel 4’s The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds back on our screens, Tuesday nights bring a smile and break our hearts (again) as the fly on the wall documentary shows the perils of making friends, socially fitting in and the temptation of chocolate covered strawberries when you’re only age four.

But maybe greeting cards can help a little with the trials and tribulations of being a kid by creating cards especially for them to send to their friends or by building confidence through their card creativity. And what child wouldn't squeal with delight at the current stomping of dinosaurs, cute party-loving animals, mythical creatures or their latest movie or book heroine or hero on their birthday card?

Focus On Kids’ Cards just about resists the chocolate strawberries to bite into the juicy news, views and fresh product in the children’s greeting card market.

The bell rings on GBCC’s totally revamped juvenile offering Off-the-planet characters, a little bear and friends who is as cute as cute can be, fab-ulous glittery sparkled paint splash numbers, soft nursery grandson and granddaughter sends, and oodles of flitter and lovely badges, The Great British Card Company studio has had great fun completely re-designing and replanning its juvenile offering, with the model line now offering 122 captions, including a stunning 114 new designs.

Over a period of the past few years GBCC has tweaked its juvenile offering here and there but had not had the opportunity to totally revamp and reinvent the collection until this year, when, after much discussion, it made the decision to go for a complete overhaul.

“We did our research into the market, assessed competitor activity, reviewed developing trends and threw in a few curve balls of our own to stamp an indelible GBCC mark on proceedings," explains the company’s product director, Nick Adsett, adding, “With some designs still to come in from the printers, we are very proud of how the new range is shaping up, and early feedback from our independent retailers has been hugely positive.”

Featuring brand new work from GBCC illustrators Simon Taylor-Kielty, Miki Rose, Jessica Johnson and Alex Gunn, and with Jessica Johnson extending her newest range for GBCC Zinnia into Zinnia Infant with some totally delightful story book style illustrations - the 114 new designs befit

Above: Giving in to temptation, two four year-olds on Channel 4’s documentary.

Below left, bottom left and below right: Miki Rose’s glittery numbers from age 11 through to 16; Alex Gunn’s weird and wonderful characters with funky badges for ages 7, 8 and 9; and Simon Taylor Kielty’s adorable little bear and friends across Son and Daughter captions ages 1 to 3… a tiny taster from the GBCC’s new juvenile collection.

Bottom right: Emma Lawrence on her stand at the Manchester Stationery Show.

different areas of the children’s card market, with different levels of finishes, editorial and price points, which are pretty price conscious as most juvenile offerings are.

“The illustrators created some wonderful, fun stuff and some new characters have definitely emerged from the gestation period," observed Nick.

Most of the new juvenile designs are now available in stock, with the remainder to follow later this year or early in the new year. l The GBCC is systematically updating its occasions and relations offering, and adult ages will be next to go under the spotlight, aiming for release at Spring Fair 2018.

A bug’s (essential) life Emma Lawrence was thrilled to be one of the six winners of the Manchester Stationery Show's new Launchpad competition with her The Little Nature Explorers range. The competition was open to new businesses entering the design-led stationery market, and Emma’s prize was a free stand at the recent Manchester Stationery Show 2017 along with extensive marketing and PR support.

Emma Lawrence Designs’ new children’s stationery range includes two card ranges - one colour printed and another a box of ten

Focus on Kids’ Cards is published annually by Max Publishing (publishers of Progressive Greetings). It is distributed with the December edition of Progressive Greetings. Tel: 020 7700 6740 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk Editor in chief: Jakki Brown (jw@max-publishing.co.uk) Deputy Editor: Gale Astley (galea@max-publishing.co.uk).

Advertisement director: Warren Lomax (warren@max-publishing.co.uk) FOCUS ON KIDS CARDS

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colouring-in card designs giftwrap, notebooks, seeded wildflowers paper and stickers, all of which stem from her Little Nature Explorers books, to encourage children to get outside, explore and develop an early interest in nature.

“I absolutely love nature so I wanted to get children engaged from a young age, and raise awareness of the Above: Little Nature Explorers colouring-in importance of bugs to our existence. cards from Emma Lawrence.

It’s not only bees that pollinate”, explains Emma, adding, “So far I’ve written and illustrated three children’s books on different bugs - worms, slugs and snails and butterflies, with bees next in the pipeline - with words that rhyme and an index of the bugs at the back of the book to refer to. My cards and stationery evolved from my illustrations within the books.”

Have a gander Goose is happy with all the exciting things in the pipeline, including the possibilities of a brand new TV show voiced by the one and only Dawn French. These beautifully illustrated designs by Devon-born author-illustrator, Laura Wall, delight preschoolers and their parents!

The fresh and simple style has been translated onto Redback Cards’ range, straight from Laura’s award winning ‘Goose’ books that has sold in over 40 countries. The 120mm x 170mm cards are finished with a soft touch laminate and an eye-catching spot UV varnish. The range consists of 35 designs in total, including party invitations, thank you notes and some new Goose Christmas additions.

Above: Goose having fun on a Redback Cards design.

A fabled frappaccino When you can order a ‘Unicorn Frappaccino’ in Starbucks you know that that a trend has gone centre stage… that, or the world’s gone mad.

In fact, it has, it’s gone unicorn mad, and there’s a magical corral of mythical creatures joining them Pegasus, mermaids and baby dragons Above: Unicorns and baby dragons feature - that with their fairytale and fantasy are in Pippi & Me’s Little Creatures range. perfect for children’s card designs.

Jeannett Sevenson, founder of Pippi & Me, has noticed the ascent of these enchanting but mystical beasts.

“I often have one of the characters in my Little Creatures card designs holding a little mythical creature like a unicorn, baby dragon or Pegasus. To start with it was only for the children’s designs, as they adore these fairytale creatures that for kids can be as real in their imagination as the family pet. But I found that many adults love the mythical creatures too.

I think the appeal of fabled creatures is the idea that they might actually exist, that perhaps we do not know everything about this weird and wonderful world of ours… I still secretly hope that I will one day find my unicorn and have an amazing adventure…”

Inset: Mary Portas with just a few Barbie dolls.

21st century girl Barbie was introduced to the world in 1959 by American business woman Ruth Handler, but has ‘the doll who has everything’ moved with the times? Mary Portas’ recent documentary ‘Barbie: The Most Famous Doll in the World’ on Channel 4 delved in to the plastic pink princess’ nearon 60 year history - her many stylish outfits and 150 jobs.

From police officer to pilot to President of the United States, Barbie may have inspired young girls in their career move, but her unrealistic body shape, and for most of us her unrealistic lifestyle, has been criticised by many. Mary Portas takes these thoughts to Mattel Inc in the US to discover how Barbie fits into the 21st century.

Character Defining Gemma International’s marketing and range planning manager, Louise Portnal, shares some of the children’s ‘A-list’ licensed characters that will be starring on Gemma’s 2018 kids’ ranges. l PJ Masks - who’s your hero?: “The new heroes at Gemma are Catboy, Owlette and Gekko from TV series PJ Masks - from the

same stable as Peppa Pig. Gemma’s new vibrant PJ Masks range of foiled cards are based on the TV show aired daily on multiple channels. And with brand new episodes planned for 2018 and 2019, PJ Masks’ popularity has rapidly developed.” l Care Bear favourites: “Still appealing to nostalgic devotees of the 1980’s, the caring sharing Care

Bears brand celebrated 35 years in 2017, and with 98% consumer awareness the Bears are now attracting fans from preschool to adult. Gemma was excited to launch its range of flittered age and relations cards in the year, with a mix of retro and modern feel.” l Have you got the (Lady)bug?: “French animated series - Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir taps into the girl power genre, due to Ladybug’s status as an everyday superhero. Gemma is delighted to bring out a card range that includes famous Parisian landmarks and feature Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir - set to be the breakout girls’ property for 2018.” l #Emoji: “We launched our range of Emoji cards in 2016 and the popularity has soared. Humorous, often tongue-in-cheek, designs have been a huge success and we are thrilled to include Unicorn and Mermaid designs that are sure to fly off the shelf (pardon the pun).”

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Above and left: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (left) and PJ Masks (above) are just two new superheroes on cards from Gemma.

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FOCUS ON KIDS’ CARD NEWS

Assembling romance

Licensing Lookout

Love was in the air when Paper Rose’s studio manager, Kate Vines, and senior designer, Sarah Tanser, visited local primary school Cropwell Bishop Primary School in Nottingham during Thinking of You Week last September, to talk about the importance of sending and receiving cards and how they design the cards and then go to print.

Concluding the talk, a huge writing session was held with cards Paper Rose supplied. “The kids enjoyed writing to their loved ones, close and far away, as well as drawing pictures to their grandmas and granddads,” says Sarah, adding, “We had one boy writing a card to the girl he loved. It was a very, very sweet card and his mum kept us informed of the delivery. It went down a storm, she loved it!”

There were also gasps from the children when the assembly were told about when Henry Cole’s first Christmas card was sent, and if any of them could guess how much the card is now worth.

Sarah explains, “There were a lot of open mouths at the price and how long ago it was! We explained that the original can be seen in museums and is considered a collectors’ piece. This caused a lot of excitement that they may own a card that in years to come could be seen in a museum!”

Claire Bates, marketing manager for Danilo, reveals some of the hot properties on its licensed kids’ cards for 2018.

Above: Some of the primary school pupils with cards from Paper Rose.

l The Gruffalo collective: “The best selling children’s books from

Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo was initially published in 1999 and has now sold over 13 million copies in 59 editions worldwide, has won several prizes for children's literature, and has been developed into plays on both the West End and Broadway.” l Burrowing with Peter Rabbit: “At Danilo there will be

new card ranges (left) based on both the Peter Rabbit film and TV series. Peter Rabbit The Movie is a live action movie with animated animals to be released March 2018.

CGI the Peter Rabbit animated TV series, shown daily on CBeebies, in a different style to the movie, follows the adventures of Peter and his close friends Benjamin, Lilly and Squirrel Nutkin. Primary audience: Boys and girls age 2-4.” l Roald Dahl: “Known as the world’s No.1 storyteller, classic children’s book titles including Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, James & The Giant Peach, Matilda and the BFG. Over 200 million books sold to date and successful spin off movies and stage shows.” l The world of Walliams: “To date David Walliams has sold more than 12.5 million copies of his books." Danilo’s new humorous card ranges focuses on popular titles such as Gangsta Granny, Grandpa’s Great Escape and Mr Stink.” l LOL Surprise: “It is the latest toy phenomenon based

Teenage creative kicks Since exhibiting at PG Live, her firstever trade show, in June, Tessa Harbinson, founder of Tess Cards has been harnessing the creative spark (and slightly dark humour) of her teenage son Charlie for a new humour range called Skool Rules, which is aimed at parents of young children, and their school teachers.

Charlie (aged 14) enjoys making insulting birthday cards for his mum and dad, and has a nice line in stick men, but his current ambition is to save up for a PlayStation VR headset, so Tess pays him a small fee per greeting card cartoon. However, as a teenager in the digital age how does Charlie feel about receiving cards? “It still means a lot to get birthday cards. An email doesn't feel as personal. If someone’s bought you a card and taken time to pick out something they know you like, it shows they’ve put thought and effort into it.

It’s nice if they write a little message inside as well; it shows they care. If they just write 'To X, from Y', they might as well send a text,” he explains, adding, “Personally, I like getting funny or artistic or unusual cards, like sound cards. I don’t mind a bit of sarcasm or rudeness. Some of my relatives don’t always get it right and get me cards with footballers on, but it’s not their fault, they don’t know what kind of stuff I’m into these days.”

Above: A Skool Rules design from Tess Cards.

Left: Gamer Charlie on his PlayStation.

on collectable dolls and unveiling - with more than 2.5million units sold in the first five months.” l Jurassic World 2 and Jurrasic Park: “The second

Jurassic World movie is to be released at cinemas on 8 June 2018. And Jurassic Park celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2018. Iconic consumer products will be launching across all of Danilo’s product categories.”

Above left and above: Peter Rabbit (above left) and David Williams’ Gansta Granny (above) feature on Danilo cards in 2018.

Food for thought Self-named ‘chief mischief-maker’ for food pun card publisher The Taste Buds, Sai Pathmanathan is also a neuro-scientist who works with schools and various educational and community projects bringing science, art and literacy to the classroom.

“The Taste Buds wouldn’t exist if it we hadn’t run workshops in primary schools. As part of our cross-curricular outreach we had children create their own pun cards, helping explain homophones and homographs in a hilarious way!” says Sai. “More recently, for Thinking of You Week we had children creating lovely cards for the local Older People’s Club.

The sweetest thing about this was how the club members were so happy that they’re now making cards for the children!” she adds.

See more about The Taste Buds’ workshops on its blog www.the-tastebuds.co.uk/workshops.

Above: ‘Ha-pea new year’ - a child uses veg puns inspired by The Taste Buds.

Left: The Taste Buds works with schools bringing education and puns to the classroom.

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THE DINOSAUR TREND

Raptor-ous About

Dinosauria Above: A party dino from Kali Stileman.

Below left: A diplodocus on an Olive and Belle design.

Below right and far right: An Earlybird Mini Card T-Rex birthday design, and Oliver Early all dino-wrapped.

Bottom: A bright and not too scary Kiddiwinks design from Think Of Me.

Who said dinosaurs are extinct? They have been seen roaming and roaring all over children’s (and adult’s) greeting cards, appealing to both girls and boys with their prehistoric mysteriousness, magnificent size and wide dino variety.

Children are fascinated by dinosaurs, so it makes senseosuarus to add this reptilian tribe to kids’ greeting cards.

A pack of publishers talk ‘raptur-ously’ about dinos on designs, revealing why dinosaurs are a monster hit on kids’ cards.

Who can forget a childhood visit to see Dippy, the diplodocus in the Hintze Hall of London’s Natural History Museum, who is currently on tour to five UK regions? His (or her) magnitude was awesome to our tiny minds; by the age of seven the biggest animal we’d probably seen was a pony.

As a child, Dippy was an entry point into the world of dinosaurs, opening the palaeontology doors to the multitude of dinosauria that roamed the planet in its Mesozoic Era, estimated to be between 230 to 67 million years ago. That amount of time between their existence and ours make these scary reptilian creatures, many with big teeth, intriguing, yet we feel safe in the knowledge they won’t be able to eat or crush us. And this is their appeal to kids, and why they are a ‘roaring’ winner on their cards. For a child coming face to face with a T-Rex or triceratops is a thrilling thought, but they are protected from harm by at least 67 million years of extinction.

“Young children generally love animals, and in particular, dinosaurs are exciting as they're a big 'scary beast' of which they will never see a real live one. This therefore also means they are a 'safe scary beast', which holds an almost magical fascination for imaginative children,” explains Claire Roberts, designer and founder for Olive and Belle, who reveals that her favourite dinosaur is the diplodocus, “due to its enormous size, which I find fascinating compared to the size of the largest animals that walk our earth today, especially given the fact it was herbivore!”

At Earlybird there is BIG love for dinosaurs, with wrapping paper, kids age cards, small card packs and party invites all with dinos on, and it has just released a new range of Mini Cards that features a T-Rex! Dominic Early, director for Earlybird, asked his son, Oliver Early (aged 11), why kids love dinosaurs so much?: "Dinosaurs are so 8

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cool because they are fascinating and there is nothing out there as close to their size and their ability to eat anything!

They are so strong and powerful and they look awesome! Also we have never met any so we are more intrigued to look at them than an elephant! My current favourite is T-Rex, because he is so big, scary and has loads of teeth!”

In fact, it seems a whole clan of card publishers’ children have inspired dinosaur designs. Think Of Me’s codirector Dan Kane says, “The inspiration for our Kiddiwinks children’s range came from our two boys and their friends and the animals, toys, vehicles etc that they are into, including our T-Rex dinosaur card, which continues to be one of our most popular designs. Children love bright colours with bold and simple design that catches the eye, and the T-Rex design is bright and fun and not too scary!

“When our sons were younger their favourite dinosaur was the diplodocus. We asked them why this was and they said it was because of their size: “They are enormous and majestic and they didn’t eat you!” said one. “T-Rex’s are also cool but I wouldn’t like to meet one. Luckily they are extinct!” said the other.”

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THE DINOSAUR TREND

lived in packs. I personally think a pack of Parasaurolophus would resemble my class 7H very closely!!

“The female and male dinosaurs didn’t have many differences. And not all dinosaurs had sharp fangs and deadly weapons! Also, it’s not only boys who can like dinosaurs!”

And Arianna isn’t the only girl who has a passion for dinos. Hollie is almost 3 years-old and god-daughter of Sarah Tanser-Frain, a senior designer for Paper Rose. Hollie loves to play with dinosaurs explains Sarah, “Earlier this year we took Hollie to West Midlands Safari that has a dinosaur area and she loved every minute of it. When asked about dinosaurs Hollie says: “Dinosaurs go ROAR! I like being a girl but wish I could be a dinosaur and ROAAARR!!””

Continuing, Sarah adds, “Hollie loves the fact dinosaurs come out of eggs and is fascinated with hatching dinosaur toys. Her favourite dinosaur is the T-Rex as he is fast and has small arms.”

Janna Cossettini, director for Deckled Edge, claims that her Dinky Dino kids’ card range was kick-started by her children’s passion for the prehistoric pack. “My kids love dinosaurs! My range Dinky Dino was created from the love my daughter has of dinosaurs, which followed suit fast by her younger brother. Dinos are always found scattered about the house, lurking behind doors and under beds... even years later.”

And as quite a dinosaur expert, Janna’s daughter Arianna (age 11) highlighted that they also have unisex appeal, as from the outside dinos are gender neutral. Arianna says, “My favourite dinosaur is the Hadrosaurs, especially the Parasaurolophus.

Their senses had adapted to no longer having spikes or fangs, and they used to have a big crest on their head to scare others. They Top left: Dinosaurs within a dinosaur, a stunning design from Louise Tate.

Top middle: Stripey Cats’ Stripey Dinos range includes a whole host of friendly dinosaurs (with wobbly eyes), from Des the Diplodocus to Dex the T-Rex. Above right: Hollie Andrews, with her dinosaurs.

Above and left: Arianna Cossettini (pictured) wisely highlights that dinosaurs have unisex appeal. Deckled Edge’s ‘Roarsome’ dino design is gender neutral.

Right: Brand new Jojo’s Jungle designs have been added to the range from The Art Group, including this triceratops.

Below left: Party like you’re 3! A Dino design from Nigel Quiney.

Below right: A reptilian ‘roarsome’ on a Rachel Ellen card.

Licensing and royalty coordinator for Paper Rose, Farhana Ahmed, believes children between the age of 2 to 4 are fascinated by dinosaurs because they are big and terrifying looking and come in all shapes and sizes, which will keep them entertained for ages. “I know my little boy loved his T-Rex dinosaur called Boris, but as soon as he become aware of all the licensed toys out there, he lost interest in dinosaurs, which is a shame.”

However, for the children who are still ‘dino crazy’ there’s plenty of entertainment and information to keep them happy, and educate them about science and the huge dino timeline in the earth’s history. After all, dinosaurs ruled the earth for about 165 million years, far more than human beings.

“Prehistoric, scary, enormous and out of this world! No wonder dinosaurs appeal to children. To learn about the past or just to tell a fictional story, dinosaurs are popular characters,” states Louise Amesbury, publisher assistant for James Ellis, adding, “Harry and the Dinosaurs collection of books by Ian Whybrow used to be a favourite FOCUS ON KIDS CARDS

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“Prehistoric, scary, enormous and out of this world! No wonder dinosaurs appeal to children. To learn about the past or just to tell a fictional story, dinosaurs are popular characters.”

for my first little boy, and now my second one has inherited his book collection. ‘Endosaurus’ at the end of every story to replace ‘The End', never fails to get a chuckle! Arlo in the film The Good Dinosaur was also a popular character with my boys.”

This ‘other worldliness’ that was actually real is part of the appeal of dinosaurs to children, and it's a great source of escapism.

Above and left: Flynn Amesbury and one of his Harry and the Dinosaurs books. And a goofy TRex on a James Ellis Ups & Downs design.

Below: A friendly green dino on a Magical Kingdom card from Twizler.

Below left: A scary Natural History Museum design from Gemma.

“Dinosaurs are so fascinating because they were humungous in size and seem like they were from another world – but they did actually exist on earth once upon a time, which is super cool. From the towering T-Rex to the flying high Pterodactyl, kids of all ages have the opportunity to escape reallife into a world of mystery, science and most importantly fun”, suggests Laura Murphy, director of Twizler, whose Magical Kingdom is a long-lasting children’s range that still performs strongly but the best selling card by far is the friendly green dinosaur.

“The appeal of dinosaurs on cards doesn’t stop at juvenile designs,” says Tim Rudd-Clarke, licensing director of Gemma International, “In fact, they offer broad appeal probably due to the perennial fascination with beasts that roamed the earth millions of years ago.

“Our range of Natural History Museum cards feature the iconic dinosaurs that children find mesmerising probably due to their enormous size, stature and the almost ‘monster-esque’ attraction,” says Tim, adding, “Dinosaur cards are an easy pick up for anyone buying a card for a youngster these days, whether you know they enjoy collecting and playing with toy dinosaurs or not. It’s such a popular choice!”

Two dinosaur fans from the Gemma camp reveal their favourite dino: Rocco, age 5, son of Gemma’s operations and HR advisor, Kirsty, loves his dinosaur so much he calls it his Roccosaurus.

The T-Rex is his favourite, “Because they are the strongest and because they roar really load. ROAR!” Alyaan, age 3, nephew of Gemma’s inventory and business analyst, Hurriyya, is also passionate about dinosaurs and a big fan of the T-Rex. Alyaan says, “I love the T-Rex because it is powerful and can do anything with this claws and jaw. He IS the king of the dinosaurs. He is not scared of anyone, but will scare everyone else.”

So it seems dinosaurs are far from extinct, well not when it comes to kids’ cards, where they continue their reptilian reign.

Above: Rocco with his Roccosaurus.

Right: Alyaan playing with his dino friends.

Walking with dinosaurs The amazing new Dinosaurs in the Wild at Manchester EventCity is a multimillion-pound exhibition of dinosaur theatre and theme park fun where visitors are taken back 67 million years. With cutting-edge 3D effects, animatronics, sound and lighting, visitors can see ‘live’ dinosaurs as they have never been seen before.

Dinosaurs in the Wild runs from 7 October to 7 January 2018. See dinosaursinthewild.com.

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PUBLISHER SPOTLIGHT

Write Move

Inspired by neuroscientist Dr Lynda Shaw, and her insight and talk on how handwriting exercises the cognitive part of the brain at the GCA AGM in 2016, Suzy Magni and Louise Marshall, founders of publisher Spots and Stripes, cultivated the Written Words Matter card collection to not only encourage children to write more ‘just because’ cards to their friends and family, but to also prompt parents to put pen to cards to praise their off-spring.

“We developed our Written Words Matter concept after hearing Dr Lynda Shaw speak at the 2016 GCA AGM about how important the act of writing a card is, particularly for children, as it helps with brain development and dexterity. Being a mindful experience, writing a card can also help them to focus on the words they choose and the person they are writing to”, explains Suzy Magni, who together with co-founder Louise Marshall form Spots and Stripes.

As parents themselves, Louise and Suzy could immediately see the value in what Lynda was saying, both fondly remembering as kids of the 80’s how much fun it was to write chain letters and send notes to friends at school, and also how much they loved sending and receiving letters in the post.

“The challenge for us was to design the range to fit within our Spots and Stripes brand values - to be fun and enjoyable for children, but also be sophisticated enough for grown-ups to appreciate, while still conveying a thoughtful message,” says Louise, adding, “Suzy’s six year-old daughter Cassie’s drawings of delightful animal characters were a natural fit for our Written Words Matter ‘Young Notes’ range. Each drawing captured an emotion through the character’s expression and so we simply added a caption to say it in words.”

However, Suzy feels that the Young Notes can be used by people of all ages. “‘I’m so excited’ is ideal for a birthday card and the ‘I’m sorry’ card was very useful when Louise’s 3 year-old put several toys into her handbag when playing at a friend’s house without her knowledge!” she says.

And there are many positives to encouraging children to send more cards to their friends and family. “It has important physical benefits as well as emotional benefits, such as enabling them to create deeper connections with other people and can help in developing stronger friendships. This helps improve self-esteem through feeling valued, which in turn will helps to form a strong foundation for building lasting relationships in the future,” believes Suzy.

Above: Tell how proud you are of your child or even an adult with a 'Written Words Matter' Parents Notes design by Spots and Stripes.

Below left: Child to child card sends can build lasting relationships - Spots and Stripes’ Young Notes can help.

Below: Six year-old Cassie Magni with some of the cards she designed.

Bottom: Alessia Magni, age eight, writing some Young Notes to her friends and family.

And mums and dads can utilise greeting cards as a way of praising and interacting with their child. Spots and Stripes’ ‘Parents Notes’ range (in the ‘Written Words Matter’ collection) was specifically designed using growth mindset statements. “One of the notes that says ‘I’m so proud of you’ can be said many times, but by writing down why you feel that way it gives the statement more meaning and also marks a moment in time,” comments Louise.

For parents, writing a note can be another wonderful way to communicate with your child, and also a very powerful one: “You can share stories, personal experiences, pearls of wisdom, words of encouragement or praise that will never be lost or forgotten! We have used our ‘Parent Notes’ many times ourselves, for both praise and as a way to say sorry when we have messed up. The outcomes have been really positive and we recommend it to anyone with children”, says Louise.

And the Spots and Stripes duo are aware that cards to be sent by children need to be affordable, which is a challenge as print and production costs are high. Suzy says, “We intend to extend and grow the various Written Words Matter ranges further, but we need to be clever about the materials used in order to be able to sell them at an affordable price. We want our cards to be for everyday use, not just for occasions.”

Suzy’s daughter, 6 year-old Cassie and her 8 year-old sister Alessia love making cards and writing notes to each other, to their friends as well as to their mummy and daddy. Cassie says, “I just want to make everyone happy and when I give them a card and they read my message I can see they look happy and then I feel happy too.”

And that pretty much sums up how we all feel about sending and receiving a card, so why not encourage it more from an early age!

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KIDS’ CARDS NEW LAUNCHES

Bright Young Things ‘Scamping around’ in the children’s card market is a fresh and fun bunch of new kids’ ranges. Focus On Kids’ Cards went out to play with some of these bright, young collections. l New for spring 2018 from Kali Stileman Publishing are lots of new children’s cards in its tiddly widdly range… kiddly tiddly widdlies! These are fab new cards are printed on lovely quality board with numbers and gold foiled stars highlighting the child’s age, and at the smaller size of 12cm x 9cm they a large enough to feel like ‘proper cards’ but are small enough to be able to retail at £1.50, so customers can pick up a handful. l Party Popper is a new children’s range from Cinnamon Aitch. Choc a bloc with zingy neon colour, boisterous animal antics and fun giant balloons, this range is packed with quirky critters and joyful charm certain to appeal to kids everywhere. There are 20 fun C6 designs including kids’ ages 1 to 5 and birthday cards, while six co-ordinating little packs of five cards are perfect blank and thank you designs. l Laura Sherratt Designs has launched some brand new designs for children, made in the UK with love. These cute, new 120mm square cards have extended the popular Favourite Things range.

Following recent trends, the new designs include: mermaids, unicorns, castles, rockets, farms and trains. The cards come with a dinky luggage label and rope bow embellishment, also made locally in Cheshire. Cards are printed on a heavyweight board sourced from the Lake District and come complete with an envelope and cellobag. l Cherry Orchard has two new children’s ranges, starting with The Aloha! Range, which comprises 32 age designs to cover boys’ and girls’ birthdays from ages 1 to 16. With quirky colourful characters, from unicorns to robots and monsters, and with playful captions such as Holy Guacamole and Drama Llama, children are sure to love them. The second children’s range is a Kids’ Age Relations collection which comprises 20 new designs covering son and grandson ages 1 to 5 and daughter and granddaughter ages 1 to 5.

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l Alljoy Design’s new Wobbly Head range features bright and cheerful characters with yes, you guessed it… wobbly heads (and eyes). There are 24 new designs in the range, size 125mm x 175mm, each complemented with a cream envelope and cellowrapped. Also available are 12 new lasercut kids’ cards with colourful illustrations. l Earlybird is releasing 36 new mini cards, including many designs that are are aimed at children. Monsters, guinea pigs and dinosaurs are among the offering, in a watercolour style finish. These delightful Mini cards are 120mm x 90mm in size, come cellowrapped with a kraft fleck envelope and are a perfect size for smaller writers too. l Claire Louise has designed two new children’s ranges - New Party Time and Splodge Bobs. Her new designs are bold and bright and are great for children. Quirky animal characters with splashes of colour have been printed onto a high quality board and come cellowrapped with a grey envelope. Take a look at her new website which has recently been launched to see her full collection. l Deckled Edge has extended its rainbow Unicorn greeting card collection by adding Merhorses, Mermaids and Fairies designs! This stunning collection, called ‘Prancing Myth’, with eye-catching holographic foiled designs, focuses on children’s ages 1 to10, with the addition of open birthdays to suit any ‘believing grown-ups’ too.

Cards measure 150mm x 150mm, are printed on luxurious embossed white 350gsm board, come with matching pearlescent lilac envelopes and are cellowrapped. l ‘Have a barkin' birthday!’ and ‘Woof woof birthday!’ are two of the well wishes from Mitzi the miniature poodle and Cadi the friendly sheep dog! They're ready to wish a big slobbery happy birthday to kids aged from one to six. This new range of 12 designs from greeting card publisher Draenog is now available in English and Welsh. All cards are designed by Anwen Roberts and are printed in South Wales.

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KIDS’ CARDS NEW LAUNCHES

l James Ellis’ Ups & Downs range of children’s birthday cards has an interactive element. Pull the tab at the top of the card to slide part of the picture up, revealing another image beneath. The cards are finished with glitter, measure 120mm x 167mm and come with pink or blue envelopes. The cards are packed in an open top cellobag to allow the customer to try out the ‘pull tab’.

l The Birthday Bunch Collection from Jane Katherine Houghton consists of eight colourful designs illustrating a multitude of cheeky animal characters enjoying a birthday party. Children will love to count the number of woodland animals, patterned presents and bright balloons. Digitally printed onto luxury soft white matte 300gsm Callisto board, each card is accompanied by a vividly coloured envelope. l Nigel Quiney Publications has recently released a selection of super glossy Juvenile age cards. The designs have been built around funky animals with bags of fun and colour. The cards come with brightly-foiled numerals and have a sheet of great activity stickers. For the girls there are unicorns and mermaids and for the boys tigers and dinosaurs! The designs are 7” x 5” and full colour front and reverse, at an amazing C70. RRP £1.99. l The Shout Outs range from Oh My! consists of modern and minimal animalinspired cards. The card stands like a tent card, and the head lifts to reveal a mouth like area for the message – like the card is shouting. The cards come cellowrapped with an extended header and white envelope. There are 12 cards in the range which measure 105mm x 148mm x 63mm assembled.

l Paper Salad has launched some on trend Baby Milestone cards. There are 48 designs on 24 double sided cards, available in boy, girl and unisex. Printed on luxury board with bright colours, they are A6 in size and each set comes with its own unique packaging. It’s the perfect way to record all those special first moments, including ‘the first time I slept through the night’ and ‘my first pair of shoes’.

l Six new children’s designs have been added to Olive & Belle’s popular Pickles & Pip range. These bright and quirky designs feature firm favourites, such as tractors, animals and the much loved magical unicorn. The cards are sized 145mm x 145mm, printed in England and come complete with a white envelope and cellowrapped. Olive & Belle has also introduced new A4 children prints with inspirational quotes, a perfect gift for a child’s room. l Alphabeti Yeti offers a new and exciting range of illuminated numbers. Each number is inspired by a fairy tale with the same number in its title, such as Five Peas in a Pod and The Six Swans. This series celebrates tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christen Andersen, alongside lesser-known Swahili and Chinese fairy tales. The cards in this range are great for children, and as each fairy tale in this series can be found online children are encouraged to explore the wonderful world of fairy tales and discover exciting new stories they haven't heard before. l New to the Hallmark ‘classroom’ are several kids’ card ranges: Two collections of Star Wars Episode 8 designs, in both emoji and fresh styling; Yip Yap, featuring animals with face filtres and funny captions; Iconomy, containing Whatsapp/text conversations; Lego Ninjago, presenting key characters from the Lego Ninjago movie; Frozen, created to support Olaf’s Frozen Adventure short film, and Thor, using key film characters from the Thor Ragnarok movie in the range. l Having completely re-designed and re-planned its juvenile offering, with the model line now offering 122 captions, including a stunning 114 new designs, The Great British Card Company (GBCC) is announcing brand new artwork from illustrators Simon TaylorKielty, Miki Rose, Jessica Johnson and Alex Gunn. The completely re-invented range, featuring flitter, die-cuts and badges across square, 5” x 7” and 6” x 8” sizes, is already selling out at retail and starts at price code GG (RRP £1.99) and ranges all the way up to KK (£2.99) for a Daughter 16th caption.

FOCUS ON KIDS CARDS

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RETAILER FEEDBACK

Class Room Assembly Who’s top of the class in the kids’ greeting card ‘school room’, are gender colours and themes important to children on their cards and are there any tweaks that card publishers could take on-board?

An assembly of independent card retailers report back.

Georgia Dorling, marketing manager for The Alphabet Gift Shop, Burton-on-Trent and Mickleover: Class favourites: “Currently, our customers seem to really like the Dandelion Stationery children’s cards. They’re in keeping with current trends for children and have fun text on them!

Lots of children's cards at the moment feature dinosaurs and monsters for boys and unicorns for girls. Unicorns are everywhere, and don’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon!”

Gender stereotypes: “Colours and themes do seem to be directed towards gender quite Above: Dandelion Stationery’s heavily at the moment.”

Words of Wisdom range has Publisher tweaks: “We find some gorgeous children’s designs in the collection. that a number of children’s card Left: Dinosaurs appeal to ranges stop at age 10 and then both boys and girls. A card from Paper Salad. jump to 13 and 16, but we get customers asking for the in-between ages. Due to this, we don’t have as big a selection for these, which is a bit of a shame (and makes our card racks a bit uneven!) We also often find that teenage card designs are a bit young. It would be nice to see more cards that are fun designs, but not necessarily hobby-related!”

Angela Dobson, owner of Feathering and Nest, Wallingford:

Below: Meri Meri has some delightfully unusual kids’ cards.

Class favourites: “Meri Meri cards are always popular as they are quirky, contemporary and fun, as well James Ellis’ new Shakies cards that are full of glitter and sparkles, which are really appealing to our customers at the moment. And any cards with unicorns, cactus, llamas and dinosaur imagery are all popular for us.”

Gender stereotypes: “I think gender colours and themes are still important to kids despite the big debate over being gender neutral. We find that girls and boys are still drawn to the obvious themes, although there is more of a crossover now: dinosaurs and cacti are just as appealing to girls as boys.”

Publisher tweaks: “Any cards with added features are always good, as the trend for personalisation through badges and patches is so popular, these would make great additions to a card.”

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Tim Reynolds, manager of Medici Gallery, South Kensington, London: Class favourites: “Two Bad Mice’s Anita Jeram range - she wrote the very famous Guess How Much I Love You? children’s book - is extremely popular as the mice and bunny characters are very cute. We have a spinner and it always needs restocking every three weeks.

Hype’s retro licensed cards are also very strong sellers, especially its Beatrix Potter, Paddington Bear and The Little Prince collections. It's the familiarity and longevity of the characters that appeal. However, it helps that the V&A Museum nearby has a permanent display of some of the original illustrations, and that Beatrix Potter used to live not far from the shop in Kensington.”

Gender stereotypes: “Dinosaurs are for everyone, of all ages and genders. At a young age it doesn't matter that the card image is for a little boy or girl. The gender divide seems to happen later when the children are older.”

Publisher tweaks: “I would recommend a bit of humour on the cards for the older kids, avoiding technology as children are not always into it. And to keep the designs bright, colourful and eye-catching.”

Above: Two Bad Mice’s Anita Jeram’s designs are absolutely adorable.

Left: Hype Beatrix Potter range includes naughty bunny, Peter Rabbit.

Colin Cramb, owner of EH Coles, Sidmouth, Devon: Class favourites: “For us, Second Nature is really good for kids’ cards they offer ranges of children’s cards that look good and are highly affordable, they catch peoples’ eye on the racks and the publisher is brilliant to deal with.

We also publish our own kids’ cards under the brands Cudz - in a modern style with a bit of bling - and Loue, which are in a traditional style.

Superheroes are still popular but we’ve recently seen a swing on kids’ cards towards illustrations of traditional designs of playing sports such as rugby, football and cricket… anything but computers!”

Gender stereotypes: “When we print our own children’s designs we use shades of pink Above: Attracting the eye and a and purple for girls and blues and golds for simple traditional age card, a boys, but we also make sure we publish 20% in Lollipop card from Second Nature. opposite colours on the designs for those children who don't like the typical gendered shades... and they sell!”

Publisher tweaks: “From listening to our customers, there is now too much emphasis on the licensed superhero characters on cards. It seems to have completely taken over and there is a backlash. Parents are asking us for something that mirrors the cards they received as children, such as activity ones or bright and fun and with a badge.”

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THE HENRIES’ BEST CHILDREN’S RANGE 2017

We Like To Party Party!

Birthday bunnies playing with numbers, celebratory flamingos, joyful jungle and savannah inhabitants, and, of course, the odd magical unicorn, are just a few of the party-loving, bright and colourful kids’ cards collective that constituted the finalists in The Henries’ Best Children’s Range category this year.

So with a menagerie of merry-making animals, real and imaginary, putting the Magadascar movies in the shadows, the inventive minds behind these kids’ ranges share their inspiration and what are the ‘elementary’ elements to include.

Winner of the Best Children’s Range category 2017 Animal Magic range from Janie Wilson Janie Cook, director of Janie Wilson: “All children love animals so you can't really go wrong putting one on the front of a card! I wanted the illustrations to be quirky, big and bold, and the use of spot UV helped me to do this, together with strong colours. I wanted the animals to pop out from the crisp white background of the cards.”

Rudimentals round-up: “The main ingredients when designing a children's card range is never hold back on colour and make them fun. Having young children of my own always keeps me up to date on what little ones like. The best test is showing them the artwork before they are printed. Children are always honest critics, their faces speak a thousand words!”

Above: Two designs from Janie Wilson’s award winning Animal Magic range.

Quicksilver range from Wendy Jones-Blackett Wendy Jones Blackett, co-director of Wendy Jones-Blackett: “Our Quicksilver range covers a broad spread of styles and captions and the children’s designs are deliberately formulated to be ‘child-like’ rather than ‘child-ish’ so they appeal to adults as well as the kids!”

Rudimentals round-up: “There’s a growing trend of playfulness with grown-ups wearing My Little Pony garb and enjoying activities usually associated with the kindergarten years, which blurs the lines between what is for children and what is for adults. And not having a specific age/number on the cards broadens their appeal.

With this range, it’s all about putting the fun back into birthdays!”

Just A Number range from Just A Little Note Helen Morgan, art director of Just A Little Note: “Like a lot of my cards, my Just A Number range is based around my characters Harry & Harriet, which were named after my son and his toy bunny.

The bunnies are based on children and imaginative play, so for this range I liked the idea of them playing in and around the numbers. Also as a parent I think you tend to keep the first few years of your children’s cards so they should be special and the sort of thing you might keep up on a shelf for a while.”

Rudimentals round-up: “With children’s cards I have found a few things apply: ages 1- 6 seem to be a good range, as after seven years-old children are more influenced by the licensed characters out there.

Another important element is that though we may all talk about making things less colour gender orientated, the market is very traditional and after creating my first set of designs as bright and colourful and unisex in nature, I found shops asking for pink and blue, so I now do three different versions of my bunny number cards - brights, pinks and blues Above: Celebrating being age One! - A Just and that covers everyone.”

A Number card from Just A Little Note.

Stormy Kids range from Stormy Knight Sarah Jackson founder and designer of Stormy Knight: “I wanted to create a range of bright and fun animal designs that would appeal to kids, but still be inkeeping with the Stormy Knight brand.

Finding children's cards that are printed onto kraft board is unusual and I think it's one of the things that make this range stand out on the shelf, and appeal to adults as well as kids.

I also wanted to create a range that was unisex, but still acknowledged the fact that young girls and boys do often have different tastes to one another. This range has cute kittens with bows and cheeky crocs with sharp teeth, but there's nothing to dictate that one should be given to a boy, and the other to a girl.”

Rudimentals round-up: “A friend once told me that his three yearold noticed the details in EVERYTHING and I think adding little fun touches here and there, be it a bear in a stripy tee or a giraffe carrying a 'YAY' sign, help add character and more fun elements for kids to enjoy!”

Lollipop range from Second Nature Isla, senior designer for Second Nature:

Above: Stormy Kids fits in with the Stormy Knight brand.

“We were keen to have the number as the centre of attention and for the cards to be really bright and bold. We chose to use surface patterns rather than characters to appeal to a wider audiencet. The patterns were inspired by the latest trends, and the more juvenile ages by popular icons such as clouds, butterflies and flamingos.”

Rudimentals round-up: “It is important to reflect the appropriate icons by being aware of trends within the children’s age groups. So for example, the artist used red stars on a blue background for Boy Age 5 to represent the superhero theme that this age group enjoys, rather than illustrating superhero characters.”

Far left: Appealing to kids and adults, a card from Wendy Jones Blackett’s Quicksilver range.

Left: Cloud patterns on a Lollipop design from Second Nature.

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