The Real Reason AEC Firms Shouldn’t Skip Holiday Cards

For architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms, the holiday season isn’t just the end of another year. It’s a chance to pause, reflect and reconnect with the people who helped make your projects possible — clients, partners, vendors and community stakeholders.

Yet every November, someone inevitably asks: “Do we really need to do a holiday card this year?”

The short answer? Yes.

It’s tempting to trim the tradition. Who has time to pick paper stock or sign 500 cards?

But holiday cards aren’t about tinsel or tradition. They’re about relationships, visibility and awareness. Done right, they become a soft-touch reminder of your firm’s culture, values and creativity — without the hard sell of an RFP response.

Skip them, and you risk looking like the only house on the block with no lights on.

Why a Hallmark Box Won’t Cut it

Sure, you could take the easy route: grab a stack of generic store-bought cards, circulate them for signatures (half illegible, some missing entirely), and check the task off the list. But generic cards are like cookie-cutter buildings — efficient to produce, but they don’t say anything about your firm’s design strengths.

A branded holiday card, on the other hand, reflects who you are as an organization. It can echo your design ethos, highlight your people-first values or showcase your community involvement. It feels intentional, thoughtful and authentic — and that’s the kind of impression that carries into the new year.

Paper or Pixels: Picking Your Perfect Package

AEC firms, perhaps more than most, understand the importance of form meeting function. That applies to holiday cards, too. One big decision is format: print card or eCard. Each has strengths and tradeoffs:

Printed cards

• They’re tangible and long-lasting. Clients might display them in offices, on-site trailers or conference rooms.
• Premium paper stock sends a signal of quality (something your firm already values).
• Allows for handwritten signatures or personal notes from project leaders — yes, scribbles still count.
• Stands out in a world drowning in email. 

The trade-off? Mailing lists aren’t as simple as they used to be. With distributed teams and hybrid offices, you’ll need to confirm addresses. And you’ll need to plan ahead to avoid the December logjam at the printers and post office.

eCards

An eCard can serve as a single deliverable or as an email envelope that points to the real card: a landing page. That’s where you can add the (silver) bells and whistles:

• Animation or interactive graphics
• Rich storytelling that embodies your brand’s culture and core values
• Bonus content like downloadable wallpapers, safety tips or year-in-review highlights
• Delivery is nearly instant, easy to share and particularly useful for firms with far-flung networks

The trade-off? You’ll be competing for attention in inboxes that are typically overflowing with marketing messages this time of year. This format also provides limited opportunities for personalization compared to a handwritten note.

Avoiding the December Dash: Timing Matters

It’s easy to think you have more time than you actually do — and to not want to think about gingerbread and cocoa until after you’ve at least sipped your first pumpkin spice latte of the year. 

But holiday campaigns often go off the rails because firms start too late. By the time you’re packing up your Halloween decor, Thanksgiving has eaten a week from your timeline, vendors have filled their production queues, and suddenly your card is stuck in limbo while clients head out on end-of-year PTO much earlier than the magic December 25 date on the calendar.

A smoother timeline looks like this:

• Think in September: Think about what format — paper or digital — makes sense for your firm. Talk strategy and creative direction with your marketing partner. 
• See in October: Review and provide feedback on designs and messaging to make sure it evokes your vision and brand essence. 
• Approve in November: Once you approve artwork, there’s still production work that must be completed to ensure seamless delivery. For printed cards, that means printing and mailing, whereas for digital cards, that means building the design in your customer relationship management (CRM) system and finalizing the mailing list. 
• Send in early December: Enjoy the gift you’ve given yourself and watch your cards joyfully deliver season’s greetings with joy and without panic.

Starting early isn’t about sparing your project manager’s stress. It’s about saving you from last-minute chaos:

• Ensuring cards arrive before decision-makers disappear for the holidays.
• Getting your job in the vendor’s queue before rush fees kick in.
• Allowing plenty of time to wrangle mailing lists and approvals without chasing down signatures on December 20.

How Much Tinsel Are We Talking?

Budgets can feel a little Grinch-y, but let’s unwrap the numbers. Holiday cards come in all shapes and sizes, and so do the costs. For reference, here’s what our team at Rep Ink typically advises clients to expect

Printed card: 8–12 creative hours (plus production costs like printing and postage)

Digital or animated eCard: 8–12 creative hours

Multi-channel campaign (eCard + landing page + social graphics): 20–30 creative hours

Rich media campaign (video + multiple channels): 50+ creative hours

Costs scale with complexity — a static printed card is different from an animated eCard with video and landing pages. But here’s the takeaway: even the most elaborate holiday campaign is a fraction of your marketing spend — and the goodwill return lasts long past the season.

Design Tone and Feel: Hitting the Right Notes

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to design your holiday card. That’s the designer’s job!

A strong designer generally isn’t looking for prescriptive direction — things like, “make it red, add a snowflake, put a wreath in the corner.” That kind of direction can actually limit the creativity of your design.

What they do need is a sense of tone and vibe. Do you want the card to feel festive or heartfelt? Playful or timeless? Classic or modern? That’s the level of input that helps align the design with your brand’s personality.

And if you don’t know — no problem. Your design team can walk you through examples, weigh the pros and cons of different approaches and guide you toward an approach that makes sense for your audience.

Think of it this way: your role is to know if your brand’s culture, priorities and perception call for something bold or something delicate. A strong creative team can handle the sommelier part — recommending the perfect pairing and making sure it’s served up just right.

Why Holiday Cards Are the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Holiday cards aren’t just decoration. They won’t win an RFP or close a deal, but they do something just as vital: they remind your network that your firm is human, thoughtful and invested in relationships.

AEC is a relationship business. Projects are long, complex and require deep trust between firms, clients and communities. Holiday cards are a simple but powerful way to reinforce those bonds by conveying: we value you, we remember you, we celebrate with you.

A branded card can highlight your firm’s design sensibility, showcase your culture or even nod to your most meaningful projects of the year. More importantly, it serves as a gentle reminder that reinforces the positive sentiment that this firm values my partnership, and these are people I want to keep working with.

In a competitive bid environment, that kind of thoughtful visibility matters.

So, don’t let December sneak up on you. Start now, plan ahead and deliver a holiday card that earns a spot on the shelf — not the recycling bin.

Want to know more about creating holiday cards that sleigh? Pour the hot cocoa, and let’s chat.