Blue Mountain Greeting Cards Review

Greeting cards can brighten anyone's day and recipients are always appreciative of the thought, the message, and the effort that goes into finding just the right greeting card for the occasion. In the past, finding a greeting card could prove to be a grueling task because it required making a special trip to a specialty store or other retail outlet that sold greeting cards; picking up dozens of cards to read; and possibly going to a different store if the right card could not be located. The physical demands, as well as the time commitment, made many people forgo a greeting card and convinced many to make a simple phone call instead.

But now that we have this glorious tool known as the internet, there is no excuse for failing to send a greeting card on the different special occasions throughout the year. Many different greeting card sites exists with cards that are easy to search, offering messages and backgrounds that can be customized and a place to attach a personal message, making the card a unique representation of one's true feelings. Hundreds of greeting card sites can be found on the world wide web, and I have used many of them over the past ten years. There are several favorite places to find an online e-card for a special occasion. Let's take a look at a few of my favorites:

• 1. Bluemountain.com: Possibly the best- known and most popular online greeting card service, Bluemountain.com offers both electronic cards and print cards to suit its customers' varying needs. Bluemountain.com offers hundreds of cards and if you have difficulty tracking down the right card for the occasion, Bluemountain.com offers its users the ability to create their own greeting card using Bluemountain.com's template service. They even offer greetings in other languages. Bluemountain.com offers thousands of combinations for greeting cards, but my favorites are those that include interaction because they can often be quite colorful and eye- catching. Users also have an option to add a gift to each card upon completion, with gift options like candy, flowers, and stuffed animals. There is, however, one drawback to Bluemountain.com greetings: Payment of a yearly membership is required for many of the electronic greeting cards and for all printed greeting cards.

• 2. 123greetings.com: Among all of the greeting card sites on the internet, 123greetings.com is the one I have used more than any other. Part of the reason for my loyalty is the longevity of this service (it has been around for a long time with no signs of slowing down), but the main reason I still come back to 123greetings.com is that it offers FREE online electronic greeting cards. Not only that, but there are thousands of greeting cards to choose from and 123greetings.com has expanded its offerings over the years to include many more categories than before. Some cards are funny while others are serious and they all offer the option to customize not just a personal message, but also the background color, font color, font style, and font size. There is an option to add an electronic gift card at the end, to seal the surprise. 123greetings.com appears a little cluttered on the home page, due to the large number of greeting cards offered, and one has to make sure their web browser is set to allow pop- ups, since pop- ups are so common with this site. There are a few minor inconveniences, but with so many options and with everything offered FREE of charge, most users won't mind.

• 3. Mushygushy.com: Want to send a personalized card complete with photo? If so, then consider Mushygushy.com. What makes Mushygushy.com fun to use is that it offers something unique compared to other greeting card sites: The ability to download pictures of people and attached the person's head to a greeting card. As you might imagine, this can make for some fun, entertaining greeting card moments. Take the head of a male co- worker, for example, and attach it to the animated body of a bikini- clad female or attached a friend's head to the body of a baby. This greeting card service requires registration to use, but the registration is free and doesn't take long to complete. Most recipients will be pleasantly surprised when they open a greeting card and find their own face on the card. Assuming they have a sense of humor (and most people do, when sent an electronic greeting card), Mushygushy.com is sure to make your card recipient laugh or at least crack a smile.

• 4. Perfectgreetings.com: This is yet another free greeting card service and it ranks high on my list of greeting card choices when I want to send an e-greeting quickly without having to think or make decisions on customization. There are plenty of greeting card categories in Perfectgreetings.com, but there is little or no customization. You select a card, enter your name and e-mail address, enter your recipients e-mail address, type a message, and send. There is no option to select different colors or attach a gift. This makes Perfectgreetings.com a good example of a no- frills greeting card service and I often turn to Perfectgreetings.com when I'm in a hurry and want to send a card quickly. Perfectgreetings.com does make you put up with the occasional advertisement (often a video will start playing when you click a greeting card category) and it is common to have to select "Click Here to Skip This Ad" as you browse the card categories. But I still like Perfectgreetings.com for its selection, its quickness, and its zero cost.

• 5. Greeting Card Universe: This greeting cards service is similar to Bluemountain.com greeting cards in that it offers both printed and e-cards. But this site is different in many ways. First, Greeting Card Universe is an educational site, with historical information, celebration facts, and assorted trivia on different holidays; how the holiday started, what special meaning they hold, and what people do to celebrate. In addition to this, Greeting Card Universe brings together artists and card buyers, with many unique cards brought to you by artists around the country. These special, artist- enhanced paper cards carry a fee, but the e-cards at Greeting Card Universe are all offered free of charge.

Online greeting card services once ranked among my most often visited web services on the internet. I still use them, but with less frequency than in the past. Today, when I access an online greeting card service, I am usually making a more serious effort to connect with someone; in contrast to the past when I would send an e-card for any reason or no reason.

On those occasions when I send an e-card, the five sites listed above are the ones I visit most frequently. Free sites are still very appealing (for obvious reasons), but greeting card sites that require a small fee should not be ignored. Often, these sites that require paying a fee offer more interesting cards and more customized features. Sometimes, they will have exactly the greeting card you're looking for, easily justifying the small annual fee (typically, less than $2 per month) to join.

One of the common criticisms directed toward greeting card web services is that an e-card is impersonal in nature and cannot convey the same depth of feeling as a paper greeting card. This attitude is becoming less and less common as more and more people resort to e-cards to send greetings. E-cards, in fact, offer the sender the opportunity to express himself/herself in a very personal way, and the ability to customize a card makes them a good choice for creative types. I used to feel the same way about online greeting services when I first started using them. But I quickly realized that personal feelings were just as well- communicated electronically as in print form. Recipients of my cards felt the same way.

Online greeting card services offer many other advantages that make them superior to the local Hallmark store. One is the convenience- you can send a card anytime you want, for any reason, to any recipient with an e-mail address. Cards can be sent immediately, or (in most instances), you can select a specific day to deliver your e-card. Online greeting cards also help to save paper and they don't require spending money on postage. Another nice feature (related to convenience) with online greetings is that they offer a means for procrastinators to send a greeting card at the last minute. The card will go through immediately, so those who like to wait until the last minute still have a chance to get a greeting card to a friend, family member, or co- worker before the important day has passed.

Online greeting card services have changed over the years. Consumers have demanded more tools, more choices, and more customization and the online greeting companies have responded with thousands of cards and the ability to create a card exactly the way you want it with just the right words to express your feelings. I don't expect paper cards will ever disappear from use, but they are certainly less popular than in the past and the five online services listed above are partly to credit. These sites, and others like them, offer fun, engaging, creative, and thoughtful greeting cards for hundreds of different occasions. A few clicks of a mouse and a little bit of soul- searching for the right words are all it takes to send the perfect online greeting to a loved one, friend, or co- worker.