Progressive Kids Supplement Dec 2020

GREETING CARDS

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News

Hop, Skip And Jump Into 2021 Children Are A Force For Change

Greeting cards’ staying power is largely down to the designs reflecting society’s evolution - and the children’s greeting card sector is very much part of this, with designs having to not only appeal to the adult card purchaser but also to the more youthful recipient.

Research experts Kids Insights (founded by Nick Richardson, whose father Chris spent many years in the greeting card industry) kicked off last month’s virtual Sustainability in Licensing Conference (SILC) (organised by Max Publishing, owner of PG) with the company’s chief product officer, Jonathan Watson, highlighting key findings from the organisation’s recent research.

Among the insights is how children are a lot more technologically, ethically and environmentally aware than ever before, but that they are bringing their beliefs to bear on their parents’ buying patterns. Right now, even among 3-8 year olds in the UK, it is concerns about the coronavirus that are top of their issues list, followed by bullying and animal cruelty.

Under the heading of ‘generation genderless’ Jonathan drilled down into how the number of 7-12 year old boys playing with dolls and playsets had increased 95% since the start of lockdown. (see pages 10-11) Above: Children are getting access to personal devices at a younger age.

Right: Kids Insights’ findings into the issues that have hit home for children 3-8 year olds in the last three months Below: Kids’ aspirations have changed and this is doubtless to be reflected on card designs to some extent.

In an uncertain world, if there’s one thing we can be certain about it, it’s that we all love to engage with the excitement surrounding children celebrating birthdays, with the newest kids’ card launches for 2021 guaranteed to have them jumping for joy!

Animals across the board, as well as rainbows, are continuing to play a huge role, while more gender neutrality and diversity is being reflected in designs, with the influence of gaming up there as among the hot trends for 2021.

This edition of Focus on Kids’ Cards gives you full permission to wind back the years and remember your own Fuzzy Felt, Chopper riding and Tiny Tears hugging years.

Another shift since the start of the pandemic has been in kids’ aspirations. “Children are inspired to be in jobs where they can change the world themselves. Aspirational, celebrity, status jobs have fallen in popularity, and have been replaced by more everyday heroes and practical career options,” said Jonathan, with becoming a scientist, doctor or politician, as well as doing jobs to ‘save the planet’, or being in jobs involved in communications, are on the up.

He added that the rise in the ‘democratic household’, due to lockdown, means that kids have more to say over their parents purchases - meaning they are likely to have more input on the cards being bought than ever before.

When I’m grown up... “...I want to work in a restaurant!”

Olivia, 6 Focus On Kids Cards Jakki Brown: Editorial Director Sue Marks: Editor Focus On Kids Cards is a Max Publishing publication.

Tel: 020 7700 6740 Fax: 020 7607 6411 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk

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News

Look Out For ‘Gamerstalgia’

Embracing Diversity

Gaming is firmly ingrained in children’s psyche and so it is no surprise that greeting card publishers are logged on to launch some exciting new children’s gaming-centric ranges in 2021. A front runner is Danilo, which has added two gaming licences to its portfolio, Nintendo and Animal Crossing.

“In 2020, gaming reached mass appeal with 3.4bn global users,” highlighted Danilo’s licensing director Dan Grant. “In the run up to 2020, we have also seen a trend towards ‘Gamerstalgia’ with the increased purchase of re-releases, nostalgic consoles and merchandise.

Especially during the pandemic this year, this emotional connection to past gaming experience has been amplified, so to now have licenses such as Nintendo and Super Mario added to our portfolio is ideal.”

Added Dan: “In relation to Animal Crossing, ever since its release in March, the game has been dominating Nintendo's sales charts. Games such as these, which offer a virtual sanctuary, (especially effective during the pandemic), reward players for the time they put into it and permits social sharing and exchanging, so have a winning combination.”

Above: One of the designs from Karmuka which now form part of UKG’s offer.

As part of its diversity strategy, UKG Greetings has forged a collaborative arrangement with Karmuka, a card company owned by Sarah Coombes, which has diversity at its heart.

UKG is now including a selection of juvenile general birthday and age cards from Karmuka which are not only bright and fun, but also feature children of different skin tones. The selection was introduced into plans in Sainsbury’s at the beginning of October and will be available for general release early in the new year.

Glittering Prizes In addition to winning The Henries Best Children’s Range category for its Hoopla range this year (see pages 6-7), Paper Salad also notched up an exciting greeting card award success at the recent Louie Awards, organised by the US’ Greeting Card Association. The company won the Children’s Card category for its Jamboree range (a Henries award winner in 2019).

Top: Super Mario is targeted at kids aged 6-12 years and families. Since its launch in 1985 by Nintendo over 300 million games have been sold.

Above: Social simulation video game Animal Crossing first launched in 2001. It has a primary audience of kids aged 6-12 years, as well as a secondary audience of teens and adults.

Left: Paper Salad’s Louie award winning range, Jamboree.

Save Our Hedgehogs

Game On Gaming will also be a big trend for UKG who will have new designs available in summer 2021.

“Although gaming isn’t a new trend per se, there is a resurgence every time a new development is introduced, and with the recent launch of the new Xbox and PlayStation consoles there’s been increased hype around it,” comments UKG’s Ben Whittington, creative director humour. “Among the new designs is a novelty gaming design with a fun sliding mechanic.”

Continues Ben: “We are also launching a range of what can only be described as ‘rainbow ages’ as part of our model line.

These designs alone have great impact and are very ‘now’, but, with a vibrant holographic foil finish, will definitely stand out in the card rack. Plus, as part of our product development for summer 2021 we are introducing a great new 3D design with a very ‘strong girl’ vibe, a jacket design for ages 11 and 12.”

Above: Among the new gaming designs for summer 2021 from UKG. Left: UKG’s new rainbow cards have a vibrant holographic foil finish.

Stripey Cats, best known for its wobbly eyed character cards for children, is helping out with the plight of saving one of the UK’s most beloved native species - the hedgehog. “From Beatrix Potter’s Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle to our very own Hetty the Hedgehog, they’ve been a source of inspiration for artists and designers Above: Among the for many years, and they still adorn a lot of Stripey Cat hedgehog greetings cards today,” points out Stripey Cats’ cards that are helping to raise money for the ‘top cat’ Jonathan Crosby.

Hedgehog Street Campaign.

As he explains: “The beloved hedgehog is sadly in decline due to habitat loss. We’ve lost a third of all our hedgehogs since the millennium which is pushing the hedgehog close to extinction and we simply cannot let this happen, not on our watch!”

Stripey Cats has therefore decided to give a percentage of proceeds from the company’s hedgehog cards and gifts to the Hedgehog Street Campaign, a joint campaign set up by the People's Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

“They are doing an amazing job so we felt we wanted to help out in some way,” comments Jonathan.

When I’m grown up... “...I want to be a musician and play the tenor horn.” Poppy, 8

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The Henries 2020 Finalists

All To Play For

There was a wide array of bright, colourful and innovative entries in the Best Children’s Range category of The Henries awards this year, with Paper Salad taking the crown as winner of the category with its vibrant Hoopla range!

We catch up with the winning publisher, as well as finding out more from all the finalists about their creative inspiration, plus what the publishers feel makes a winning children’s card range.

Winner: Hoopla from Paper Salad Karen Wilson, co-founder and director of Paper Salad…

Range chat: “We are currently designing new additions to our popular Hoopla range, which features 32 designs, and have been having lots of fun thinking of new animal characters in fun scenarios. Superhero cards for boys and girls continue to be among our best sellers, but we try to offer a ‘bit of everything’ in the range. Despite the trend for gender neutral designs, we still sell a huge amount of pink for girls, while little boys love sharks and lions, with our most popular design in the range being a play bus full of animal characters that suits all genders.”

The inspiration? “I’m not sure where the design style for Hoopla came from, but our natural style is ‘quirky’ so when starting to draw, the animals and icons just appear, naturally.”

The vital ingredients? “Good children’s cards can be hard to get right. In our opinion, we feel the colours need to be bright and the characters cute. The lovely embossed details we have used, and our ‘signature’ rainbow envelope, help to finish off the whole package.

For several years, people assumed we only did kids cards which we think was down to the bright colours that we love!”

Above and right: A fun dragon and a play bus full of animal characters are among the stars of Paper Salad’s Hoopla range.

When I’m grown up... “...I want to be a cook.” Maisie, aged 6

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Below: Paper Salad’s co-owners Claire Williams (left) and Karen Wilson were delighted to win The Henries award this year.

Finalist: 3D Children’s Range from Alljoy Design Ling Ji, director of Alljoy Design…

Range chat: “There are 12 designs in the range, which include princesses, mermaids, dragons etc.”

The inspiration?

“During the first lockdown in Ireland, I got the chance to spend some decent time at home with my four-yearold daughter, which I was very grateful for. It was fun at the start, but it became very tiring after a while, so I kept thinking about different ways to keep her busy. I found that she particularly loves

Above: A spaceman from Alljoy’s 3D Children’s Range.

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The Henries 2020 Finalists

little cartoon characters, so after I’d drawn lots of characters for her, I got the idea to cut them out and make them stand up, and it’s this that has inspired our children’s 3D pop up cards.”

The vital ingredients? “For a children's card, it’s important to ask children's opinions. It is important to look from children's prospect of view.”

Finalist: Mouthies from Kali Stileman Kali Stileman, founder of her eponymous company Kali Stileman…

Above: A mermaid from Alljoy’s 3D Children’s Range.

Range chat: “The collection includes 16 cards which have laser cut mouths for little fingers to play with. Designs include a fluffy, formidable yeti, a delightful dinosaur and a growly tiger. The cards are printed on matt board in an array of muted bright colours, with bright red or pink envelopes.”

Finalist: Spec-tacular from Hotchpotch Rachel Burt, designer, Hotchpotch, comments…

Range chat: “Engineered from paper, our Spec-tacular range, which features 12 designs, doubles as a greeting card and a pair of super-silly wearable spectacles, perfect for a birthday selfie.”

The inspiration? “The inspiration behind the Spectacular range came from a focus on creating innovative and exciting card ranges which take recyclability and sustainability into consideration.”

The vital ingredients? “At Hotchpotch we consider the essential components of children’s card ranges to be bright colours, fun illustration and what we’re best known for… a little bit of flair!”

Above: Rachel Burt reached the finals in The Henries’ Most Promising Young Designer or Artist category.

Below: Spec-tacular birthday spectacles from Hotchpotch.

The inspiration? “Mouthies came out of a project I did with the book publisher Make Believe Ideas. I illustrated a bunch of books for them with felt teeth,” explained Kali.

The vital ingredients? “Fun!” Above and left: Mouthies from Kali Stileman were inspired by illustrations Kali created for a book project.

Finalist: Milkshake from Janie Wilson Range chat: “There are 24 designs in the Milkshake range, 18 of which include animal imagery. The cards are litho-printed and finished with cold foil and embossed.”

The inspiration? “Up to the age of nine, people really like to buy an age specific card, so they have to be strong designs within the range, which I hope I have achieved with Milkshake. I absolutely love designing children’s cards, and most of my inspiration comes from my head, along with following trends and fashions for specific age groups so that the imagery and captions are appropriate.”

The vital ingredients? “The colour and imagery have to ‘pop’. It’s important for the cards to be fun, lighthearted and happy so that it will engage the child immediately when they open the envelope.”

Above and left: Two of 24 designs from Janie Wilson’s Milkshake range.

When I’m grown up... “...I want to be a paleontologist.” Ellis, aged 10

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Retailer Feedback

Chart Toppers Which children’s card ranges and designs have been flying off the racks and what’s currently trending in stores?

Focus on Kids cards asked a selection of retailers for their top picks.

Jo Barber, owner, No.14 Ampthill

Below: No. 14, Ampthill.

Best sellers? “There’s a wide range of children’s cards from Caroline Gardner, at a good price point, with a good range for both girls and boys.

For younger boys, the Roarrrsome Birthday design from the Partytime range just flies off the shelf.”

What’s trending? “Animal designs always do well, with jungle/safari animals very popular. We also sell a lot of retro designs to include a boy’s card from Claire Giles featuring Subbuteo and a design from Molly Mae featuring a little retro Chopper bike. Molly Mae also covers sports, such as football and rugby.”

What would you like to see more of? “We really struggle with cards for young teens so we would like to see more of those. There’s a huge gap, where the cards just say Happy Birthday.

Plus, I struggle to find cards for younger boys. I would also like to see more jungle/safari designs too.”

Above: Roarrrsome Birthday from Caroline Gardner’s Partytime range.

Beverley Yates, shop manager, Maddison, Harbourne Best Sellers? “We do really well with bright, colourful cards from Cardigan Cards, because they have ages and titles on them. Janie Wilson’s children’s cards are also very popular. Our customers love them. They are beautiful and really well made. Customers also like the children’s cards from IC&G.” What’s trending? “Currently it’s dinosaurs, jungle/safari animals and girlie cards with pretty feminine images.”

What would you like to see more of? “Publishers do brilliant cards for girls, but limited boys cards, so it would be good to see more of those.”

Above: Maddison, Harbourne.

Left: Cardigan Cards’ Wee-Nipper ‘niece’ card.

Below: Dzodzo, Woodbridge.

Below left: A Quentin Blake card from Woodmansterne.

Pete Whiteman, co-owner, Dzodzo, Woodbridge Best Sellers: “Our ‘go to’ ranges are Woodmansterne’s Quentin Blake - it’s so quirky and appeals to the young and the young at heart - and Abacus’ Neon Fiesta.

Fun designs that older children love.”

What’s trending? “We are seeing a trend where the adults do not want the cards for children to be too young. They feel that the child is older than their age, and so the images of the cards should reflect this. Animals are still a great winner in this section.”

What would you like to see more of? “Personally, I would like publishers to take children as young adults, especially in the ages of 5-8. Many companies produce images that fit more with a child of 4, not that of an 8 year old. Times have changed and the industry needs to move with it.”

Liz Killick, co-owner, Calladoodles, Carshalton Best Sellers? “Rachel Ellen’s children’s cards across the board.

For girls, the cards are sparkly, twinkly and in lovely colours, at really good price points. The cards are just as good for boys too. Our other quietly successful range is Just Animals from Lucilla Lavender. It features gender neutral animals that work. We sell soft toys from All Creatures, and we marry them up with the cards.”

What’s trending? “Alongside animal designs, we see a lot of pretty cat-type images, spacemen and dinosaurs. And unicorns still sell.”

What would you like to see more of? “Once children get to 9 or 10, they want designs that are a bit more grown up and trenddriven. As we don’t sell licensed children’s card ranges, we would also like to see something relevant to that market place featuring a non-licensed design.”

Above: Calladoodles, Carshalton.

Above right: Just Animals from Lucilla Lavender.

When I’m grown up... “...I want to be a professional footballer.” Isla-Rose, 9 “...I want to be a superhero.” Leo, 4

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Trends: Gender Neutral

Neutral Ground While there is undoubtedly still a huge market for gender specific traditional pink and blue designs when it comes to children’s greeting cards, more and more publishers are also including designs that are gender neutral.

Focus On Kids Cards listens to what publishers have to say on this shift in design treatment.

While not refuting that ‘pink for girls’ and ‘blue for boys’ remains popular on the card racks, gender neutral designs have become much more commonplace, while gender treatment too, is changing.

Deckled Edge’s take on cards for kids is to design illustrations to suit any age, as well as any gender, as evidenced in the company’s EUREKA! collection. “The designs are created to offer a softer approach in my art subject matter where everyone is accepted, be it a boy who loves tutus or a girl who adores football,” says the company’s owner/director Janna Cossettini. “We have cheeky playful meerkat heroes, a rainbow pinata llama, a cupcake devouring dinosaur, and a cute fluffy kitten holding a bunch of balloons, plus an adorable fluffy duckling ballerina line-up, and sweet penguins with beachballs.”

When I am grown up... “...I want to be a climate change activist.” Jaime, 10

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Left: Among Poet and Painter’s gender neutral cards for teens.

Far left: Deckled Edge ballerinas (Life would be better if we all wore tutus).

Below middle: Cheerleaders from Poet and Painter.

Bottom right: From the Jungle Jamboree collection, newly launched by Sirocco Designs.

Also expanding its range of gender neutral children’s cards is Poet and Painter, with Cheerleaders one of the newest additions to its growing Motley collection. “It joins our gender neutral cards designed for both children and teenagers,” confirms Poet and Painter’s artist and director Lucy Creed. “We aim to keep making cards that don't reduce kids to solely pink and blue options, allowing gender to be a choice not a bias.”

Adds Lucy: “additionally, we have new cards for teenagers who get a terrible press, but having survived the teen parenting years we have found they provide a wealth of humour, plus there is a ton of tenderness behind all the flouncing. It’s a real milestone for a young person and for this I think teens deserve a category all of their own.

We’ve had some lovely feedback from customers who seem to appreciate this, so demand is continuing to grow.”

Like many greeting card publishers, Sirocco Design was very busy during lockdown adding to the company’s existing best selling collections, including its embroidered iron on patch cards.

As Sirocco Design’s Karen Katon-Osprey, illustrator and director explains: “I illustrate the wide majority of our cards with the intention of them being gender neutral, with our newly launched ranges all reflecting this.”

Ricicle Cards meanwhile, recently launched a range of children's greeting cards for ages 1-5, with an extra birthday card that doesn't have a number. “The range is called Wild Child and I've purposely made them gender neutral,” confirms founder David Nichols-Rice. “The illustrative

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Trends: Gender Neutral

designs have a jungle-animal vibe, featuring jungle-inspired typography on each design.”

Also highlighting cards that are non-gender specific is Twizler which has added a further 11 cards to the company’s Tiger Tots range, officially launching in January 2021. “Tiger Tots was initially designed to be gender neutral which we think is going to be an ongoing trend into 2021,” enthuses director Laura Murphy.

With Babies In Mind

Above: Ricicle Cards gender neutral cards have a jungle theme.

Left: Tiny Tots from Twizler.

Right: Think Of Me Designs’ gender neutral Born In 2021 design, part of the company’s bestselling Zest collection.

Below: A Sesame Street Cookie Monster card from Hype Associates.

Character Brands At Hype Associates, marketing manager JanePatterson-Wright, highlights the company’s cards that feature characters which have been around for some time - old favourites that are familiar, and well loved by young and old.

“We added Elmer age 1 to 4 earlier this year to complement the existing range, and also added Sesame Street Elmo and Cookie Monster age cards for little ones, again to complement the existing range, which currently focuses more on older children or adult fans,” explains Jane. Additionally, the Miffy pastel designs for new babies have been very popular with retailers who cater for the very young, although we do other designs in the more traditional primary colours.”

She adds: “These days, I think people are very keen not to be too gender specific, so the trendy bright colours of Elmer, and Sesame Street are a great choice, though the softer shades of pink and blue are still very much in evidence when sending cards for newborn or very young children. There is very definitely still a market for the traditional.”

For the first time, Think Of Me Designs has launched a gender neutral 'Born in 2021' offering from its best-selling Zest collection. “We have found that there has been a definite trend towards gender neutral options over the past few years,” confirms creative director Freya Kane.

“Their popularity lies not only in the convenience for our retail partners being able to select just one design as opposed to two gender-specific designs, but also in the societal leaning towards not assigning a specific colour to a particular gender.

We want to make sure we have card offerings for customers who want something other than the traditional 'blue for a boy, pink for a girl' designs,” adds Freya.

“We have chosen the never-more-popular rainbow motif, as the rainbow design lends itself well to a children's card. It’s colourful and relatable and also suggests hope, newness and the prospect of brighter happier times ahead.”

Diverse/Multicutural

Below: Superstar from Nyha Cards’ Shine range.

Nyha Cards think that being genderneutral, and being diverse/ multicultural, in most ways, go handin-hand. “I have been moving towards being gender-neutral since 2019 in the following ways,” explains owner and creative Naomi Robinson.

“Designing from concept, with fewer gender clichés and stereotypes and carefully considering colour palette choices, reducing overly pink for girls and blue for boys.

“In addition, careful labelling of cards as ‘children's cards’, rather than gender-specific, has found customers and buyers choosing cards that have ‘boy characters’ for girls etc., such as the Superstar greeting card. I have also been thoughtfully analysing the use of language and not referring to words as ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’, and offering more choice of what characters are engaging in. On Nyha Cards, boys happily ride unicorns and girls are space cadets."

Adds Naomi: “In 2021, I have more cards coming which steer clear from stereotypical gender roles, and I have also been moving forwards with designs featuring groups of children. The age ranges are 1-16, although a fair few adults buy the children's range for each other.”

When I am grown up... “...I want to be a drummer.” Taylor, 5

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What’s New?

New Kids

On The Block Catering for tots to teenagers, greeting card publishers have clearly had a lot of fun creating some cracking new kids’ card ranges.

Top of the class going into 2021 are quirky animal designs, bright neons and rainbows, along with hot new, as well as much loved, licences.

l Dandelion Stationery’s new children’s range, The Chameleon Collection, features designs adorned with tropical animals celebrating with party hats and birthday cake. Covering the key ages of 1-10, as well as general birthday and relations designs, there are 32 cards in the collection. Bright and colourful with a gold foil finish they come with a pastel blue envelope.

Cards come cello wrapped or plastic free, with a card clasp. l Rachel Ellen has launched two new vibrant children's card ranges.

Chatterbox (pictured) is a collection of open, ages (1-9) and relations cards in a square format, featuring Rachel's hand-painted characters and text, with colourful rainbows and stars on watercoloured backgrounds.

Printed with vibrant neon inks on textured board, they are finished with luxurious gold foil and a raised hand-applied number or caption. The cards are supplied with either neon pink or teal coloured envelopes.

Fred and Ginger is printed with neon inks on textured board, finished with heavily embossed glossy gold foil and a die-cut top. The designs cover the most popular occasions and relations, and are supplied with brightly coloured envelopes.

and daughter designs, with 23 new neon portrait designs featuring zingy colour and fun imagery.

Additionally, Buddy and Betty is a collaboration with artist Emma Jayne Designs, which combines the quirky, fun side of nature with beautiful colours. All three ranges are supplied with a kraft envelope.

l Noel Tatt has recently launched Anipals, featuring designs by artist Lindsey Sagar. The bright, engaging range covers ages 16 in both male and female designs. Each card has a fun, die-cut top, is finished with a metallic fluted foil and comes with a complementary coloured envelope that can be supplied unwrapped or wrapped. The cards and envelopes use FSC certified board/paper. l Next year will see a myriad of additional licensing properties joining the Danilo stable. As well as Elmer the elephant, these also include Coco Melon, aimed at boys and girls aged 14 years, a combination of fun, colourful animation and classic nursery rhymes and songs, providing entertaining and educational content for preschool families.

Animal Planet, a popular Discovery Channel brand, which is targeted at kids aged 4-11 years (and adults aged 16-45 years), features documentaries and shows about wild animals and domestic pets. With 350m households who watch the channel, Animal Planet enjoys an 81% global brand awareness level.

Meanwhile, Mr Men and Little Miss celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2021 and Danilo has a new official range of greeting cards which include a host of new captions, including relations and occasions. l Launched at the end of 2020, Sherbet Lemon by

Woodmansterne is a range of eight cards on felted board, designed by Amy Eastland.

They showcase a myriad of creatures in a rainbow palette of bright, vibrant colours, from smiling dinosaurs and unicorns, to ballet dancing flamingos.

l Earlybird Designs’ three new ranges

include many cards that are aimed at children. Using vivid neon inks, Big Fab Neons is a larger size card featuring a gorgeous elephant, funny cat, spots, stripes and a bright, happy sun with sunglasses on. New for 2021, Relations Neons (pictured) features cool cats, sausage dogs, polar bears and funky pineapple, along with nephew, niece, son

When I am grown up... “...I want to be an artist.” Spencer, 2and-a-half FOCUS ON KIDS CARDS

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What’s New?

l For January 2021, Caroline

Gardner is launching Yay Today. Featuring joyous colours and jolly characters, the cards feature a mix of animals and delicious fruits. Each card is finished with gold foil accents such as the text, a little party hat or the strawberry seeds. l With age milestones so important to little ones, Marina B’s new Mini Munchkin collection has 20 designs celebrating each year, from 1-10, a set each for boys and girls. The cards are printed on 350 gsm board.

adorned with illustrator Naomi C Robinson’s distinctive, expressive, colourful, joyful style. The range offers empowering, uplifting, positive affirming cards for children and adults, an addition to a gift or a keepsake card to treasure, spreading joy for years to come.

The cards are blank inside for a special message and can be sent for multiple occasions. l Snap Them Up is a new

children’s range for 2021 from Stripey Cats, featuring some of Jonathan Crosby’s award-winning animal designs, with birthday balloons and party hats aplenty!

The cards come in a new size of 95mm x 115mm. l Raspberry Blossom has

l Cardigan Cards is launching 12

additional titles to its slim WeeNipper range - covering niece ages 1-6 and nephew ages 1-6 - which will be available from January 2021.

The range is brightly coloured, filled with dinosaurs, dragons, fairy princesses and funny little bugs to capture the interest of kids.

l Older children’s ages designs have recently been introduced into Pink Pig kids age card range. In response to requests from stockists, the publisher has added designs for ages 11,

12, 13,14 and15 (which join the existing collection for ages 1-10) featuring both a male and female version. The cards are printed in the UK on heavy 350gm FSC board, and come with recycled eko kraft envelopes. They are available cellowrapped or naked. l Shine is Nyha Cards’ new range of multicultural and inclusive everyday cards,

launched three new children’s card ranges. Fantabulous combines whimsical characters, hand-lettering and luxe gold foil finishes. Wowzers is inspired by company founder Rebecca Green’s infant daughter Ophelia, combining the animals that she loves with themes and activities that are recognisable even to very young children.

Every design is finished with a cold-foil finish to add rainbow sparkle.

Zoopa Doopa (pictured) features playful, popular zoo animal characters for children celebrating birthdays from age 1-5. l Hotchpotch’s new releases for January include Playground, a fun, colourful juvenile collection which opens to reveal a super cool pop up. The cards are designed, printed and hand-assembled in the UK, with no glue, no plastic, no cello and fully recyclable. Each design in the Rosette collection (pictured) includes a fun, removable paper rosette-style badge while Butterscotch features neon rainbows, inky bold brush strokes and good vibes. The cards are printed with Hotchpotch’s signature pink ink, finished with gold foil, creating a striking, vibrant look.

When I am grown up... “...I want to be a fashion designer and stylist.” Violet, 7

FOCUS ON KIDS CARDS

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The GreATesT COLLeCTiOn OF GreeTinG CArDs in The WOrLD

“PG Live is just the best show and 2021 is going to be such a treat! If there’s one thing trading through 2020 has taught us it’s that you really can’t beat seeing friends and customers in person.

That’s the number one reason why we’ll be at PG Live - we’ve been exhibiting there every year since it started and to have the chance to catch up with everyone again will just be so special.

UK retailers, our international distributor friends and fellow publishers have all been sorely missed and to look forward and plan for a London show after all we’ve all been through is going to be the cherry on the cake!”

Wendy JonesBlackett, Owner,

Wendy Jones-Blackett

The FuTure OF GreeTinGs Last few stands remaininG www.progressivegreetingslive.com

OBC_Kids Supplement 2020.indd 1

PG Live 2021 Tuesday 8 - Wednesday 9 June Business Design Centre, London +44 (0) 1635 297070 www.progressivegreetingslive.com @PGLiveLondon #PGL2021

21/12/2020 14:16