Custom Thank You Cards
Custom thank you cards on stock that actually takes a pen — flat or folded, with envelopes, or sized to slip into a parcel — from 100. Proof and price the same working day.
A card nobody writes in is a card that failed
- Board
- Uncoated 300–400gsm; cotton 600gsm+; coated with an unvarnished writing panel
- Formats
- Flat A6, DL and 5 x 7 in; folded A6 and A5; enclosure sizes to your box
- Digital, both sides; several designs or names per run at one price
Get a price for Thank You Cards
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Stock chosen for a pen, not a press
Uncoated card takes ballpoint, gel, fountain and marker without feathering or beading. Cotton takes them best and feels like stationery. A coated stock can be used if the writing panel is left unvarnished — we do that as standard — but a full gloss laminate refuses almost everything. If the cards are for a team to write at speed, uncoated is not a preference, it is the difference between them getting written and not.
Test with the pen your team actually uses. A gel pen behaves very differently from a fine liner on the same card.
Posted, handed over, or packed in the box
| Wedding thank-you | Folded A6 with an envelope; matched to the invitation suite |
|---|---|
| Business note | Flat A6 or DL; brand on the front, blank back; often sent with an invoice |
| Parcel enclosure | Flat, sized to sit on top of the product; no envelope, read on opening |
The enclosure card is a different piece
A card that goes inside a parcel is not posted, so it needs no envelope and no address panel. What it needs is to lie flat on the product without adding bulk, survive being packed against it, and carry a short message with a discount code or a social handle. Sized to the inside of the box lid it is the first thing seen on opening. Our mailer boxes for direct orders are what it usually travels in.
Printing a short run that changes often
- Digital print, no plates, so a hundred cards costs what a hundred should.
- Several designs in one order at the same price per card — one per product line, or per season.
- A name or a code per card from a list, printed in the same run.
- Reprints from the kept file with the code changed and nothing else.
Finishes that still allow writing
Foil and blind deboss on the front leave the inside untouched, so both are safe. A matte laminate on the outside only is fine. Spot UV on the front is fine. What is not fine is any film across the writing panel — and that is worth saying out loud, because it is the single most common way a thank-you card is ruined.
Thank You Cards — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- Uncoated 300–400gsm; cotton 600gsm+; coated with an unvarnished writing panel
- Formats
- Flat A6, DL and 5 x 7 in; folded A6 and A5; enclosure sizes to your box
- Digital, both sides; several designs or names per run at one price
- Finishes
- Foil, blind deboss, spot UV, matte laminate — outside faces only
- Envelopes
- Matched stock where the card is posted; none on enclosures
- Writing
- Panel left unvarnished as standard
- Minimum
- 100 cards
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. Both sides as standard on cards, tags and leaflets.
- Color
- CMYK with spot colors for a brand match. Uncoated and cotton stocks print noticeably lighter than coated ones.
- Tolerance
- Trim plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut. Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding.
- Tooling
- A die only where the piece is shaped, perforated or drilled, made once and kept. A plain rectangle needs none.
- Food contact
- Food-safe inks on menus and counter print that will be handled where food is served.
- Sustainability
- Uncoated and unlaminated stocks recycle without separation, and FSC papers are available across the range.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build thank you cards on
Sheet print is judged in the hand more than a box is: the weight, the surface and whether a pen works on it. These are the stocks we run for cards, folders, leaflets and stationery.
Coated card 300–400gsm
The workhorse. Sharp full-color print, matte or gloss, laminated where it is handled. Does not take a pen unless the finish is matte.
300–400gsmUncoated card
No clay coat. Colors read softer and warmer, a deboss goes deeper, and it writes on with anything. Photographs lose punch.
300–400gsmCotton and textured card
Soft, thick and fibrous. Takes a deep blind deboss and reads as an invitation. Foil sits beautifully; four-color does not.
400–700gsmDuplexed card
Two sheets bonded, often with a colored core, for a very thick card with a visible colored edge. The heaviest thing we print.
600–900gsmText paper 100–170gsm
Leaflets, folder inners and booklet pages. Folds without cracking and takes a full-color print on both faces.
100–170gsmManila and kraft paper
Unbleached, tan, and cheap. One or two colors read well; white ink gives a light mark. Envelopes, folders and tags.
90–300gsmSynthetic stock
Polypropylene sheet for tags and cards that get wet, torn or handled outdoors. Prints like paper and does not soften.
200–400 micronBoard-backed
A printed face laminated to grayboard, for a rigid card, a folder back or a display that has to stand up on its own.
1–2 mm boardNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Sheet print takes the widest range of finishes of anything we make.
Matte lamination
Soft, fingerprint-resistant, and it still takes a pen. The default on anything handled.
Gloss lamination
Maximum color depth. Shows every fingerprint and refuses a ballpoint.
Hot foil
Gold, rose gold, silver, holographic or a color. The block is small so the die is cheap.
Emboss and deboss
Deepest on uncoated and cotton stocks; shallow and prone to cracking on gloss coated.
Spot UV
A gloss shape on a matte laminate. Best on a dark ground where the contrast reads.
Edge paint and colored core
Color on the cut edge of a thick or duplexed card. Only seen when the card is picked up, which is the point.
Soft-touch
A velvet laminate on a cover or a folder. Marks on white; excellent on dark.
Uncoated and textured
No film at all. Writes on, debosses deeply, and reads as considered rather than cheap.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing printed sheets, folds and the grain: thank you cards
A printed piece is specified flat and finished folded, and the difference between the two is where mistakes live. Send the finished size you want and we work back to the flat.
- Finished size
- The size after folding and trimming. A6, A5, A4, DL, US letter and legal are standard; anything else is cut on its own die.
- Bleed and safe area
- 3 mm of artwork past every trim edge, and nothing important within 4 mm inside it. The guillotine drifts by a fraction on every stack.
- Grain direction
- Paper folds cleanly along the grain and cracks across it. We set the grain to the fold, which is why a sheet is not simply cut from the biggest sheet available.
- Fold allowance
- On a roll fold or a gate fold, the inner panels are cut a millimeter or two shorter so the piece closes flat.
- Creasing
- Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding. Without it the fold cracks and the coating flakes along the line.
- Trim tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Thank You Cards
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a stock and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about thank you cards? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
Can I write on them?
Yes — that is the point, so we leave the writing panel unvarnished and recommend uncoated or cotton stock.
Which pens work?
On uncoated and cotton, all of them. On a gloss laminate almost none, which is why we never varnish the writing side.
Do you supply envelopes?
Yes, matched to the card, where the card is posted. Parcel enclosures do not need one.
What size should an enclosure card be?
Sized to sit inside the box lid — usually A6 or smaller. Send the box dimensions and we cut to them.
Can each card have a different discount code?
Yes, printed digitally from your list in the same run.
What is the minimum order?
100 cards.
Can I print several designs together?
Yes, at the same price per card, as long as they share a stock and size.
Can I have foil on a card I write in?
Yes, on the front. Foil and deboss leave the inside untouched.
Flat or folded?
Flat for a short note and for parcel enclosures; folded where the message is longer or the card matches a wedding suite.
Will they match my invitations?
Yes, if printed on the same stock family with the same finishes. Order them together where you can.
How fast can they be printed?
Digital, so no tooling and no plates. The date comes with the quote.
Can they be recycled?
Uncoated and unlaminated cards recycle without separation. A laminate on the front does not stop it, but a plain card is cleaner.
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