Hallmark Launches New Online Card Showers Service

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Hallmark is launching a new service to make organizing card showers for loved ones easier than ever before. Card Showers from Hallmark is a free, online service that helps a group of people "shower" a special person with a mailbox full of well wishes, gratitude or support. With this new service, consumers quickly can create and organize their own Card Showers to share 'get well' wishes or celebrate occasions, such as milestone birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and many other card-sending situations.

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"Card showers are a great way to show an outpouring of love and support for someone special," said Paul Barker, vice president and general manager of digital, at Hallmark. "Card Showers from Hallmark makes it easy and more efficient because the online tool helps organizers invite and communicate with friends and family participants, as well as track the success of the shower."

The act of organizing card showers for others is a popular practice. Recently publicized card showers include a Salvation Army volunteer from Eureka Springs, Ark., retiring to a shower of 'Thank You' cards set up by his co-workers; the family of a Princeton, Ill., woman encouraged others to help celebrate her 94th birthday by sending her cards; and the family of a McPherson, Kan., couple invited the public to participate in a card shower in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. Hallmark, though, is the first company to provide a free online service that makes it easier and more efficient for people to shower friends and loved ones with cards. 

Card Showers from Hallmark is simple to use:

• Go to hallmark.com/cardshowers and create a Card Shower event.
• Invite friends and family through email and Facebook.
• Participants respond to the invitation, buy a card on Hallmark.com or in the store and send their cards. They also can invite additional contacts, increasing the size of the Card Shower.
• The honoree then receives a shower of cards!

Card Showers from Hallmark also features the ability to set up reminders and track sending online. In the coming months, Card Showers will receive additional enhancements, including one that will allow the honoree, organizer and participants to share in the joy of the event by uploading pictures and posting comments after the honoree has been showered.

For more information or to see how Card Showers from Hallmark works, visit www.Hallmark.com/CardShowers. Hallmark, the leader in greeting cards, strives to make products as relevant to as many people as possible. A year-round greeting card selection of more than 23,000 designs is available at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores and participating Hallmark retailers nationwide. Use the store locator on Hallmark.com to find the nearest Hallmark Gold Crown® store. 

About Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Hallmark makes the world a more caring place by helping people express what's in their hearts and spend time together — a privilege few other companies in the world enjoy. Hallmark greeting cards and other products are found in more than 38,000 retail outlets in the United States, including the network of flagship Hallmark Gold Crown® stores. The brand also reaches people online at Hallmark.com and on television through Hallmark Hall of Fame original movies and cable's top-rated Hallmark Channel. Worldwide, Hallmark offers products in more than 30 languages available in 100 countries. This privately held company is based in Kansas City, Mo., and is led by the third generation of the founding Hall family. Visit http://corporate.hallmark.com for more details.

SOURCE Hallmark Cards, Inc.