I ordered Christmas Cards from Costco today. Their 6×7.5 cards were reasonably priced at 50/$14.99. I used their templates, although I did note that Costco also had the ability to create your own card and upload it. For this project, it was easier to create the project online, and they had a wide variety of templates available. The only disadvantage is that I have to settle for a relatively low-resolution screen capture to illustrate this blog. The order even came with four free calendars.
Note added December 9, 2013: Costco’s 6×7.5 photo cards are printed on Fuji Crystal Archive photographic paper. The quality is high and I would recommend them to anyone looking for high-quality cards at a low cost. As others have commented, Costco also offers press printed cards that allow both sides to be customized. I have not evaluated these cards.
All About Images Blog 
I’ve always used Costco for our Christmas cards, but I prefer designing it first in StoryBook Creator (creating a custom size option in either landscape or portrait orientation). That gives me more flexibility for enlarging photos, making my own collage, adding artwork and captions, matching colors, etc. Then I just save the JPG and upload it to Costco using their custom template.Works great!
did mine there also Mark (usually do the 6×7.5 1hour cards)
this year: actually designed on SBC+ and did a double sided card (on their blank template) took a few more days, but quality was great
What a good looking family! My daughter has used Costo for her family Christmas pics for years, and I started last year. Consistently good quality, excellent turnaround time and price. Merry Christmas to you. – Fawn
Do you need to belong to Costco to go in and pick them up?
Yes.
Thanks for sharing.
You didn’t mention the print quality or color reproduction. Were you pleased?
Costco’s 6×7.5 photo cards are printed on Fuji Crystal Archive photographic paper. The quality is high and I would recommend them to anyone looking for high-quality cards at a low cost. As others have commented, Costco also offers press printed cards that allow both sides to be customized. I have not evaluated these cards.
I’ve been using Winkflash for years (since I don’t have a Cosco membership)…they usually have a 60% off sale for most of November…so I get about 100 cards for around $35. I design the card in SBC+, save as a jpg, then drop it into their blank, 4×8 template. Turn around time is usually a day or two…but I do order early! Quality is great.
Costco’s 6×7.5″ cards give a usable area of 45 square inches, which is 40% greater than a 4×8 card.
What do you think about Costco’s photo books? I see that they are hand sewn and seem to be of good quality. I guess you can design in Storybook and do a custom book.
I have not evaluated Costco’s photo books.
I used Costco this year too. Used SBC to design the cover photo. I was very pleased with the results of the cover. It is a matte finish. The inside text though was a little disappointing. It kept telling me that I was out of text room but then the text on the actual card only filled up about 3/4 of the available space. I did the 7×5 cards and they were scored for easy folding. There was also a space for a very tiny pix on the back and a line of text too.
I designed (in SBC) a 2 page insert and had them copied via the mass printer at Office Max. I go to the same gal every year and she does a great job. Full page photo collage with text on both sides (you have to flip the back side upside down). I fold it in half, insert it in the card, hole punch either side with an oval hole punch at the fold. Then I use ribbon to “bind” the two together. Makes a great card with a little bit of newsletter (but not 10 pages that no one actually reads) and lots of pix that really tell the story.
Is anyone familiar with the quality of the Costco photo books? I understand they are hand sewn and appear to be of good quality. I would appreciate your thoughts.
I would like to hear about the quality of Costco books as well. Anyone printed there before? How do they compare to CM? Still looking for the best quality replacement to print hardcover books now that I can’t use CM anymore…
I will be looking at Costco for my cards next year. Thank you for your review Dr. Mark! I made the unfortunate decision to use the Panstoria Print Shop this year. I did not receive a confirmation email when I placed my order and there was no response to my inquiry about it until I contacted them through PayPal. At that time I received a very terse response with no explanation or apology about the lack of confirmation or shipping info which did not spell out good customer service. Another reason I miss CM! And while the cards were of good quality (although on the fairly costly side), I was dismayed to see they had printed a QR code and order number on one side of all of the the two-sided cards.
We have to order our Christmas photo cards soon, so I went on the Costco photo site to see if they had any new designs since last year (which they do!), and voila, there is a new service called Greetings by Costco!
They’re 5×7 on 120 lb cardstock, square or rounded corners, premium envelopes with return address printing, double sided printing, and a keepsake card box. They’re still ridiculously cheap compared to places like tinyprints (which, btw, you used to get 20% off on thru costco photo but it’s gone now that they have Greetings by Costco!) but they’re still significantly pricier than the standard Costco photo greeting cards ($34.50 per set of 50, while the standard costs $14.99 for the first 50 and $5.49 for each additional set of 50). Since we need at least 75, we’ll probably still order the standard ones [:(] but the new ones look so cute.
Has anyone ordered and received these yet? Or seen them in person?