Printing Christmas Cards

zico10

Are there any teachers out there who have had or know of Christmas cards, designed by chidren, being printed professionally? If so, who did you go to and what were the costs involved? What is the minimum order that such a company would take?
It is a project I would like to undertake with my sixth class, whereby we would sell the cards to students and parents. I teach in a large school so I think the potential is there to make a small bit of money. At the same time I won't be undertaking project looking to make huge profits, even to break even and I would consider it a worthwhile enterprise. I am based in Dublin. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks

davgtrek

i'd get the kids to draw up their designs. fold an a4 page in half, this gives a5. let them use this size. so sketch a picture on the cover and write inside etc. when the card is sketched up by hand unfold the page.
now this is what the printing crowds will be printing on a4 pages. then they will fold them.scan your schools designs and e-mail to any of those snap or printing.ie etc companies. decide on the text on the inside.
its not that expensive but you would want to get a move on at this stage.

a few things that affect price are whether you have colour on one side and then colour or black and white on the inside etc.

its actually handy enough to get done. i did one for my own company here and it was a relatively painless exercise. maybe choosing a local printing company in your home town would be better as you can call up to them and see a mock up and its more personal. for a big scale print thats important. they will say "that text might look better on the other side of card etc.etc"

good luck with what i think is a great idea.

byhookorbycrook

We did it last year, good enough money spinner. There is better sale if all the children have an input, eg someone draw Santa, someone else a reindeer, someone else colours, people more inclined to buy if their child has an input.

TheColl

OP, just wondering if you went for this in the end and if so, how did it go?

zico10

Thanks for asking.
Yeah, I went with it in the end. We got a good deal, off the printers, to produce a 1,000 packs of 8 cards.We took them up on this offer and sold about two-thirds of the packs. We've been left with quiet a bit, but we did manage to break even and any remaining cards can be sold next Christmas, I guess.
I think if we had flagged it earlier with the parents and done one or two things differently, we could have increased sales. Another idea that the printer himself gave me, was to ask someone to sponsor the printing of the cards. Unfortunately it was too late for me to do this.
If you happen to be a teacher and you're thinking of doing it yourself, then I would definitely say it's worthwhile. I'd just try and get a better idea, than I did, of how many packs you could potentially sell, before going to the printers.

P.S. Thanks to davgtrek and byhookorbycrook for your advice, it proved useful.