Care2 vs. Hallmark: Get Your Free Ecards for Valentine's Day

I have been a member of Care2.com for years and I've always thought their ecards were cute. Then one day I got an ecard from Hallmark.com and I got hooked on that website. Now I use both pretty much equally because both have good qualities.

Prices and Memberships

Care2.com ecards are mostly free and you don't need to be a member to use it. However if you do sign up for a free membership you will have access to a few more cards than non-members. Hallmark.com has a ton of free ecards, but there are a lot you have to pay for. You do need a free membership in order to send cards from this site as they make you sign in before you can send a card. I have a free membership at both sites and I think it is worth it because you can store email addresses in your address book for future cards.

Types of Cards

Care2.com separates their cards into just a few categories for each occasion. For Valentine's Day, you can easily find All Cards, Humor Cards, Friends Cards, Husband/Wife and Family Cards, and Sincere cards. 99% of the time I go straight to humor because I like to send people laughs but I do think all the cards I've seen there are cute. Hallmark.com separates Valentine's Day cards into only a few categories as well: Classic, Humor, Cute, Romantic and Premium (the ones you have to pay for). Once again, I always go straight to humor but unlike Care2, I don't think all the cards on this site are cute. Some are too corny for me.

Care2.com has different technology in their cards. Some are just images with words around it, some are flash moving animations, some are interactive. Although I like the interactive ones the best, I have sent a wide variety of cards from this site always with good response. Hallmark.com has more advanced technology on most of their cards. Almost all of them are animated and they just look more professional. This is not to say the Care2.com cards are all not professional, just that some of their cards look more like just an image and not so much a card.

Personalizing it

When you personalize a Care2.com card, the message is shown below the card like a postcard. You can choose a greeting for the top of the page, a background for the webpage, a post stamp for your personal message, and even music. Sometimes people don't see my personal message because they have to scroll down to see it. So be aware of that if you use Care2.com.

Hallmark.com doesn't give you nearly as many personalization options. You can't choose the background, greeting, music, etc. Instead, you just enter in your personal message. The user will see your personal message after viewing the card. The only problem with this is that sometimes the user has to click "see personal message" in order to see the message as it doesn't always show up automatically. While I prefer the design of the Hallmark.com card, I know some people may miss the message if they don't realize they have to click.

Redeeming Qualities

When you send a card from Care2.com they say "For every eCard sent, Care2 makes a donation to an environmental nonprofit to save a square foot of rainforest." That is excellent and that is why I always try to send at least a few cards from their website. What better card to choose then one that helps the environment as well. Sometimes I send cards just for fun to earn some more money for the environment.

So why do I even bother going to Hallmark.com? Well, they just have some hilarious cards over there! Hallmark.com has these characters named Hoops and YoYo that leave me and my friends and family laughing for the whole day. They are cute and great for anyone of any age. The only downside is sometimes they have so many funny cards I can't settle on just one!

In The End

I will continue to frequent both websites for ecards and today I will be sending cards out from both! The sites have their differences but in the end, I think both are wonderful sites to send ecards from. You will be sure to find plenty of cards at both sites to satisfy any of your ecard needs. Now go out and send one to your loved ones today!!