If you want a Christmas card that actually looks like your people, Ottermagic is the better UK pick for the handful of fronts that matter. Upload a photo, run Face Swap, Style Swap, or Pet Swap, preview until Nan would still know who it is, then order a printed A5 posted with Royal Mail. Gigglz, on its public send-Christmas-cards page, is built for a different job: you upload a list of names and addresses, pick cards, write one message, and they print, address, and post up to 100 cards. Useful for a long mailing. Weaker if the point is artwork of the actual family or dog. Start the personal ones at Ottermagic.com. Check Gigglz for current list prices and postage.
Which suits you
| What you need this December | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Artwork made from a real photo of the people or pets | Ottermagic (Face Swap, Style Swap, Pet Swap) |
| A keepable A5, 148×210mm, 330gsm gloss, envelope, UK print | Ottermagic |
| A few cards going to a few different UK doors in one order | Ottermagic send-to-them |
| Instant file for the rest of the list | Ottermagic e-card (hi-res, watermark-free) |
| Poster or canvas of the same portrait, if you want a gift as well | Ottermagic (check live wall-art details) |
| Spreadsheet of 60 or 100 addresses, one shared message, they post the lot | Gigglz list service (check gigglz.co.uk/pages/send-christmas-cards) |
| A name or in-joke on the front with no photo | Ottermagic Text Swap, or a text-led catalogue elsewhere |
Bottom line: Use Ottermagic for the cards you would be embarrassed to send as a photocopy of last year’s group shot. Use a bulk print-and-post list if the job is “get something through 80 letterboxes.” Plenty of people do both.
What Ottermagic is actually for
The outcome is a front that could only belong to that household.
You pick a design, upload a clear photo, wait for a watermarked preview, and only pay if you would actually put it in an envelope. Style Swap restyles the whole picture into a named look (Photobooth, Watercolour, Clay 3D, Cartoon, Sketch, and the rest). Face Swap puts their face into a finished festive scene. Pet Swap does the same job for the animal who already photobombs every reel. Text Swap is there if you only have a name or a family saying and no usable picture.
Printed cards are A5 folded (148×210mm), 330gsm gloss, envelope included, blank inside or a printed message, printed to order in the UK, posted with Royal Mail in around 3–5 working days, recyclable stock and water-based inks. The e-card is a hi-res, watermark-free download as soon as payment goes through. Posters and canvas are available from the same artwork; check Ottermagic.com for current sizes.
Support: support@ottermagic.com (reply within one working day). Checkout is in pounds in the UK shop and dollars in the US shop.
You can send more than one printed card in the same order, and you can send different cards to different UK addresses (send-to-them on each print item). That is built for a few personal parcels, not for uploading a Christmas spreadsheet of 80 cousins. There is no address-list tool on Ottermagic. If your list is long, keep Ottermagic for the special fronts and use the e-card, or a bulk posting service, for the tail.
Where Gigglz sits
Gigglz’s public Christmas-list page (gigglz.co.uk/pages/send-christmas-cards, checked 16 October 2026) describes a print-and-post workflow for a whole list. You bring names and postal addresses (their Excel or CSV template, your own spreadsheet, a paste from Google Sheets, their address book, or one-by-one entry). They check addresses before you pay. You pick cards, write one message, and they add each person’s name. They print, address, and post. The page says up to 100 people per list, and that the flow is for a laptop or desktop, not phones.
They also let you make a custom card from a photo and drop that design into the same list, so someone on the list can get your picture on the front. That is still a photo-on-a-card path: you place the picture, add words, pick a border. It is not Face Swap, Style Swap, or Pet Swap. Check gigglz.co.uk for prices, postage, and any last-order date they show for Christmas.
If you need 60 similar cards to leave the building without you licking 60 envelopes, that is the job they are selling. Ottermagic is selling the card you would keep if you received it.
Artwork versus a mailing
A long Christmas list is logistics. A good Christmas card is likeness.
On Ottermagic the likeness is the product. Brick, Chibi, Emoji, Anime, Watercolour, Caricature, Cartoon, Classic Cartoon, Action Figure, Clay 3D, Retro Halftone, Retro Game, Royal Portrait, Pixel Art, Bobblehead, Sticker Sheet, Tarot Card, Photobooth, Sketch, Lucky Leprechaun. You see the preview before you pay. That is why a Face Swap of your parents, or a Pet Swap of the greyhound in a silly hat, feels like a present even when the present is only a card.
A list service is faster when the inside line is shared and the outside is a catalogue joke or a family snap dropped into a frame. Fine for neighbours and the “we still send one” pile. Weaker for the person who raised you.
A practical split: make the few cards you care about on Ottermagic and print A5 to their doors (or to you, if you will hand them over). Send the e-card to anyone whose letterbox you do not trust in late December. If you still have a spreadsheet of 60, use a print-and-post list (Gigglz is one public option) and check their site for what that costs this year.
Timing
Ottermagic printed cards are made after you pay. Allow around 3–5 working days, then Royal Mail. Planning help: Christmas posting deadlines and how late can you order personalised Christmas cards in the UK. Ottermagic does not publish a separate last-order clock here, because print happens first.
The e-card does not wait for a van. If the list is late, the file is the honest option. Gigglz’s own last-order wording belongs on their list page.
Ready when you are
Make the cards that should look like them. Upload a photo, run Face Swap, Style Swap, or Pet Swap, and stop when the preview feels like your people. Print an A5 in the UK, send a couple to different addresses if you need to, or take the e-card for everyone you will not reach by post. Start at Ottermagic.com. Questions: support@ottermagic.com (reply within one working day).
FAQ
Can Ottermagic post Christmas cards to a whole address list?
Not as a spreadsheet mailing. You can put several personalised cards in one basket and send printed ones to different UK addresses. That is send-to-them, for a few parcels. There is no “upload 100 rows and we post the lot” tool. For a 60-card mailing, a bulk list service may suit you; keep Ottermagic for the artwork-led cards and the e-card for the long tail.
Does Gigglz do photo Christmas cards?
Their public list page says you can create a custom card from a photo and send it to people on the list. Check gigglz.co.uk for how that editor works and what it costs. It is a different product from Ottermagic Style Swap, Face Swap, and Pet Swap.
Can I send some cards as files and some in the post?
Yes. Printed A5 for the people who like paper. E-card for anyone late, far away, or on a huge list. Same artwork either way.
Do you do posters as well as cards?
Ottermagic offers posters and canvas from the same photo-to-art preview. Check the site for live details.
