![]() One shows three snowmen – two dressed in traditional winter hats and scarves, the third wearing a yarmulke and prayer shawl. Most of American Greetings’ Hanukkah-Christmas cards are humorous, too. ![]() “This is a way of diffusing the seriousness of it.” His company offers greetings including images of a Christmas tree decorated with dreidels, a menorah filled with candy canes and simpler varieties featuring messages including “Merry Mazeltov” and “Oy Joy.” He married the daughter of a Protestant minister from the Midwest. Gompertz is Jewish and from New York City. Cards from the Livingston, Mont.-based use humor to create a hybrid holiday. He says the site has angered some conservative Jews who believe it promotes intermarriage. Gompertz’s explanation hasn’t gone over well with everyone. ![]() “Our intention wasn’t to merge the religious aspects,” Gompertz said, “but rather the secular aspects of the holidays.” The Chrismukkah site even offers a disclaimer: “We respect people’s different faiths and do not suggest combining the religious observance of Christmas and Hanukkah.” “Spin the dreidel under the mistletoe.” As with anything addressing religion, though, cardmakers are careful not to offend. “It’s a little bit of both,” Gompertz explains. Ron Gompertz founded the company this year with his wife, inspired by an episode of the popular Fox series “The O.C.” in which Seth Cohen, a character whose mother is Protestant and father is Jewish, coins the term. The newest player is, which helped put a name on what many interreligious families have been celebrating for years. There are around 10 this year.Kathy Krassner, editor of Greetings Inc., a trade magazine, said mixed-faith holiday cards are one of countless niche categories introduced by greeting card companies.”It’s an interesting market,” she said. has also increased its Hanukkah-Christmas line offerings since its introduction eight years ago. “The essence of these cards is not about interfaith households as much as it is about friends and family members of different faiths acknowledging the different holidays that they all celebrate,” said Shalanda Stanley, a product manager at Hallmark.Īmerican Greetings Corp. The company tried the idea with just one card in the mid-90s today they have four. says among its most popular categories of Hanukkah cards is the one that combines Jewish and Christian themes. This year, Okrend projects sales of 200,000 cards off its 55-card line. ![]() In its first year, it sold about 3,000 cards from nine different offerings. The company was among the first to come out with holiday cards suitable for Jewish-Christian families about 15 years ago and is still perhaps the only company to focus entirely on that market segment. ![]() MixedBlessing, like other companies, has found such interfaith greeting cards have a stable market niche and a slowly growing customer base. “And it’s an expression of people understanding the people around them.” “It’s representative of the way people live and the way they spend the holidays,” said Elise Okrend, an owner of Raleigh, N.C.-based MixedBlessing, a card company devoted to interfaith holiday greetings. It screams “Merry Chrismukkah!”Īcross the country, two holidays that once seemed to share little more than a calendar page are increasingly being melded on greeting cards aimed at the country’s estimated 2.5 million families with both Jewish and Christian members. Finally, though, the Kansas City lawyer found a variety that seemed to better suit a Jewish man and an Episcopal woman with two young children as familiar with the menorah as mistletoe. 11/27/04- Every December, Zack Rudman and his wife send out cards with winterscapes and generic holiday greetings. Merry Mazeltov? Card companies combine mistletoes, menorahs Interfaith Cards Covered by the Associated PressĪs seen in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Sun Sentinel ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |