The Importance of a Sympathy Card

Expressing sympathy for the loss of a loved one is a time when everyone turns to cards. A greeting card has an image and words appropriate to help communicate sympathy, empathy, that you’re thinking of someone at what is the most difficult of times.

Sympathy cards are among many cards that are kept, often handed down to the next generation. A card will reflect the time, and also contain sentiments describing how people felt about the person who’s died, helping to paint some of their personality for generations to come.

In April 2021 Buckingham Palace reported that: “Her Majesty and the Royal Family are grateful for all the messages of condolence from around the world…” on the death of Prince Philip, see below some of the many messages send from the greeting card industry as reported in PGBuzz

The GCA sent a card on behalf of the industry, signed by President Rachel Hare from Belly Button and GCA CEO Amanda Fergusson, Buckingham Palace wrote back on behalf of The Queen to how touched she has been by the messages she has received.

“Sympathy cards are always such a personal decision when knowing what is the best card to send.  I do believe that a Sympathy card is so much more meaningful to allow the recipient to keep and refer back to when having moments of reflection” said GCA member Fi Burge of B Gifted.

“The designs have changed considerably over the years and in particular some of my favoured designs have been ones that are not just floral.  My family recently had a sad loss so we have received a number of cards in the past week and the ones that seemed to be favoured the most were either of a dandelion image or sentiment words but designed with a contemporary element.  Last year I sent a card to a my close friend’s father having lost his wife to cancer so choosing a card took time and consideration, I ended up choosing a card that had a beautiful landscape image that was calm and not too feminine”

If you’re designing a sympathy card always to think about the recipients, who is the design for and what best reflects the purpose of the card or gift being received”, Fi tells her clients.

If you’re looking to buy a sympathy card do visit our Members’ Directory to find publishers and designers of sympathy cards – if you can’t get to a shop many will sell online.