Custom Playing Cards: How Branding Follows Suit
Whether you need a branding ace in the hole or want to personalize your next round of Rummy, our NEW custom Playing Cards change the game. Casino-grade and poker-sized, we blend their classic look and feel with custom backs and packaging for a seriously decked out finish. See how they up the ante on marketing and more.
Strong Suit
Our custom playing cards raise the stakes on promo items for your business or your weekly game night. Perfect as prizes, gifts and branding on the go, they feature the definitive 310 gsm (grams per square meter) linen cardstock with a black core and are textured with a cross-stitch pattern, along with a custom coating that calls the bluff on all those other decks (you know the ones).
As a premium online printer, we stack the deck with custom options that turn the hand you’re dealt into a winning one every time. You get to choose from four face styles and four packaging possibilities (more on those below) for truly personalized playing cards.
But perhaps the biggest buy-in? The design on the back is totally up to you, too. Add your business logo and branded colors, your organization’s motto, custom artwork or personal photography. When it comes to customizing, you hold all the cards.
Hint: Ready to print playing cards but have questions? We’ve got answers: Playing Card Printing FAQ.
The Wild Cards
The face styles and packaging on your custom playing cards make all the difference. All decks automatically come wrapped in cellophane, but let’s go through your other options before you place your order for online printing:
Face Styles
- Standard Faces: Standard face designs.
- Jumbo Faces: Enlarged numbers and letters in two corners and smaller faces on King, Queen and Jack cards.
- Vintage Faces: Standard face designs with a brownish-red sepia background.
- Gray Faces: Standard face designs in shades of gray.
Packaging
- Hard Clear Plastic Case: Hard, clear plastic.
- Soft Gel Case: Soft, semi-clear plastic.
- Custom Printed Tuck Box: Your custom design on the outside of a 14pt C1S paperboard box.
- White Window Tuck Box: White, 14pt C1S paperboard box with a 1-1/2″W x 2-3/4″H window.
If you go with the Custom Printed Tuck Box packaging option, you’ve got one more design decision to make: Do you want a coating or a laminate? Shiny or matte? We told you, with these cards, it’s customizing in spades:
- Standard Matte: 1.2 mil matte coating.
- Gloss Laminate: Super high shine and vibrant color.
- Matte Laminate: Rich finish without shine.
- Soft Touch Laminate: Soft, velvety smooth feel.
Hint: Not sure how to design your personalized card deck? Let our layout guides help.
Play Your Cards Right
For businesses, brands and organizations, it’s always a good idea to have a marketing card up your sleeve. While direct mail, brochures and signage are traditional (and essential) pieces to your business printing puzzle, custom card decks may not be. Here are some ideas for how to shuffle them into your branding strategy:
As promotional items to hand out at trade shows and conferences (it’s a nice change-up to the pens and keychains no one really needs).
- Merch for sports teams and schools (add your mascot and team colors to the back).
- For retailers to display at the cashwrap, or breweries to have available for guests to purchase or use in the tap room.
- As an incentive for startup supporters.
- As prizes and giveaways at corporate or charity events.
If you want playing cards for personal use, the custom printing options are endless. Here are some of our favorites:
- Creating your own board game? Create your own cards.
- Gifts for birthdays, anniversaries and friendiversaries (use personal photography, inside jokes and quotes).
- Wedding favors for guests at your ceremony or reception.
Hint: Looking for other promo item ideas? Look no further: Logo Lure: Promotional Products Build Brand Recognition & Loyalty.
Coming Up Aces
Custom playing cards provide an easy branding opportunity that’s interactive and memorable. They also put a fun twist on personalized gifts. However you design them, Smartpress is the print shop to ensure success is in the cards.
