If you only have a moment
The Sympathy Card Maker lets hospice and funeral home teams print their own sympathy cards on Avery note cards, two to a sheet. Pick a picture, the words on the front and a message inside, and your name, phone and logo go on the back. Everything happens on your own computer, so the names you type are never sent to us. Try one card with no account; staff use the full version free.
A sympathy card is a small thing to send and a big thing to get. Families keep them in a drawer, on the fridge, tucked in a Bible. For a hospice or funeral home sending dozens a month, though, a card service adds up fast, and the cards can start to sound like they came from a vendor instead of from you.
So we made a free tool your team can use to print your own. Below you'll find what it does, how printing works, and where the names you type go (nowhere but your computer).
Jump to: What it does · Pictures · Words inside · Printing · Why print your own · Names and safety
What the Card Maker Does
You choose a picture, the words on the front and a message for the inside. Add who the card is to and who it's from. Your hospice or funeral home name, phone number and logo go on the back. You can make many cards at once, each with the number of copies you need, then print them or save a PDF.
There's nothing to install and nothing to pay each month. The Card Maker lives on notedandcharmed.com, free to hospice and funeral home staff who sign in with a free account.
Pictures for Every Family
There are 112 pictures in sets: For Anyone; Seasons and Special Days; Christian; Jehovah's Witness; Jewish; Muslim; Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist; Cultures; Baby; Children and Teens; Older Adults; Hard Losses; Pets; and Veterans. Each comes in color, black and white, or soft pencil lines, so a card can fit the family and your ink budget.
For the front, there are 68 short lines grouped by kind of loss and time of year, or you can type your own.
Words for the Inside
There are 64 messages, grouped by when the card goes out and what it's for: right after a death, the weeks and months later, holidays and special days, the person who died, and thank-you notes. Use one as it is, change any word, or write your own.
Choose the family's faith or tradition, and the card adds a closing line that fits. Pictures, front lines and messages that don't fit that tradition turn grey. A family who doesn't keep Christmas won't get a Christmas card, and a Jehovah's Witness family won't get a birthday or holiday card. Not sure? Choose None, and everything stays open.
How Printing Works
The cards are sized for Avery 8315 note cards (inkjet) or 5315 (laser). Each card is 4¼ by 5½ inches, two to a letter-size sheet.
Page 1 is the outside: the back of the card on the left, the front on the right. Page 2 is the inside, with your message on the right.
- Print one sheet on plain paper first, with Show fold lines turned on. Fold it and check that everything lines up.
- Set your printer to print on both sides, flip on the long edge, at 100% or Actual size.
- Then load the card stock and print.
Every printer is a little different, so that plain-paper test saves card stock.
Why Print Your Own
A mailed sympathy card can cost a family or a funeral home around $25 through a card service. This tool is designed to print on Avery 8315 (inkjet) or 5315 (laser) note cards, so the cost is your card stock and ink. Families get a card that looks and reads like it came from people who knew them.
Family Names and Safety
Names never leave your computer. Your browser builds the cards and PDFs on the spot, and no family details are sent to us or saved on our site.
Your organization's details can be remembered. Your name, phone and logo can be saved on that computer, ready for the next card. On a shared computer, keep that in mind.
We do use common visitor tools. Shopify, Google Analytics and Microsoft's Clarity tool help us see which pages get used. Clarity can capture how a page looks, so the Card Maker area is masked from it.
Check with your own people. If your organization has a privacy or compliance lead, let them look this over before real names go in.
See a Sample First
You don't need an account for the sample. It has every message and front line, a few pictures from each set, and one card at a time. Every sample card says SAMPLE across it.
Try the sample Open the full Card Maker
The full Card Maker has all 112 pictures, your logo, and as many cards as you need, with your free staff account.
If a picture or message isn't right for the people you care for, tell us, and we'll look at it.
More Help
- For Hospice & Care Teams
- Free Resources for Funeral Homes
- The Hospice Letter Maker
- The Aftercare Letter Maker
- Sympathy Message Helper
Please note: This is general information only, not legal or privacy guidance. Your organization's own policies come first.
These resources are free, always. If this helped your family and you'd like to say thank you, you can leave a small gift.
With care,
C. Lindorfer, Noted & Charmed