11 Odd Vintage New Year’s Cards

Your family’s annual holiday card is probably so tame in comparison.
TuckDB // Public Domain

Forget images of glittery champagne bottles and fireworks bursting over snow-covered cities. From dancing pigs to unnerving children, these vintage cards allow for a more unusual way to ring in the new year.

  1. “Kitty’s Little Love Affair”
  2. “Fum’s Up!”
  3. “Good Luck Through the New Year”
  4. “Merry New Year Greetings”
  5. “A Happy New Year to You”
  6. “Catching the Post”
  7. “Bonne Année! (Happy New Year!)”
  8. “A Right Happy New Year”
  9. “Who Are You?”
  10. “A Happy New Year”
  11. “New Year Greetings”

“Kitty’s Little Love Affair”

vintage NYE card with cats
TuckDB // Public Domain

May everyone start the new year as pampered as these cats.

“Fum’s Up!”

creepy doll giving thumb's up
TuckDB // Public Domain

If this were an actual doll, there’s a good chance it would show up on the haunted doll market.

“Good Luck Through the New Year”

illustration of big beneath spider web with writing
TuckDB // Public Domain

This 1907 card was decades ahead of the pig-spider partnership popularized in Charlotte’s Web.


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“Merry New Year Greetings”

clowns dancing with a pig
TuckDB // Public Domain

The clowns look merry, the pig ... not so much.

“A Happy New Year to You”

illustration of kids drinking alcohol
TuckDB // Public Domain

This one looks like a toast to irresponsible parenting.

“Catching the Post”

illustration of person falling off jumping horse
TuckDB // Public Domain

Getting thrown from a horse and crashing head-first into a wooden post would not make for a good start to the year.

“Bonne Année! (Happy New Year!)”

young girl crying next to scary kids
TuckDB // Public Domain

The pigs went full Kool-Aid Man on the poor girl.


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“A Right Happy New Year”

child hatching from an egg
TuckDB // Public Domain

There’s nothing right about a kid hatching from an egg.

“Who Are You?”

creepy white kittens
TuckDB // Public Domain

Asking a person’s identity is not a typical New Year’s custom.

“A Happy New Year”

roosters with human legs playing ball
TuckDB // Public Domain

It’s unclear how eerily human-like roosters playing soccer relates to New Year’s.

“New Year Greetings”

children heads sprouting from flowers
TuckDB // Public Domain

Blooming children aren’t something you’d find in an average garden.

A version of this story originally ran in 2021; it has been updated for 2025.

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