New Year greeting cards and gifts on display at a store in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 30: Funny illustrations, bold one-liners and colourful designs make New Year cards special this year.

Even in these days of online greetings and SMS punch lines, the capital’s youth seems to prefer buying different varieties of greeting cards from gift stores and roadside stalls across the city, perhaps in an attempt to lend a personal touch to increasingly impersonal mediums of greetings.

While there’s a huge following for cards that are funny, with witty one-liners and amusing graphics. The romantic at heart, of course, prefer cards that are adorned with flowers or colourful patterns.

“I have a fun-loving group of friends who love the comical punch lines in greeting cards. With such a wide array of cards available, I am collecting all kinds to wish them Happy New Year,” says Pranab Routray, a management student.

“I prefer cards with subtle pictures and artistic illustrations with a good poem or a touching write-up so that I can wish my colleagues as well as boss at office,” says Ankita Biswal, a corporate employee.

The tradition of wishing others well on New Year’s Day is believed to have been started by the Chinese in ancient times, while the Egyptians too used to exchange wishes on special occasions.

Today, the tradition of wishing friends and relatives on occasions like New Year translates into business opportunities for card sellers and gift stores.

“College-goers as well as corporate employees start buying greeting cards right from the first week of December to wish their family and friends Happy New Year,” says Ashwini Prushty, a gift store owner.

“Accordingly, we arrange a wide range of designs in cards for the occasion ,” he adds.

So what’s the customer’s preference according to card sellers? “Large cards with lots of glitter on them and even musical cards seem to be the favourites with working people. Youngsters prefer comical cards or the ones that bear special messages of love,” says Sarada Pradhan, a card shop owner.

While some are happy with simply sending greeting cards, others are buying New Year gifts. Romantic figurines, pictures of scenes from village life, idols of gods and goddesses, or simple printed mugs, diaries, books of quotations, are popular gifts this season.

The price range for New Year cards begins at as low as Rs 5 and go up to a couple of hundred rupees. Gift items are priced at Rs 50 onwards.