I agree with projeeper, not all blind or visually impaired individuals know how to read Braille, especially those who lost their sight later in life. If it wouldn’t be possible to find out whether they read Braille, I think the gesture and thoughtfulness would still be appreciated.

There are sites online where you can order greeting cards in print and Braille, and most also have tactile pictures as well. Though, these can be expensive, $10-$20+, for simple greeting cards. If you’d like to add Braille to homemade cards, I recommend a slate and stylus ($10-$12 on Amazon). If you decide to purchase one, I recommend looking up a few videos on how to use them on YouTube first if you’re not familiar, and practicing a few times prior to embossing Braille on the cards you intend to use.

I also agree puffy paint is a great way to add texture and make tactile picture outlines. In my opinion, puffy paint, and tactile pictures in general, work best when the outline is simple without too much extraneous detail, like using a simple outline of a Christmas tree. To add more texture to the card, you could use ribbon (small width, maybe 1/4 inch), and thread small craft bells (which usually have an opening to thread them onto things, and are generally cheap at craft stores, $1-$3). You could make a few of them as auditory “strings of light” across the puffy paint outline of the Christmas tree. To secure them, you could either use a hot glue gun to glue the ribbon down or you could poke holes on either side of the tree where you want the ribbon to sit, and then thread the ribbon through the card, and either tape it, glue it, or knot it off (with a few extra knots) on the backside so the ribbon stayed in place. You could glue an extra piece of card stock to the backside, so that glued/taped/knotted ribbon is not felt to avoid confusion when they open the card.

Another idea instead of the puffy paint tree outline is to use actual Pine needles and glue a bunch of them onto the card in the shape of a Christmas tree, the added sensory experience of smelling the pine needles is always great and reminiscent of Christmas. You could also use a small piece of bark/branch, as the trunk of the tree. You can go to any place they sell Christmas trees and ask for any branch trimmings/scraps; they usually don’t mind since they’re just thrown away anyway. Sometimes the trimmings are for sale, but it’s usually cheap. If the glue overwhelms the smell of pine, you could get a pine or evergreen essential oil and add a few drops to the card.

If you’d want to add presents under the Christmas trees, using different textured paper or fabric in the shape of squares would work great. Any craft store sells single sheets of texture paper, usually very cheap (50¢-$1). You could use ribbon and make small bows to put above the squares and a “plus sign” ribbon shape on the box as well. I usually go all out with tactile adaptations, so another idea is use the same concept but to make the presents under the tree actual raised boxes out of card stock, though “thin” so they don’t jut out too much, and then cover them with the textured paper and ribbon.

This was a very basic idea, a Christmas tree and presents. If there are any other ideas you’d want to bring to life, please let me know! I have a lot of experience in making tactile/sensory adaptations for similar purposes. It’s great to remember that those who are blind use all of their other senses, not just touch. Using materials that are auditory or adding smells is a great way to enhance and enrich experiences!

Great idea, and I love that your thought was to be inclusive and enhance the experience of receiving a Christmas card!

Good for you, thank you for making someone else’s day just a little bit brighter.
I think if you used puff paints or glue outlines for texture, that would be great. Keep in mind less than 10 percent can read braille, so I would pass on that unless you know they can read it.