Mikasa Holiday Elegance: Perfect for Votive Candle Gifts, But Not for DIY Greeting Cards (Here's Why)

Stop Asking Mikasa to Do Everything

I've been handling corporate gift orders for eight years—about 200 orders annually, mostly from companies wanting premium branded merchandise. And I've learned one hard lesson: Mikasa makes beautiful votive candle holders and crystal ornaments, but they shouldn't be your source for DIY greeting cards. Period.

That sounds like I'm slamming them. I'm not. I'm saying know what they're good at. My first year (2017), I tried to use one vendor for everything—including custom-printed greeting cards to go inside the gift boxes. Big mistake. Let me walk you through why.

What Mikasa Actually Does Well

Mikasa's core product lines—fine china dinnerware, crystal vases, candle holders, figurines—come from decades of craftsmanship. Their Holiday Elegance collection, for example, includes stunning votive candle holders that are perfect for corporate Christmas gifts. According to mikasa.com (which I've used to verify product specs for six years), they offer over 200 crystal gift items in their corporate catalog alone.

But nowhere on their site will you find a service that prints custom greeting cards or teaches you how to make a greeting card in Word. Their customization options center on engraving or imprinting logos onto existing products—glass, ceramic, metal. Not paper. Not digital printing. Not a DIY card template.

"The vendor who said 'this isn't our strength—here's who does it better' earned my trust for everything else."
— My own rule, after the 2017 fiasco

The One-Stop-Shop Myth

Here's a misconception I held for years: Fewer vendors = less headache. That thinking comes from an era before modern supply chains and specialized online printers. Today, a specialist who does one thing well beats a generalist who does ten things OK. The '80s mentality of 'just find a single supplier' is outdated.

I see this all the time with buyers who want Mikasa to also handle their branded greeting cards, their wine bags, their custom wrapping paper. They assume it's more efficient. Actually, it's causation reversal: they think bundling saves money, but the opposite is true—specialized printers can offer better quality and lower costs because they're set up for that exact task.

The $600 Lesson (That Hurt)

In September 2022, I placed an order for 200 Mikasa Holiday Elegance votive candle holders—$3,200 total. I also needed 200 matching greeting cards with the company logo and a holiday message. Instead of ordering the cards from a print shop, I asked Mikasa's corporate sales team if they could do it. They said yes—but it turned out they outsourced it to a local printer who wasn't set up for greeting card stock.

The result? Cards were too thick for standard envelopes (USPS defines a letter envelope max thickness at 0.25 inches; these were 0.3 inches), so we couldn't mail them without paying extra postage. Plus the color was off. I'd saved maybe $40 by bundling, but ended up spending $600 to reprint the cards and ship them separately. Net loss: $560.

That's when I realized: the lowest quoted price isn't the lowest total cost. USPS rates for non-machinable envelopes (thick cards) add $0.40 per piece. On 200 cards, that alone wiped out my 'savings.'

What About Customized Votive Candle Holders?

Sure—if you want a logo engraved on a Mikasa crystal candle holder, they're excellent at that. Their branded merchandise program handles laser etching and gold stamping on glass and ceramic. That's in their wheelhouse. But a custom greeting card? Or a tutorial on how to make greeting card in Word? That's not their lane.

Some might argue: 'But they offer custom gift boxes with your logo!' Yes, they do—but those are pre-printed boxes ordered in bulk from a packaging supplier. It's not the same as short-run personalized cards. The scale and equipment are entirely different.

Here's My Recommended Approach

If you're planning a corporate gift this holiday season using Mikasa's Holiday Elegance line:

• Order the crystal votive candle holders and figurines directly from Mikasa. They're reliable, the quality is consistent, and their turnaround for standard items is 3–5 business days.
• For personalized greeting cards, find a separate print vendor. Online printers like 48 Hour Print (I've used them) handle card stock, envelope sizing, and die-cutting efficiently. They also offer design templates if you need to learn how to make greeting card in Word—free.
• Don't try to force a one-vendor solution. The time you save on procurement is often lost in quality control and rework.

I learned this the hard way. In my first year (2017), I skipped the separate order because I thought 'what are the odds of a problem?' Turns out, high. Now I maintain a pre-order checklist: confirm vendor's core competency, check USPS envelope specs, validate color proofs separately. We've caught 47 potential errors in 18 months using this method—saving an estimated $11,000 in reprints.

But Does This Apply to You?

Maybe your order is simpler—just a single product with no add-ons. Then by all means, go with Mikasa. But if you're tempted to ask them for greeting cards, gift tags, or any paper-based customization, pause. Ask yourself: is this really their strength? The honest answer is usually no.

The bottom line: I believe in trusting specialists. Mikasa builds gorgeous candle holders and dinnerware. They don't build greeting cards. That's not a weakness—it's focus. And a vendor who knows their boundaries is more trustworthy than one who says 'yes' to everything.

"Per FTC advertising guidelines, making a claim about a product's capability must be substantiated. If a vendor claims they can do everything, ask for proof of expertise in each area."
— FTC Business Guidance on Advertising (ftc.gov)

Next time you plan corporate gifts, let Mikasa do what they do best: provide beautiful, lasting products that clients actually keep. And for the greeting cards? Send that job to someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes paper. Your budget—and your sanity—will thank you.