How the Healing Hugs Collection came to life

A truly personal collaboration with Winston’s Wish

To mark National Hug Day, we’re sharing the story behind our Healing Hugs collection, a meaningful collaboration with the incredible youth ambassadors at Winston’s Wish, a UK charity that supports bereaved children and young people.

Why the Healing Hugs collection exists

In 2024, a conversation began at a meeting organised by the Greeting Card Association. The youth ambassadors from Winston’s Wish shared that many of the sympathy cards they saw in shops didn’t reflect their needs. The designs were too traditional with sentiments feeling too formal, or the imagery not resonating with them. The cards on the market rarely felt like they were written for them.

At Raspberry Blossom, we believe in making everyday moments of joy even in the hardest times. A card is more than just a card, it gives comfort in a difficult time of their life. A well designed card can also support the sender, sometimes the right words are hard to find and the caption says it all.

Designed together, every step of the way

Through three focus groups with the Winston’s Wish youth ambassadors we explored how language, colour and design can help express the hard to say words. I designed over 40 card ideas, which we refined together choosing captions and illustrations that felt true to their experiences and also felt true to our brand and vision. 

The result is the Healing Hugs collection, eight cards with a mix of typographic and illustrated designs made to support anyone going through a tough time.

The collaboration is so personal to us a business as Mark, our co-founder, lost his mum at just 10 years old. So we understand deeply the need for cards that can support childhood grief.

Giving back with every card

For every Healing Hugs cards sold, 10p is donated to Winston’s Wish to support their vital work with bereaved children and families. So far since the launch we have raised £437.50 for the charity.

Explore the Healing Hugs collection and help us spread compassion, connection and kindness one card at a time.