BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

MEMBERS of the public who are looking for more meaningful Hari Raya Aidil Fitri greeting cards can do so by buying specially crafted 3D cards made by the children of Pusat Bahagia

Approximately 850 cards out of the 2,000 crafted are still available for purchase.

The cards are available in two designs and can be bought at Pusat Bahagia Brunei-Muara, Department of Community Development, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Cards designed with traditional Baju Kurung and Baju Melayu motifs are priced at $1.30 each while cards designed with Ketupat motifs are sold at $1.20 per piece.

One thousand cards were produced for each design.

As of yesterday, there are still 365 Baju Kurung and Baju Melayu cards, and 492 ketupat cards available for purchase.

Pusat Bahagia’s trainer Nurul Jannah Alias told The Brunei Times that these cards are a throwback to an era where greeting cards were the norm.

She said that the popularity of greeting cards has waned with the ushering in of the technology era.

She went on to explain that a significant time was spent on researching the designs of the cards to ensure they are trendy enough to attract customers.

Nurul Jannah said the centre began selling the cards two weeks before Ramadhan. It took the children three weeks to make the cards.

The initiative started in 2009 and the centre has produced Hari Raya greeting cards without fail annually since then.

“Usually we only produce 1,000 to 1,500 cards but due to the high demand we received last year, we decided to increase the amount to 2,000 cards,” Nurul Jannah said.

She added that their cards were sold out every year, except for in 2013 when they produced 3,000 cards.

“We still have the cards from 2013. We are selling them for $1 in addition to the two new cards that we have this year,” she added.

“Our customers are mostly members of the public and private companies,” she said.

More information can be had by calling Pusat Bahagia Brunei-Muara at 2330315.

The Brunei Times