The journey to create our unique handcrafted wooden playing card holders and paraphernalia began in October 2023, when the need to make playing games which require holding a hand of cards easier became apparent. For myself, who was starting to suffer nerve damage in my left hand; for my mother-in-law, who has rheumatoid arthritis; and for our son, who struggled to hold a larger number of cards for any length of time, making Uno quite unplayable.  

Not on our watch, we thought.  

We can fix this!

By Christmas 2023, our family and friends were delighted with their CardKitty gift sets. 

Fast forward to Easter 2024, when a sudden redundancy from a role of 15 years as a photography specialist meant that Paul, founder of Garden 55 Crafts, suddenly had a lot more time on his hands! Further research and development based on feedback and play testing to improve ease of use and ergonomics evolved to become The CardKitty, the beautifully stylish, fully hardwood version you can buy now directly from our website.  

Our customers were grateful for the inclusivity in play that our product enabled. Numerous families where a child had a limb deficiency, preventing them from traditional card holding, were delighted. With a full set of CardKitty characters around the table, everyone can play together with no differentiation.  

Deaf customers using The CardKitty could sign freely during gameplay without having to put cards down to be able to communicate more effectively.  

Alzheimer's patients were able to use The CardKitty with ease and recall the cards in their hand consistently throughout their gaming session.  

ADHDers with object permanence issues reported that they were able to play more complex strategy games by having their hand of cards on display to themselves without having to try and remember what they had to play with.  

Games parties went better with snacks and drinks flowing freely, and those playing ‘table hungry’ games such as Wingspan were equally delighted that The CardKitty could be placed neatly to the side of the game board.

You don’t need a reason to have one other than the simple fact that they are a delight to use and look gorgeous on the table! 

It made us swell with pride to hear that The CardKitty is a champion of 

Inclusive play for everyone 

We love to hear your stories and spot pictures of the CardKitty out in the wild. Tag us in any pics on Instagram to share the love!

We now make a whole system of The CardKitty, meticulously designed and engineered to all nestle neatly together, making it The purrrrfect card game companion.  

THE CARDKITTY RANGE

The Original CardKitty playing card holder in 9 different Kitty Crew designs, 

The CardKitty treasure box for taking your custom decks on the road to your next games night, which includes an original Card Kitty as the lid. They also stack for those looking for a beautiful way to display and store their cards and decks.  

The CardKitty Dice tower carved from solid Ash and hinged for dice storage and to display the path.

and The CardKitty Cradle for holding 4 horizontal Card Kittys or 6 in an upright position for larger families/groups, whilst also doubling as a dice tray and companion to the dice tower.  

All of them comprise our Whole Kitty Caboodle (we can’t resist a pun! ) 

SUSTAINABILITY 

It was really important to us that the materials we use in The CardKitty are both stunningly beautiful and sustainably sourced. All our hardwoods are sourced from within the UK and as locally as practical. Our rough-sawn timber comes from British Hardwoods & our local timber merchants, and we are always keen to find local reclaimed timber for smaller projects.   

The oil and wax finishes used are plant-based, durable, safe and will stand the test of time and rigours of regular use.