Tips for the Perfect Holiday Photo Card
It’s that time of year when you’re baking, shopping, wrapping, cooking, and doing all sorts of prepping for the holidays. Have you even THOUGHT of your holiday card yet? Well, it’s time to do THAT too! If you haven’t even considered how you’re going to squeeze in a family photo, get it printed up, stamped and mailed out in time, not to worry! We’ve got some quick and easy tips to get you on your way to the perfect holiday photo card that will represent your family just as you are! Read on to learn how to make your holiday cards more personal and fun!
First, keep your expectations low. Very low. Like, think, “There is no way this picture is ever going to work out” low. That way, any picture you have taken will look spectacular!
Just go with it. One year, when my kids were 3, 5 and 7, I knew there was no way that I would get a nice photo so I simply told my kids to make goofy faces and that is how our card ended up - tongues sticking out, eyes rolled back in the head, and I think my 3-year-old was making a rocker-slash-metal-head-peace-sign kind-of face. It is a picture that I cherish.
Choose a theme that represents your family best. You might decide to do a pajama picture complete with Dad wearing adult footie pajamas, or include your family pets, or have everyone wear an ugly Christmas sweater and reindeer headbands that light up. But make sure to do something that reflects the personality of your family. You have to admit that opening a card and seeing a crazy family photo is so much more fun than a posed photo on a beach dune (sorry to all of you that took a beach dune photo this summer - those are really pretty though! I’m just jealous because we didn’t get to go to the beach!)
Pre-print out your labels and have them ready to stick on your envelopes. Don’t handwrite your addresses on envelopes. Yes, it may look nice, but that takes forever to do.
USE those free return address labels you get in the mail. You get a ton of them from the March of Dimes, your insurance company, and other solicitors trying to get your business. Take advantage of the ease and cost of them - they are FREE and usually just get pushed to the back of the junk drawer, right?
Check out sites like Snapfish.com, Zazzle and Shutterfly for great holiday card deals. It’s so easy to create your own family holiday cards on these sites and you can choose as many photos as you wish. It’s important to note though, if you include more than three photos on your card, they get really small and difficult to see. So, sometimes, less is more, especially when it comes to photos on holiday cards.
If time allows, hand-sign every card you send. A pre-printed signature on holiday cards is OK, but it only takes a minute to handwrite your signature as well. If it’s a really special person, try to write a quick sentiment along with your name. A pre-printed-only card appears that you don’t really care about the person you are sending the card to.
If you’re sending out a holiday letter, try not to be too braggy about your year. Yes, we’re happy for all of your children’s great accomplishments, and how much money your spouse made, and what you’ve been doing with all of your free time, and how your pets are managing, but be humble! Make it humorous and share some of the self-deprecating stuff that will make us laugh. And don’t drone on and on in a manner that makes us want to rip our hair out. Make us want to be happy for the year you’ve had!
Think you don’t have enough time? Of course you do! Instead of sending out a Christmas card, send out a New Year’s card! Or better yet, I love this tradition my good friend implemented a few years ago - she sends out a Valentine’s photo card of her daughters. I look forward to it every year.
In the end, it’s all about sharing holiday cheer, so if you really don’t think you can manage sending out a holiday card, here are a couple more tips:
I beg you, DO NOT, DO NOT send a generic text on Christmas Day to all of your friends and family that says, “Merry Christmas.” That is LAME. It is a poor excuse for trying to say Happy Holidays. To me, it means, “I’m really too busy to say Merry Christmas and this is the quickest, easiest way for me to hit a bunch of people in one easy shot and I really don’t mean it.” I NEVER respond to these texts. I HATE THEM. Do YOU get texts like this on holidays? How do you feel about them?
Facebook: If you truly can’t manage a card this year, it’s perfectly OK to post your family photo on Facebook! I LOVE THIS! Many of my family and friends are on Facebook. In fact, the only reason I ever went on Facebook in the first place was because my sister was on and she was posting photos of my niece and nephew and I wanted to see them! Because of this, I am perfectly happy with Facebook Holiday Cards. They are cost-effective (FREE!) and beautiful, and since I sent a real photo card last year, this year I may do the Facebook Holiday Card. (So if you want one from me, you might have to friend me on Facebook if we’re not already friends!)
And finally, I totally approve of something one of my very good friends used to do always on Christmas Day. She didn’t send out cards. She called me. It was so nice to hear a phone ring and to actually hear the sweet voice on the other end say, “Merry Christmas Stephanie!”
What do you think - how do you deal with holiday cards? Are they too much stress or way too much fun!?
About the Author:
Stephanie Elliot, in no particular order, is a wife, writer, blogger, book reviewer, editor and mother to three kids, two who have already been tweens, and one who is right smack in the middle of his tween-ness. Her oldest son is almost driving and her daughter survived her tween years so Stephanie must be doing something right. Find out more at http://stephanieelliot.com
