Be unique and creative with your Christmas cards this Holiday Season!

Creative Christmas and Holiday Card Ideas

It’s time to get going on your Holiday photo cards! We love how more and more families are bringing a fun-loving, creative approach to their Christmas card photo. Not only is it a great family tradition to snap a planned shot each year, but it’s also a great way to put your heads together and do something a little out of the ordinary. You can always fall back on school pictures or a photo snapped one morning before church, but friends and family will be extra delighted to see your personalities come through in a shot that’s completely unique to you. Here are this year’s top ideas for creating a Christmas card–worthy family photo:

Human Snowflake

Inspired from the lively holiday Gap ads from way back in 2009, we love the idea of having every family member dress up in wintry clothing, then pile into human pyramids and human snowflake shapes. Have your photographer climb up on a ladder to snap a shot or two from above your formations, then have your photographer take a shot or two pointing up from beneath a cozy huddle.

Christmas Tree Glow

If you get your Christmas tree up and decorated early, stage a shot that captures children basking in the magical glow of the tree. Use a tripod to stabilize your shot, then set your shutter speed for a longer exposure. You may have to tell your children that Santa is watching to get them to stand perfectly still.

Visions of Sugarplums

Instead of the ubiquitous photograph of the whole family sporting their red- and green-striped Hanna Anderssons in wide-awake smiles, snap a shot of your little sugarplums all tucked in under flannel sheets. Try to get one sweet shot of the kids pretending to sleep peacefully before they start bouncing around the bed. The “prize” for a successful photo shoot can be the opportunity to have a holiday themed pillow fight, which you can also capture for a collage-ready series.

Christmas Light Hostages

Have your photographer help wrap the parents or children in lit Christmas lights while the kids wreak havoc or parents look shocked. Easy enough, right? Snap a series of shots to chronicle how quickly order spirals into chaos.

Candy Cane Hearts

We love this shot of a whole family’s worth of hands piled together to form the shape of a heart using candy canes. Play around with a simple background and moody lighting to create a beautiful composition.

Joyful Tantrums

To be truly joyful, you gotta find the humor in parenting. Snap a shot of your children in the midst of full-on meltdowns while they’re holding the letters that spell out JOY. Oh, beautiful contradiction!

Festive Feet

Holiday-themed socks are always so fun! Put on your festive stockings and pose against a holiday background, like the Christmas tree or fireplace.

Christmas Photo Booth

Set up a home photo booth with all sorts of holiday-themed props from reindeer antlers to Abominable Snowman hats and Grinch masks. Have every member of the extended family – from babies to great-grandmas – take part in the game of dress-up. The results will produce a wonderfully playful collage for a holiday photo card.

Tiny Car + Cute Family Photo Op

If you have – or have access to – an adorable tiny car, consider staging a shot like this. We can’t think of anything more adorable than a Mini Cooper or a Fiat convertible topped with a tree and your sweet family poking their heads out from windows and boughs.

Funny Family Pyramid

If your family is acrobatically skilled, please – by all means – make this your Christmas photo. And, I beg you to post step-by-step instructions for how to pull it off so I can do this with my family.