We have had so many great photo ideas submitted that we have broken this into two articles. The first batch is below.
The first Christmas as a married couple, we did a Grinch inspired card that read "Merry Grinchmas and Happy Who-Year". Since then, our friends and family expect funny cards.
Our second year married, my husband and I pretended to be asleep in our bed. I took a separate picture of our dog in a Santa costume then, using Photoshop, superimposed him in a thought bubble. The card read, "The Nemecs were nestled, all snug in their bed while visions of Jack danced in their heads."
Last year, our third Christmas together, we made milk mustaches and had a plate of cookies in front of us and were toasting with champagne glasses filled with milk. On a fluke, the dog stuck his tongue in the glass as the camera went off, and the picture was hysterical. It read: "Wishing you a milky white Christmas."
By Melissa
We dressed our new baby in a red hat and red converse hightops and a diaper. We strung Christmas lights and garland around her crib and propped some stuffed animals around her. "Merry Christmas from Our Crib to Yours!"
By Kelly
This year we are using the following Photo. Our card will say:
"Remembering the reason for the season... Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!"
By Erica
Here is the easiest Christmas card we've ever done because we could take separate pictures of each child instead of all three kids having to look right in one Photo (which is nearly impossible for us).
By Debra
Here's ours from last year. We got a file box and wrapped the bottom and top separately. Added some tissue paper and popped our then 6-month-old daughter inside. The rest was pure luck! The expression on both their faces is priceless. We still giggle every time we see this picture.
By Stephanie
Here's our first Christmas card Photo last year of our daughter who was 4 months old. I just put it on a Photo card with a Santa that read "HO HO HO".
By Angela
We try to do a unique card every year too. We are a big sports family, so I dressed our oldest son in his football uniform with a Santa Hat, our middle daughter in her soccer uniform with a Santa hat, then our youngest son in his tee-ball uniform with his Santa hat. We sat basketballs, bats, gloves, baseballs, soccerballs all around. The caption was: "Merry Christmas from our HOME TEAM to yours!"
Last year, I took our Santa hats to the beach and had the Kids stand by the surf in their swimsuits. I put it in black and white and colored in the Santa hats. I ended up not using this one because I got an impromptu shot that was better. We went to the mountains to a Christmas Tree farm to choose and cut down our own tree. This was the first time we had ever done that. I took my camera just to document the day and snapped a pic of the kids by our choice of tree. I used the caption "We found the perfect tree. Hope you have a perfect Christmas".
By Lisa from Taylorsville, NC
We did the bubble bath pictures and highlighted the hats and rosied up their cheeks. We typed "wishing you bubbles of fun this holiday season" We got a ton of great feedback!
By Maria
Sometimes you don't know you have the right picture until you look them over later. We had given up on getting our one-year old in a Santa Suit and our dog with reindeer antlers to pose and look at the camera at the same time. We tried everything including props such as a dog treats and a Christmas ornament for him to toss. After over 50 pictures of him pulling the dogs antlers, taking off his hat, falling over, and sobbing we decided to pack it in. The next morning we came across this gem - a little Photo enhancement and Voila!
By Amanda
Last year we had a 3 year old and a new baby of 2 months. I thought posing them in Santa hats would be really cute but somehow it failed. Madeline the 3 year old was mad that she was having to pose and Max the baby was fed up and hungry as well. So, despite all efforts I ended up putting the picture of her pouting and the picture of him screaming together and titled it "Better Not Pout".
This year we took a picture of a neighbor's Nativity Scene and superimposed a picture of our daughter dressed as Mary. The Outside says "It's Christmas". The inside says "Be Mary".
By Kelly
We did the "Santa, I can explain" one.
By Stacey
One of my twins was determined to catch the other under the mistletoe one way or the other!
By Debra from Alabama
We wanted to do something different for our Christmas cards/picture this year. The outcome was "Incredible!" I made the costumes and had a friend (who happens to work for the local newspaper) come over and take the picture in our living room. We cleared out the furniture and just had a fun Photo shoot. Then I used my Photo editing software to add everything else in (and remove my living room wall!)
By The Eastman Family
Cut your heads out in a paint program or Photoshop and paste them into a picture. We then added the Santa hats.
By peggie
This is the shot I used for my 2003 Christmas picture. On my card I wrote: " He's making a list, and checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice. Santa Claus is coming to town!" I thought it was so cute!
Last year we used one of the ideas posted here - the silent, peaceful one :)
By Mia
We used the little bakers idea last year. We got so many comments on the card! Thanks for the idea!
By Jen L
One of the cutest Christmas cards we did was take a Photo of my two girls dressed as angels (ages 8 and 10) and my infant son swaddled in a white blanket in a manger so it looked like baby Jesus with the angels looking over him. We just took the Photo at the church in front of the pulpit and used the candle lighter robes for the girls. The church had the manger from the nativity scene. I have gotten so many complements on this and have even been asked for the original so that an a friend could blow the Photo up and use it as decoration during the holidays!
By Nebraska Mom
Here's our card from last year. We had my son, who was 7, reading The Night Before Christmas to his 18 month old twin sisters.
By Amy
Something I did with a little cutting and pasting last year.
By Tim
We've been trying to come up with new ideas for years now. We've done the snowman with the kids' faces in the snowballs, we've done the "Ho Ho Ho" with the faces in the O's. Last year, we set the kids up with some musical instruments in the basement with a white sheet as a background, then cut out the photos and superimposed them on a Photo of a Christmas tree I found on the web (our tree wasn't up yet). The caption read "Have a Rockin' Christmas!"
By Pete
We were not at the beach, but at the library swingset. But we loved this picture of all of our feet in the sand.
By Nichole
This was our card from last year. "Happy Mistletoes" It went over very well! We used the one with our toes up in the air, but the other one is cute too, shaped like a wreath.
By Julie
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Last year, we went to the edge of the woods, my husband wore a red sweat suit with a santa hat. He is disabled in a wheelchair so we decorated it up like a sleigh. We have two daughters (then 5 and 7). We three each had brown sweat suits on and reindeer antlers on our heads(bought at Wal-mart). We took red garland and draped it from my husbands wheelchair, to me sitting on my knees, then to my 7 year old on her knees, then to my 5 year old on her knees, and her nose was painted red like Rudolph. It turned out to be the cutest card yet. Our friends loved it. I was afraid they would think we were a little crazy. I set up the camera on the tripod and would have to run to get in position which made everyone laugh for a really good photo.
The year before that we took pairs of adult size jeans, stuffed them with filling, safety pinned rubber boots to the end of them, then posed my two girls infront of the Christmas tree laying down on their bellies. We just put the fake legs on top of theirs and pulled the feet over their shoulders to look like their legs were twisted over their shoulders. It was hilarious, and on the inside of the card we wrote Merry "Twistmas". You couldn't see their own legs and you wouldn't believe the people that asked us how they did that(like it was their real legs twisted over their shoulders!)
The year before that we wrapped large boxes in colorful wrap, cut a hole in the top just large enough for the girl's heads and cut out the bottom. They simply "put their boxes on" and we put a large bow on top of their heads, posed them in front of the tree and it was a cute and fun Christmas photo.
Lori in Mississippi
Last year we went to our local church and borrowed nativity scene costumes and dressed our family members as Joseph & Mary, three wise men, angels, shepards. We used a doll in a manger, the pictures were done in black and white and were done in a haybarn. We placed a real calf (donkey would be better) and barn cats around us. On the inside we did a quote about the saviour. The feedback was amazing.
Another year we took a normal photo but had billy bob teeth in and did a quote about smiling. A different year, we used green ink and made a handprint tree, using the baby's handprint as the top and the adults as the bottom (the prints have to face outwards and each person does the opposite hand for the sides of the tree except the person on top) we also printed our cat's under the tree, it was really nice.
Good luck, we may try a twisted version of your twisted idea this year (we have to incorporate 19 people!)
By Trudy & Connie (The crazy sisters)
Last year I dressed my two young daughters in pink tu-tus, white fur on the floor, lots of beads and with black and white film and took their picture. The card says, "Hope your holidays are Tu-Tu good!"
By Nancy Schaaf
We have 10 family members from 4 yrs to Grampa. Last year we all wore white t-shirts, dark pants and reindeer antlers. The four grandkids each held a different ball (basketball, football, soccer ball, and volleyball). Our 3 adult children in the back row each had a baseball bat over their shoulder. My husband and I wore ball gloves. The caption said "Care to join us in some reindeer games?"
By Katie
My sister had her two boys (4 years and 2 year) in their bathtub. They had santa hats on their heads and the tub was full of bubble bath. The boys had their faces with beard of bubbles. The pictures turned out beautiful. She sent them as a christmas photo card. She also bought colored soap crayons and had drawn christmas pictures on the shower wall. Like presents, etc. in green and red.
By Amy
We have done a funny family photo for Christmas for at least the last 10 years, some ideas are: A Harley Christmas, A Christmas Story (dressed up as characters from the movie), Christmas Ornaments, A Winter Wonderland, Cruisin' thru Christmas, A Collage. It is a major family tradition to do the family photo. Everyone loves them and friends/family talk about them all year. All time favorites are the Harley Christmas and the Christmas Story. I like your ideas too!
By Kamla Winters
Last year I helped my four children (ages 4,6,8 and 10) make four snowmen very close together in the front yard. Rather than put snowman heads on them, my children's faces were at the top. It looked very cute with bright colored hats and scarves. I took their picture, but it wasn't the one I mailed out. What we did for that one was make one giant snowman and posed around that. Since we had just moved to a new town, our card said, "We've made some new friends, but still miss the old ones!" (Get it? We made the snowman... made a friend.)
By Lisa
One year I put night caps on my kids, lined them up in our big bed and told them to go to sleep. The caption for that photo was "The children were nestled all snug in their bed..."
Another year, they circled around a scrawny evergreen tree out in a field (A Charlie Brown tree) we put one ornament on the tree.
Another year they all dressed like old fashioned Christmas carolers. We took the photo outside with them holding music and candles, singing "Oh" of course.
All these were done in black and white or sepia toned. (12/03/2004)
By Kathy
A few years ago when our son was 7 we did this photo. Our son sat in the middle of our bed with a Santa hat on, holding a fairly large book of "The Night Before Christmas" so you could see what he was reading. He was reading to my husband and I laying on either side of him, but we were "sound asleep." That was easy to do with the tripod.
When he was little we did a black and white photo at a tree farm with him peeking out from behind a tree with his Santa hat on. This would be cute to stack family members behind a tree. For this year I still hope to get a hold of a small Santa costume for our son so we can sit on his lap. Thanks for the fun ideas!
By Shelley
If you like cats, dress everyone up in cat suits and paint their faces. You could have 'Meowy Christmas' across the bottom on a sign.
By Cathy
Here are some I've done over the years:
I stuffed some red pants and put them into some black boots. I stood this up inside the fireplace and dressed my son in red pajamas, had him stand beside the fireplace with his hands on his face like the "Home Alone" kid. This won 2nd place in a local Chirstmas photo contest.
My husband wore his Santa suit in the background with my son and our cat in the forefront. My son was eating a cookie and our cat was drinking milk from a mug with a sign reading, "Dear Santa, these cookies & milk are just for you!" This won third place.
My son held mistletoe over his head while his twin sisters kissed him on each cheek simultaneously. This won honorable mention.
I bought the wooden letters "J" "O" "Y" painted them white and had each child hold one to spell "JOY". I took each child's picture individually so they would show up better and printed them on the computer on to cardstock in black and white. I attached this to red paper then put this on white cardstock and then wrapped red gingham ribbon around the bottom and put "Heavenly Joy" on the front as well. Then I put the bible verse Luke 2:10 on the inside.
Hope some of these might help.
By Debra from Alabama
We took our 3 year old to the beach and made a sand snowman with carrot nose and the works. The ocean was behind us. It was very cute.
By karen
Last year my husband dressed up as Santa and "discovered" our 2 year old sprawled out on the floor under the tray of "eaten" cookies and milk cup that was on it's side empty. Made a very cute picture. We put a caption on the bottom that said: "Sorry, Santa, I tried to be good."
By Kristi from Texas
We did a Human Pyramid (Christmas tree) with all of us in green and the youngest at the top in yellow.
By Tricia
Last year we had the kids sitting around the campfire all bundled up. The card said "Warm Wishes". It was beautiful.
By Mersbiz
Last year I recieved a beautiful card from a friend it had he husband dressed as the grinch. My friend and her oldest daughter dressed in red outfits with white boas. Her daughter (6 years) was at the top of a ladder holding a list that was long and she was holding a feather pen. You could see the list of gifts on the paper and the card read "we hope you get everything you ask for". It turned out really cute and everyone loved it. I can't wait to see what she does this year.
By Granny
We all dressed up in white shirts and I cut out the numbers 2005 in red felt and tacked one number on each of our shirts. Standing as "2005" we all held party horns and threw confetti in the air. It was a great photo to keep up "all year" as it was not a traditional holiday photo!
By Lisa-Illinois
I'm really into black and white photos and last year I had my three children, ages 10, 6 and 4 lay down in the leaves with their heads touching each in a different direction - looking straight up into the camera. I only did head shot with leaves around them - it was a great, fun shot! Everyone loved it! The leaves are colorful in the North East this time of year, but something about the black and white made the picture really stand out!
By Dixon
I do this everything year, but since I don't have children it's more of an adult play-on-words thing. We've dressed up with white ghost sheets on and held presents. The caption: "The Ghosts of Christmas Presents"
We've stuck tongues on metal poles (AKA Christmas Story) and used: "We double-dog dare you to have a good Christmas."
I've made fake police mug shots from the North Pole Police Department: "It would be a crime for you to have a bad Christmas."
One year I dressed up in a fancy apron and Santa hat, and held a big spoon over a bowl. "Not a creature was stirring?" (11/17/2005)
By Amy in NC
I had a really hard time last year with my 6 month old and my 2 year old. Since they wouldn't be still for a picture. I decided to let them do something they liked, eat. We set them up with bowls and spoons and lots of powdered sugar and let them make "cookies". They took the best pictures, he fed spoons full of sugar to his sister and we had a ball. They were both wearing aprons and chef's hats hers with a big red bow. I put out lots of premade cookies and cookie cutters. It really was very easy.
By Kristin-Texas
One year my daughter and I made Christmas cookies that spelled out Merry Christmas 2003 and had them set out on the table, while we were dressed in aprons, flour etc. At first you would just think we were baking Christmas cookies, but then you would notice the cookies actually spelled something. Last year I took my daughter's cheerleading photo, and said Bringing you Holiday 'Cheer'. Trying to think of something again this year myself, so thanks for all the help (11/21/2005)
By Laura
We used the bathtub and bubble theme one year, with the caption "May all your Christmases be white."
Another time I dressed the two kids up as elves working on the naughty and nice lists. I put them at a table with the sign "Santa's Workshop" behind it. The caption read "Have yoursElves a merry little Christmas" in a playful font.
The year we moved we had the kids (ages 6 and 4) stand in front of the fireplace each holding a sign that they wrote. The little one's said "Atenshen Santa" and the older one's said "Our chimny has moved." (What made this so cute is that I told them what to write, but they did the spelling on their own!) Inside the card I put our new address, so the holiday card was also our change of address notification. Everyone loved it.
The year we got the best feedback, however, was when we had professional portraits taken at the beach. There happened to be one photo of the two kids looking down at a starfish in the dunes. I printed the following Christina Rosetti poem on vellum and put it on top of the photo with a ribbon holding the two things together at the top. The poem: Love came down at Christmas...love all lovely, love divine. Love came down at Chrismas...star and angels gave the sign.
Hope these ideas help!
By Sharon from PA
You know how someone is always blinking if your photos? One year, all five of us blinked on purpose and titled the card: "And may all you Christmases be bright."
By Kel
One year we received a card from a family of 5 in a portrait setting and they all had milk mustaches (including the baby!) and the card said "Got Eggnog?" I thought it was really cute.
By Sheree
Last year we dressed our four year old in red with a moose antler headband. We had her hug herself and and make a kissy face. The caption said merry KissMoose. One year we had her peek through the middle of a wreath and once we let her go crazy with a big pile of ribbons and bows.
By Lisa from Missouri
I too did the kids in the tub and it was awesome! Last year we went to the beach (since we live so close) and put the kids (7 and 4) on the sled in front of a dune as if they were sledding down the hill. My son (7) wore a white t-shirt and tan shorts and my daughter (4) wore a beautiful white sleeveless dress. The pictures turned out awesome and we got lots of wonderful feedback. Now I feel like I have to come up with something better year after year!
By Charlene from FL
I got a card from a family with four children last year. It had them all laying on the ground on top of each other and the card read "Hope your holidays stack up like ours did." It was too cute!
By Amie
Last year we didn't really have a plan for a photo, and it turned out to be the best. We gave my 2 year old nephew a gift and told him to hold it out as if he were trying to give it to the camera. He of course, wanted nothing to do with that idea, so the photo ended up being a picture of all of us laughing around him (trying to direct him) and him holding a gift somewhat facing the camera (with an extremely innocent and confused face on). There was no caption, hopefully everyone just realized that we were trying to give them a gift. It was extremely natural and in black and white.
By Kate
I am a retired newspaper photographer and for the past six years have done various Christmas card photos for the neighbors. One year, I used a storm window, sprayed it with fake snow and Ice, and had the two boys hold a candle and look out into the cold with out-of-focus christmas lights in the background.
Another was the mother dressed as Santa going down a backyard barb-a-que fireplace with the kids sleeping with milk in front of a fire. Both photos were merged in photoshop.
Last year we sent out a photo of myself, my wife and 27 year-old daughter with Santa hats, a live camel with Santa hat and a camel driver in front of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
Another of the neighbor's was "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", two kids looking suprised as real mommy was kissing Daddy in a Santa suit in front of the tree.
By Lynn from Wisconsin
I have a friend who has done my two favorites:
Their last name is Byrd. She took a picture of her 4 girls with phones at the ears. Caption: "Four calling Byrds"
She took pictures of her girls in a cotton field with caption: "Have a cotton pickin' Christmas."
By Terrie from Georgia
It sounds like you have done just about everything imaginable. So, how about being your own Christmas Card? Use cardboard for each person, have them decorate the "card", sign it then take the picture. Depending on how many there are in your family, you should come up with several different cards, as we all know, noone likes to get the same card as everyone else!
By Stacey Liddle
This year I did a take on the gift wrapped children idea. I wrapped a huge box and box lid and put my two kids (2 and 5) in the box with the lid leaning on the box. They each had a "Christmas-y" outfit on and a santa hat. The caption read, "Oh looky, looky! What do I see? Our favorite blessings under the tree."
By Mom me poo
The year our family of five went to DisneyWorld, I used the photo from the Jurassic Park roller coaster ride, We all looked scared to death plummeting down the hill. I caption it "Twas the Fright before Christmas". Everyone loved it.
By angie
Last year I took a beautiful picture of my 3 kids. Their ages are 19, 12 and 10 so they didn't want anything too "little kid" like. So I put them in dark clothes and gathered up all the candles I owned, tall and short. I turned the lights out, lined up all the candles on a coffee table with the tall ones on the sides and short ones in front. I then put the kids behind at various heights and told them to lean in toward the light and hold very still. Using a tripod I took the picture without a flash. It was a tight shot - only faces and candles filled the frame. Their faces glowed and the candles served as a sort of frame around them. Numerous friends and relatives commented how beautiful and some even had the picture still on their refrigerator months later!
By Nancy
This year I took pictures of all 6 of us individually in front of a white sheet, with no flash. The pictures were closeups, all of us had different expressions and looking in different directions. Then I made a kind of index print on the computer with 3-4 of each of us. It had a brady bunch feel. I liked it in sepia. I interspersed it with Christmas messages in some of the squares. Everyone loved it and it stands out from the usual photo card!
By Susan
One year we put the kids in the bathtub with Santa hat's on and made bubble beards on their faces. The caption we used was "Rub a Dub Dub, Ho Ho From the Tub"
By Joan
One year, a friend of mine took her family to the beach. They wrote "Merry Christmas" in the sand and the family sat behind it. The photographer took the picture facing them and the words. It was really nice looking. They all wore white shirts and jeans and it was all in black and white, but Christmas colored outfits would be nice, too. It is great for all ages.
By Julie
I bought a red sweatshirts for my neice and nephews. Walmart sells white felt that is sticky on one side and I cut the words "FA", "LA", "LA", "LA", "LA", "LA" out and stuck them on the sweatshirts. We put "FA" on the oldest (tallest) and "LA" on each of the other kids. The kids sat on bales of hay stacked up so "FA" was at the top and all the "LA's" followed. it was too cute! When the pictures were done, you can peel the letters off and have plain sweatshirts again.
By Robin
One year, I couldn't get my christmas tree lights untangled, so before I bought new ones, I let my 3 year old get tangled up in them in front of the Christmas tree.
By Karla
Editor's Note: Most Christmas lights are made with lead and have warnings about keeing children away from the cords. Be sure that you have lead free lights before trying this tip.
I received a card with a photo of the kids feet on the front of the card (they were laying in bed and showed the bottom of their feet) and on the inside were the kids sitting up with santa hats on their heads. The caption read, Happy MistleTOES!
By Karla
Have everyone stand circling halfway around an extra large pizza. Write Pizza On Earth on the bottom of the card.
I've had my baby in a decorated gift box in a Santa Suit in front of the fireplace--very cute. I've also had my baby lay on a blue sheet with cottonball clouds. I laid some handmade glittery wings down on this sheet, peeled him down to his diaper, and laid him on top of the "wings" to be a little angel--very cute.
By Sandy from WI
Last year we did computer work and had me, my husband and 3 kids with our pants rolled up. I found a beach picture I liked and we took our picture. My aunt blacked out the background so it looked like we were standing in the ocean with our pants rolled up. Then we typed on there "NO MORE WADING FOR CHRISTMAS". We also all wore santa hats.
By Leanne from TN
One year for photos, me and my husband were wrapped in tangled lights with my kids standing next to us with the end of the lights. On the inside of the card we put "We're on the naughty list, how about you?" Everybody loved it.
By Anonymous
Last year our friends, a married couple, simply cross dressed in a formal dress and tux, and stood in front of the Christmas tree. The guy even wore makeup. The inside said "We hope your Christmas is as beautiful as our marriage." It was amazing.
By Ballzy
My first year being a mommy and I forgot to take my child to get her christmas pictures done. I was upset then my mom helped me decide to get picture's of her in front of the tree but it didn't work because a three month old can't sit up. So I got out her bouncy seat and laid her down in it and proped presents all behind her, it came out great. (09/30/2006)
By Jennifer from Michigan
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Put everyone in Santa hats laying in the pool....snap a picture and have the heading read...from our piece of heaven to yours. (10/04/2006)
By Kim
We have some very creative friends. Last year one sent a picture of their 2-year-old daughter wearing goggle with messed up wet hair. The caption was, "Wishing you a great OUTLOOK for 2006." Another was a 15-month-old little boy standing at the bath tub with a bare rear end. The greeting read, "Merry Christmas from our end to yours." (10/06/2006)
By Meg
When my daughter was 10 months old, I bought angel wings on sale after Halloween. I dressed her in a white onesie and put a black sheet on the couch. Then I put the angel wings on her and the dog (West Highland Terrier) and set them on the couch... cute!
Another year I dressed my 1.5 year old daughter in a lion costume and made a little lamb costume out of felt and cotton balls for the dog. The caption on that read 'There shall be peace, led by all the children'. Both pictures were in black and white and on a black background. (10/18/2006)
By Beth, MN
My husband, kids and i wore matching chirstmas pajamas. He sat in a big white rocking chair holding a book as if to read , the kids were at his feet with a plate of milk and cookies, I stood beside the chair with my hand on his shoulder. Everyone looked at him. The back ground was white with red poinsettas sitting around. It was very memorable...(quote)(/quote) (11/01/2006)
By Deborah Johnson
Last year, I put my three boys in their Christmas outfits and lined them up in front of the fireplace, each holding a Little Tikes hoe. The caption was "Ho! Ho! Ho!"
The year my youngest son was a newborn, my father made a manger and we put him in it and puit straw in the backyard all around it. I dressed up my two older sons as wisemen and had them adoring the baby with a gold star hanging in the back. (11/07/2006)
By Alissa
Last year I had 2 of my children sit on a bench in front of the fire place w/ the 2 dogs, and the other 2 children behind the bench - each holding a letter Ho Ho - it was very cute. I need a new idea for this year! (11/08/2006)
By Karen
i don't have kids, but my brother does and so last christmas I took pictures of his 3 kids ages 4,3, and 1 wk. The outside of the card had the two boys aged 4 & 3 standing in a big wrapped box with just their faces sticking over the edge propped up on their hands and santa hats on. The caption read guess "what we got for christmas?" the inside had a picture of their new sister lying on a white blanket with white tissue paper with just a clothe diaper on, asleep. and it said "a new baby sister forever to keep" and then it had her birth information on it. so it served as a birth announcement and a christmas card since she was born so close to christmas. (11/08/2006)
By auntie sam
2 years ago, I dressed my daughter in her christmas nightgown and a santa hat and had her drink a little cream (i.e. Got Milk?) and had a plate of half eaten cookies on a plate and 1 in her hand. The caption was "Dear Santa, I can explain. Daddy did it."
We still get comments on that card. (11/10/2006)
By Jennifer
One year, we took a picture of my daughter(in a fancy dress) with her hand over the mouth of a standing knight figure. The caption read "silent Knight". It was really cute. (11/12/2006)
By Jeannie
I did the bath idea last year but I did it in black and white and colored in the hat red. Everyone loved it. (11/13/2006)
By gavcolMom
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I superimposed a Santa hat on the ultra sound photo of our daughter a few years ago. (11/14/2006)
By
we dressed our 4 month old up as santa; when he was aleep we put a plate of cookies and glass of milk in front of him in the recliner. The caption was Waiting for Santa (11/17/2006)
By Aarons mom
We are having our dog, a beagle, wearing antlers, pulling our daughter, who is 6 months old, in her baby sleigh, dressed in a Santa dress. I can't wait to see how the pictures turn out! (11/18/2006)
By Diane
Last year we painted our hallway wall with bathtub finger paints. . they wipe off easily. Then we covered my son in the paint and had him "finger paint the wall". Threw on a santa hat and added the caption " deck the hall" (11/20/2006)
By kerry
Last year I tried for the perfect christmas card pic and was giving up as my 2 children were crying in there perfect holiday outfits, infront of the tree, so I put on the caption Ho,Ho,Oh who cares! (11/20/2006)
By
For a super easy christmas card photo my daughters and I spent the afternoon together making a gingerbread house. When it was finished we all sat behind it with a sign we had made that read "Merry Christmas from our house to yours". (11/22/2006)
By shades of grey
Last year we took a picture of our kids with their mouths duck-taped shut in front of our christmas tree..Under the picture we put 'May your holiday's be pieceful"...on the inside we put ours will be. Everyone loved it (11/26/2006)
By jr
One year, we had the boys all dress up as mobsters and signed it from the McFaddin Mob. Sepia tones. Cute.
One year, we did the manger scene with everyone dressed up in the part.
I think the cutest one was when they were little and looking through the glass of a Christmas display & catching their expressions. My youngest at the time was about 2 & he was actually licking the glass (yuk!), abut was so cute.
By TammyMc
Another time we put all of them outside holding the plastic candy canes. they all looked adorable!
Another is when my nephew was 2 he loved candy canes. there was a house next door that had a light up dandy cane so one night we took him over and told him to lick the candy cane and he did! they snapped the picture and it was so cute!
Someone i knew had everyone with duck tape on their mouths with the caption silent night (11/29/2006)
By Mary Kate
My husband and I dressed up in camoflogue, holding bows and arrows and a rifle. My son (2 yrs) sat on his camoflogue chair and our beagles were sitting beside him. We took this photo outside and had large bushes behind us. The caption read "Hunting for Santa". (11/29/2006)
By Red
Last year I dressed our 3 dogs up as Mary, Joseph and baby jesus in a manger with the saying "Fleas Navidog". Before that we lined up 3 motorcycles with someone on each with Santa hats on and I stood over our minature horse - the saying was "Oh what fun it is to ride." We've also done a "dashing through the snow" with horses and cars via photoshop. (11/29/2006)
By Lani CA
Have each person in your family stand in front of the christmas tree each with a homemade card reading "Naughty" or "Nice", each should wear black or white shirts for easier reading of card (11/30/2006)
By Donna C. Madisonville, LA
last year-our children ages- twin 1y/o, a 2 1/2y/o and 5y/o all lined up in front of the tree. I took the picture up close of their faces. Since our home is quite busy and loud, the caption read: Silent Night, Yeah Right! people loved it! (12/02/2006)
By kelly
This year I really wanted to take picutres of my two girls making snow angels. I was going to put the ladder close to them and take it from above, but so far this year we haven't had any snow!!
Last year I took their picture sitting in the door way of a a small cabin built by their grandpa about 43 years ago. They were both wearing jean jackets and santa hats and there was snow on the roof. (12/02/2006)
I got an idea from a magazine last year, so not, it's not original. We took close-up pictures of each of the three of us. My husband is such a goof-ball - he made funny faces, but my daughter and I posed as we normally look. We printed several black-and-white pictues of each of us and cut out just our heads. We took black paper, trifolded it, and on each section of the card, we glued just one of our pictures. When the card was fully opened, you could see all three of our pictures. "Happy, happy, joy, joy" (Ren and Stimpy) were the only words.
This was simple, fun to make, and VERY unique. Every card had a different mix of poses. They definitely were the talk of the family that holiday! (12/05/2006)
By Marti
Just a cute way to incorporate our 9 yr old Jack Russell Terrier and our 9 month old son. (12/06/2006)
By Adina
<img src="/images/feedback_image.lasso?id=61821178" width="400" height="266" alt="RE: Christmas Card Photo Ideas">
We did a "Nutcracker" theme! Our two little girls (then 4 and 6 yrs) dressed in their ballet leotards and ballet shoes, and our son (then 2 yrs) held a wooden Nutcracker soldier in the middle of them posing. It was so cute! If you have two girls and a boy it is perfect. If you have all girls you could just have the girls each hold a Nutcracker soldier, or pose the Nutcracker somewhere in the photo. (12/12/2006)
By Christina
Since everyone seems to have a good sense of humor can anyone come up with a caption for my picture? We took a zillion pictures and they all pretty much look like this! (12/12/2006)
By Mary
<img src="/images/feedback_image.lasso?id=78019303" width="400" height="266" alt="RE: Christmas Card Photo Ideas">
How about "Where's the Snow?" or Sandy Santas (12/13/2006)
By ThriftyFun
A friend of ours has twin 10 yr old boys and each year gets wilder & wilder. Last year they had both of them facing a snow bank backs to the camera with their pants around their ankles (boxers still on). "Happy Holidays" was written in the snow in yellow & the boys turned their heads to the camera &had the most devlish looks on their faces. It was Hilarious!!!!!!
(01/30/2007)
By Becky
Last year the kids ages 2 and 4) donned their aprons and chef's hats and stood in front of the tree with a bowl and a whisk each. The caption was "We Whisk you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" (09/30/2007)
By Ann
Last year I put a fire in the fireplace and a small lit Christmas tree next to it. I then placed my 2 year old in front of the fireplace. He was in red overalls and completely wrapped up in colored christmas lights. He had both hands on his checks and his mouth wide open- with an expression like he had just been caught! The caption read: "Dear Santa: I can explain" (10/23/2007)
By Embree
We have a son that is 8 and a daughter that is 2 months. She would not sit for a picture. Therefore, we had our son holding our daughter infront of a window with a candle in it. They were both looking out the window because I was outside getting their attention. (But you could not see me). Our son was wearing a santa hat. The picture was in sepia. The caption was, "Yes Ella, there truly is a santa claus!" We got the best feedbacks from this. You only see the profiles of the kids. Therefore, it was easy to get their picture no matter of the age. (11/04/2007)
By Suzanne
We all climbed in an antique clawed tub (clothes on of course). The caption read "Rub a dub, dub, Three Breland's in a Tub!" Everyone loved it! (11/07/2007)
By Teresa
Since, our front yard has so many trees and LEAVES everywhere and we live in the south, we decided to go "sledding." My husband, 5 yr old son, 4 yr old daughter and myself sat on a sled in a pile of leaves and acted like we were going down a big hill really fast. We had our hands out and big expressions on our faces while wearing santa hats, gloves, big jackets & scarves. Our Caption said, "Who needs snow?" It turned out really cute! (11/09/2007)
By Southern Mom
We got an adorable card a couple of years ago from a friend. She had several pictures of her three young kids in their Christmas outfits in front of the tree, clearly not cooperating, except for the last one where she got everyone to look at the camera at the same time. The caption was: Christmas outfits for three kids: $150. Christmas presents for the family: $500. Tree and decorations: $100. Getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time: Priceless. (11/12/2007)
By Dr.Yades
To show off our newborn daughter, I took an empty box and wrapped it like a gift with a bow showing on the side, but left the top of the box open. I placed a pillow in the box and printed out a large gift tag that read "Our gift from God." I placed her in the box and had big brother sit next to it. It was a hit! The Christmas tree was in the background. (11/13/2007)
By Kristen
Last year my husband dressed in a Santa Suit and my girls 4 and 1 1/2 laid in my big bed "asleep", and my husband dressed as Santa was bending over them giving them a kiss on their foreheads. Just by chance my comforter was red satin, very Christmas like. We get tons of compliments on the card, It came out great! (11/13/2007)
By Lisa
We are the masters of the cute cards around here and it gets tough to do better each year, so after pulling my hair out in three or four failed photo shoots.I realized that as the kids get older, it gets harder to get them to all cooperate, so I took pictures from all year long of each of them (alone) and put them side by side like a film loop. Then we wrote a poem about so many smiles and memories and wished everyone a year full of memories as precious as ours. It has been our most successful one yet! (11/14/2007)
By Jheri
Last year I was very pregnant at Christmas with our first son. It was common knowledge to all who knew us that I had been on bed rest since Halloween. My husband and I set up the camera to take a picture of us laying in bed, me in pajamas holding the remote. Our caption said "Happy Holiday's from our bed-rest to yours!" We also added a recent ultrasound picture! Everyone loved it!
Last year we took a picture of each of our three children in their favorite sports/hobby gear. There were three separate pictures: a dancer, a cheerleader and a hockey player. Each child held a different card: Merry Christmas and 2007. It was a great way to celebrate their individuality.
Lots of fun ideas at our home. We've done the "got eggnog" photo (frosting works better for the photo) and the 007 theme as we transitioned to 2007. We dressed in James Bond spy attire. This was a huge hit! We even used the Verizon "Can you hear me now?" with my boys on cell phones and Santa on a cell phone too! One year the front of our card said something like, Eggnog $2.95, Gasoline $3, Round trip airfare $400. On the inside it had a photo of our boys hugging and said, "Brotherly Love - PRICELESS." We've taken a photo of my husband & I under the mistletoe kissing & the caption said, "what happens under the mistletoe- stays under the mistletoe." I still haven't had a good idea for '08 - but we love commercial themes as you can tell.
My boys, ages 1 and 2, only cried at the photo session. Every picture is quite shocking. I'm too traumatized to think of a humorous, pithy greeting to accompany our bundles of, er, joy, screaming their fool heads off for the camera. Any ideas?
"Washing you a white Christmas"
Here is another idea. Put your new baby under the tree in a stocking!
Here is yet another idea for a christmas card cover. Include the family pet!
I have three kids. The two boys had santa hats on that said Naughty. But then I had the boys cross that out and write" I can explain" and "it was Jon" on their hats. On my third child's hat, a girl it was written"Nice". Then on my new choc lab puppy's hat we wrote "very, very naughty". EVERYONE LOVED IT!
We used an idea we found on the internet last year -We all dressed in red and put santa hats on the cats with the caption Happy Mistletoes - everyone loved it.
The best one I ever did. Had my 2 year old, naked facing the tree, so you just get the "bottom" shot, wearing a Santa hat (too big) and standing on a small wooden chair - pretending to be decorating the tree. I took this in black and white- vintage style w/ the hat colored in tinged red. Picture Caption: The naked truth... Inside, "We love Christmas."
We often travel to the Caribbean in winter, so one year we brought a Santa hat with us and made a snow man out of sand and items we found on the beach.
This was our Christmas card for 2007. It didn't take us as long as you might think.First I made the card in black and white then posted the kids in the sleigh from another picture and it was in color...by accident. I then went back and
painted the dogs nose and sweater.
This is ours for 2008. I made my fiance go to the mall and take a picture with Santa. In the final card I wrote, "Wishing you love this Holiday Season"
I got this idea from a magazine years ago but only tried it last year - I have three kids and took pictures of them posed as the letters for the word PEACE - my 13 year old holding my 3 year old to make a P, all three of them to make an E, etc - we then photoshopped them all on one page to spell out the word. It was so cool and everyone loved it! (And I did not have to worry so much about the perfect expressions as each child was in several letters!)
Awesome!
We had such a hard time taking christmas pictures of our kids this year. My son was tired, and he got mad and tried hitting our little baby. He got into trouble and started crying, and our eldest daughter was just plain frustrated with it all. We didn't take many pictures, but made the most of the pictures that we did have.
On our Christmas card, we put "Hope your Holidays are better than ours"
We had so many responses from our friends and family that they loved it!
The year our daughter turned 2 we went to Disney before the holidays. Florida can be tricky---80 degrees in the am and then below 50 degrees at night, so during the day you might be wearing shorts and at night you are wearing woolen mittens. We bundled up our daughter from top to bottom with hat, mittens, tights, boots and a big warm furry jacket...needless to say she could barely move. After waddling out of the cabin on our way to a campfire, she scrunched her face & said "I'm done" and that was our picture...with the caption "let it snow, let it snow".
Our last name is Gray and we live on a farm so we took this picture and quoted the Christmas song "Sleigh Ride"...there's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray, it'll be the perfect ending of a perfect day.
We got a lot of great feedback on this card and Regis Philbin even held it up on the show, Live with Regis and Kelly...said all of their names and read the captions :Santa Hats: $12.00, Red Tape: $4.00, Silent Night: Priceless
We have been fortunate to live on the coast around the world for the last 10 yrs, so we always try to incorporate that into our photos. This one is from 2005 in Savannah GA. We just took a shovel, carrot, hat and scarf. We found shells and small twigs on the beach to use to decorate the "sandman". It has been a favorite for years since!
I Spy Card
Everyone loved this card that I made with things we collected over the year, some pictures, and greens that I was using to decorate the house! Couldn't get my kids to smile for a picture but they were so excited to collect things for the picture and help arrange them. Here is the caption:
__ and Dad love to play I Spy, it's true,
So we have decided to play I Spy with you.
We found some toys and things from our travels,
Some baubles, some shells and ribbon that unravels.
Some personal junk that we found in 2008,
'cuz all (family name) collect stuff, about that we can't debate.
If you want to play it's easy to find,
The following things we couldn't leave behind
3 strands of beads that we brought home from New Orleans;
2 toys from Story Land - one, a dog in a pouch and the other, a drum;
A glass bottle that we found on our camping trip in New Hampshire;
favorite train, his cars and a plane;
3 Pet Shop animals;
2 medals - one for soccer one for running;
A prize that we won at the fair for things from our garden;
ticket to Cousin's volleyball game - Go Huskies!
A fossil imprint that we found in Fort Worth, TX;
11 shells and 1 barnacle from the beach in Corpus Christi, TX;
orange spider ring from Halloween;
A pin from the president that we elected;
2 earrings for some newly pierced ears; and
Snow flake ribbon.
Thanks for playing our game, we hope you had fun!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, we wish to everyone!
We used one of the ideas for our cards last year. The first year we used the mistletoes. Everyone loves to see our cards each year. Now they expect something again this year...still reflecting on that one.
We try to do a unique card every year. I have "tweaked" some of the ideas on this site to make them my own. This is the front of our card for this year.
Last year we did the Duct Tape version, only the front of the card was very elegant & read "Silent Night" the inside had the caption "Why yes. Yes, it is" & there were my 3 kids, mouths taped. (They LOVED this one!)
One year we had the kids sitting around plate that read "Cookies for Santa", with a box of raisin's on it. Each of the kids were eating a cookie & there was a note that read "Dear Santa, Thank you for the cookies" but we crossed out cookies and wrote in raisins. (As if they had secided they'd like to eat the cookies, so they left raisins for Santa instead) It was very cute!
I used an idea I saw on this website to create this picture for our 2007 Christmas card. Thanks for the idea!! We made lots of cookies because it took several shots to get it right. To get him to make that facial expression, I asked him what a cow says. When he said moo, we snapped the picture.
The inside of the card is done with a newspaper cutout font to look like a ransom card- It says "Dear Santa,
Give me everything on my list or else!"
The Harrison Family
I wanted to get a picture of the girls in front of the tree, so I asked my oldest to give her sister a hug, turned out a little rougher than I wanted, but we used it. "Spreading the Holiday Joy, whether you want it or not!" It still makes me laugh!
My husband picked up this inexpensive Santa costume at Lowes, we lit a fire, got the baby naked, and started snapping away. Tip, my husband got dressed in the Santa costume in front of our son which I believe helped him be more receptive and comfortable with Santa (Daddy).
Based on ideas from this website, we did this as our Christmas card last year. People are still talking about it. Thanks for the ideas.
We did this last year based on ideas we got from this website. The caption read, "He knows if you've been bad or good, hoping you all made the "Nice" list this year." Thanks for the ideas!
Our Christmas cards have become very popular over the years and everyone wants to be on our list to see what our annual photo will be, so the pressure is always on us to "out do" the previous year's photograph. In this photograph our oldest son has gift wrapped his little brother to send away to Grandma. We received cheerful calls from all of the grandmas, great-grandmas and everyone wanting to accept the gift on behalf of grandma shortly after the cards were sent out.
Our son got a black eye at school a couple days before we were going to do Christmas pictures, so we took advantage of the eye and changed our idea to a jail theme. My husband is a police officer, so we had access to our props and had such a great time with it! You published a picture of ours years ago - the 3 children in the bubble bath, rosied up cheeks and Santa hats - we love this site and try and get ideas from it every year!
Here is another one from our family. We love A Christmas Story so we made the famous flagpole scene our own.
Here's another from our family. I still have one more to share and will post it when I can find it. This one is our kids baking. Our youngest was far too busy to pose pretty for a picture, so I took the suggestion from someone on here and let them bake away.
Here's is one from an idea we got off your website - we loved this idea. The kids wore their comfy pajamas and my friend borrowed us his Santa suit. My husband dressed up, I hung some mistletoe and we set up the camera. The kids did their fun little acting and we got a perfect shot. :)
I printed the Merry Christmas off and the most challenging part was to get my youngest to stop running off...
Absolutely incredible! I am so inspired now! I love them all!
Bless you and thank you! Robyn
With two working kids (one in college, one in high school) and many different commitments for all of us, it is very hard to find time for all four of us to get together to pose for a card. So we improvised with a "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Rock" theme. I think it turned out pretty good and everyone got a great laugh.
Christmas 2011
I came up with this idea based on another idea shared on this website. Love this site...I come to it every year to look for ideas.
I took these ideas and ran with one of them this past Christmas. I took a picture in front of our Christmas tree, and "antiqued" the pic a bit.
Above their heads, I wrote, "Silent Night, Holy Night". Along the bottom I wrote, "Yes.....Yes It Is....Merry Christmas From The Haselhorsts" We got so many compliments from everyone we sent these to.
One of the comments was: "Best card we got this year, hands down!" The kids were giggling through then entire photo shoot. My son even took off with the tape and tried to convince me to take more pictures of just him with tape all over (I didn't).
We had a great time. Only had one family member who wasn't impressed (I found out through the grapevine, but this person isn't known for a great sense of humor), but everyone else loved it! Love this site! Thank you!
We love the beach and spend much of our summer there, so we decided to do a beach themed Christmas card last year. Everyone really loved it!
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