Every year since we’ve been married, one of my favorite Christmas traditions we’ve had is to send a Christmas card to our family and closest friends. There’s something about sending a little joy each year through snail mail. I get excited to pick out our picture(s) that will go on the card, what it will say, and who it’ll be going to. Michael even helps me pick the design, or he’ll give his approval on the final one. And then we both stuff the envelopes and send them out. This year’s card just hit the mailboxes today. But how do you keep a tradition like this going when it seems like the season keeps filling up with more and more things to do? You keep it simple, and you have a plan. Here’s how I keep the Christmas card tradition alive and well.
1. Keep your address book current.
The first thing you’re going to need to need to know is who you’ll want to send your cards to. I keep my addresses in a Word file with a pre-made template for address labels. You can find the template I use here. I update it each year around this time. If someone has moved, I just update my list and hit save. Then I print out my labels for the cards. This is great to have on hand for birthday parties, announcements, and any other snail mail purposes. This will also let you know how many cards you want to order. For you tech savvy people, you can keep your address book updated online by using this service.
2. Pick a card company you trust and pick a unique design.
Every year for the past several years, I’ve used Tiny Prints. 1. Because I’m loyal. 2. Because they have quality product. (I mean, just look at how thick the cards are. That’s quality right there, folks.)
3. Their designs are my favorite. 4. They have the best deals. (Let’s just talk about their deal today, all holiday cards are 50% off! Run, do not walk, to get your cards today. After you finish reading this, of course. The deal ends today, 12/3/2015.)
Every year, I have a hard time picking out a design, because all of Tiny Prints‘ designs are always so good. This year, I went with the Radiant Joy foil-stamped theme. I could have gone with a different color scheme, because Tiny Prints allows for so many options for each design, but ultimately I went with the burgundy and red color scheme. It was also the winning choice for the hubs. (The white background with gold foil was beautiful, too!) Drumroll for our final product! I’m happy to share with you our Christmas card for 2015. This beautiful card will be arriving in mailboxes in just a few days to our family friends.
And here are all of our cards from Tiny Prints from the last four years. What can I say, I’m as loyal as it gets. You can see that I also love the rounded edges option on the cards with three out of four of them having that. I’m telling you, so many fun options. It’s also fun to walk down memory lane and reminisce about what was going on each Christmas with each card’s picture(s).
But back to business. You need more tips.
3. Use pictures you have.
A lot of families take special holiday portraits and use those for their cards. We didn’t do that this year, and here’s why. Each year, we take professional pictures around Charlotte’s birthday in February. For this year’s card, I used the pictures from Charlotte’s two-year session, because they are some of my favorite pictures ever. Sure she’s grown a bunch since then, but it’s still from this year, and I think they’re precious pictures for the card. You can also take your own pictures and use what you have. See that first card in my collage up there? That was taken with a camera phone. The one with Charlotte in yellow? Those were taken with our very own camera. Don’t stress about the pictures. Choose a picture you love to share with the people you love, and they’ll love it, too.
4. Personalize it.
Now here’s the fun part. Personalize these puppies as much or as little as you want! Here are some things I did to personalize this year’s card.
I chose the Joyful Botanicals envelope to spruce things up, and I also added in a fun coordinating liner for the envelope. The liners are an add-on item when picking out your card, and then you assemble them yourself.
I also had our address added to the back our envelopes. That saved me lots of time from not having to write out our return address or to peel on more stickers.
Another route you could take would be to use a simple envelope, and use a Signature Circle stamp for your return address. I blurred out our address for privacy purposes, but you can get an idea of what it will look like below.
And the last thing I did to personalize these pretties was using personalized stamps. I’m literally sending joy. And that makes me all kinds of happy.
You could also use a picture to personalize your stamp when you use Tiny Print’s personalization of stamps option. The possibilities are endless, I’m telling you. And if you’re really crafty, which I’m not, you could even have your littles stamp their hand print on the card, too. How cute would that be? I like throwing in a little flair, and the customizable ways Tiny Prints allows me to do that makes it a cinch for me.
5. Make it a family affair.
Now once you’ve ordered all of your gear, make it a family deal to stuff your cards. Last night, Michael and I sat down together and set these all up for the mailbox. He stuffed, and I labeled and sealed. Because after all, the holidays are about spending time with your loved ones, are they not?
Now this is what will be arriving in our friends and family’s mailbox.
And my favorite way to display our cards and all the cards we receive is to perch each card on our Charlie Brown Christmas tree in our entrance.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Tiny Prints has extended their sale on holiday cards and gifts and decor, but it ends today! Take 50% off holiday cards using code CYBERMON50 and take 30% off gifts and home decor using code CYBERGIFTS30. Promotions ends today, 12/3/2015. Go, go, go!
Disclosure: Tiny Prints provided me the products for this post and compensated me for my work. As always, all opinions are my own. I’ve been a loyal customer to Shutterfly, Inc. and its brands for many years and am thrilled to be partnering with them today.
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Beautiful card, I love that you said to use pictures you already have or take them yourself! That’s what we do too. Easy and stress free!
Thank you, Christina! Yes, use what you have for sure. :) Hope you’re having a great week!
Love your Christmas card, from this year and past years! xo
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Thank you! I love looking back at them and seeing how much has changed each year. Have a great week!
Your cards are so cute! I love Tiny Prints; that’s who we use every year as well. Great tips too!
Thanks, girl! Hope you got yours. ;)
SO CUTE. totally forgot to send you my address, too! But I just love the cards so much!
Thanks so much, Karra! Yes, send me your address. :)
Love your cards girl, too cute!!! And I’m always a sucker for photo cards! :)
Thanks, sweet friend! Yep, photo cards have been my favorite since I knew they existed. Lol. Our very first one was with our dog, but sadly, I can’t find it. I’ve learned to keep a copy for myself now. Hope you’re feeling okay this week!
So cute! I’m on the struggle bus this year….having to use a card from my sons signing day since it was the only decent picture of all of us together this year. I know what I want to do but have been procrastinating!! :)
Thanks, Shelly! I think the signing day picture is awesome! That is such a great memory to document. Have you sent them yet? ;)
Friend….I just finally emailed my “caed girl” my pix last night!! :) If they are in the mail by the 20th I’m going to be ecstatic!! I did decide to use Rarely Calm, Always Bright because our year was anything but calm! Haha
I love Christmas cards! I love sending them, and I love getting them. It’s one of my favorite parts of the season. Your card is lovely!
Thank you, Gretchen! I love this tradition, and I absolutely love receiving them in the mailbox and displaying them on my little tree in our foyer. So much fun.
So so so cute!! We are having our Christmas card photo taken on Saturday and are going to send an actual card out for the first time this year! (Probably late since photos are so late, but who’s counting?) In the past I’ve wanted to send cards, but haven’t had a good photo of the two of is since our wedding, and hubby wouldn’t go for my idea to use food photos from my blog. Haha.
How did your pictures go? I would totally have used a food photo if I were you. Lol. Your photos are always so great, so I could definitely see how you could have come up with something fun. Hope you’re having a great week!
They went great! We had way too many to choose from, but managed to pick one. I hand lettered the sentiment for the front and then I decided to go for it and use Christmas food photos on the back! I’ll be sharing them on the blog closer to Christmas once they’ve been mailed out.
They look amazing! Can’t wait to get my card from you in the mail :) xoxoxoxo love ya
Thanks, friend! Hope you got yours. :) Can’t wait to open your beautiful card, too. And thanks again for making this blog post possible and letting me send Christmas cheer for all to hear. Lol. You’re the best!