How To Design Your Holiday Cards

Thanks to CardsDirect holiday cards for sponsoring this post and providing some lovely holiday cards for our use.

The holiday season is upon us, which means (among many, many things) that it is time to plan and design our holiday cards. In previous years, before we had the baby, I didn’t bother with personalized cards but just bought a stack from the store and sent them out to our family. But now that I have a little one of my own, I find it so much fun to find a great family photo (which, admittedly, is hard to get of all three of us) to use in our card design.

Why send personalized photo holiday cards

Not only is a personalized photo card more, well, personal, but it is also an instant keepsake. Something lovely to place in an album and compare from year to year. These photo cards don’t typically get discarded after the season is over. They can be treated as any other picture of loved ones and collected, stored in a holiday photo album, or even added to a scrapbook.

Who should you send a holiday card

Some people go all out and send a card to everyone they know, even acquaintances. I would recommend going a little closer to the heart and focusing on family and close friends. I prefer to send to immediate and extended family members, friends who I see on a regular basis or long-time friends who will always be in my heart and maybe consider adding people in an extended circle.

You certainly want to send cards to those who consistently send them to you as well, but don’t feel guilty for not including everyone you talk to a couple of times a year.  Sending over a hundred cards is not always holiday budget-friendly, and it is also very time-consuming. I say focus this energy where it matters the most.

How to design your holiday cards

This is where your creativity can shine! There are so many options for the type of card. Do you want the cards to be one-sided, two-sided, or folded? Do you want a ribbon? Do you want it shiny or flat? Will you pick a design with one photo or many? Vertical or horizontal? The photo design will depend ultimately on which photo or photos you wish to use. I recommend having the photograph(s) selected before sitting down to look at designs, or your head might spin a bit with decision overload.

The photo design will depend ultimately on which photo or photos you wish to use. I recommend having the photograph(s) selected before sitting down to look at designs, or your head might spin a bit with decision overload.

I designed my holiday cards through CardsDirect, and they have hundreds of design options for holiday cards. I saved probably a handful of ideas and options before showing my husband and selecting our design. I ended up using a photo my parents took of the three of us, and, of course, if you have a chance to schedule a great photography session to get amazing photos made, use those.

Since I knew our photo was horizontal, I looked through the horizontal designs that caught my eye, and ultimately selected the Ruby Swirls design.

 

The lovely folks at CardsDirect sent me some sample cards in addition to the personalized cards I ordered, and I love how different they all are. The styles of each card vary from photo card in a collage or single photo to folded greeting card style, to even textured cards with a ribbon.

The colors are vivid and beautiful, and the paper is thick and durable. The card I personalized is smooth and shiny, and some of their other samples are sharp and thick. Some are even textured! Take a look at this one in particular. The image is so striking, and the print is so shiny! This card also has a texture and is certainly more fun than a simple flat image.

Designing your cards can be a lot of fun, and sending cards to family members and close friends is a fun tradition.

 

How do you plan to design your holiday cards this year?