Holiday Cards Tips
Now that it’s December, I’m sure you’re busy with the hustle and bustle of the holidays in addition to the usual hustle and bustle of your multiples. I thought I’d devote this month’s post to Holiday Cards. Are you planning to do cards? Keep meaning to get a photo? I have some ideas for you to make it easy and inexpensive:
1. Consider not doing any. You don’t have to do cards at all. You have two (or three or four) great excuses. Just give yourself a break and let it go. You can aim for next year if you choose.
2. Send virtual greetings. To save yourself time and money, consider sending an email or e-card this year. Write a quick update on how the kiddos are doing, attach a few photos, and you’re done. If you want to spend more time, you could scrapbook a card traditionally and scan it into your computer, or create a digital scrapbook card to email. There are even services now, like MistleMail, that will do the work for you.
3. Alter your timeline. If you’re like a lot of moms (ahem) who thought they’d bounce back to their old selves after the multiples arrived, you probably want to send cards and update friends and family with a photo and be as Martha as you can under the circumstances. My first year with the twins, I stressed and couldn’t get a photo of all three until New Year’s Eve. It was like a light bulb went on–I can send New Year’s cards!–which gave me until mid to late January to get the cards out in the mail. Give yourself more time and don’t worry about the matching holiday outfits.
4. Take your own photo. Do you have snow outside? Bundle the kids up and go out with the camera. Do you have decorations and/or a tree in the house? Put the kids in front with a prop a book to look at, toys, etc. and start snapping away. Don’t worry about all the kids looking at the camera at the same time; it’s hard to do! Keep them focused on an activity and you’ll get their genuine expressions and adorable faces. I had trouble keeping all three kids in the frame (you too?), so I’ve done collage cards on sites like Shutterfly and Snapfish. You can take single photos of each child and put them together on the front of the card. By taking your own photos, you avoid the expense of studio portraits plus the stress it causes you.
awesome post, Gina.. I am going with option 1 this year:)
Those are some great idea's!
I put up our tree early this year, dressed the girls in their Christmas outfits, and took some pictures. I got one that was good enough for a card, and they turned out pretty well for a first try! No time to deal with trying to get professional pics done this year.
Lani–good thinking. Your photo last year was adorable, but they were so posable then. 🙂 Just tell family to go to your blog for some photos instead. Easier for you!
Thanks, Monica! Get those cutie boys of yours in a quick photo–you'll be okay.
Sounds good, Deanna. I checked your blog–you should use the one where one of your girls is hitting the other one in the head. 🙂 jk
This year I used a family photo taken in the spring. It's not Christmas-y, and my kids look a lot older now but we are all in it and look cute! I put a sentence on it directing everyone to the blog and called it good. I also used the code and got my cards for free this year which was awesome and so helpful.
In years past, I've done letters, just a picture, just cards and no picture; this year's has been the easiest. Now to go back to addressing…
I have done all kinds of different things but this year I used my WORD program on and cute and pasted and re-sized 40 different pictures from throughout the year. I then printed them off, wrote a cute little poem that summed the year up and sent it to all of our friends. It was cute and fun and I kept one for the scrapbook!