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Shutterfly Family Photo Days – Fun Tips & Free Holiday Cards!

Paullin Family Pic 2010Getting Perfect Family Photos…

Everyone has that one perfect family photo. The one where everyone is smiling, the lighting is perfect, no one has a weird lamp growing out of their head…. You know, perfect. And you try again every year to get it right again, with no luck. At the holidays, you’re often sending out cards to people you seldom see during the year, so you want to show your family in the best possible way – it’s a lot of pressure, right?

The holidays are getting closer every minute…

As you can see from my new little gadget in the sidebar, there are only 47 days, 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 22 seconds until Christmas! That might seem like a lot of time, but it’ll be here before you know it. And the very best tip to have a relaxing, peaceful, and enjoyable holiday season it to get things done early. One of the big reasons I hear from people for putting off creating amazing personalized holiday cards is that they don’t have a great photo to use. Well – I’m here, armed with some great tools from Shutterfly, to save the day!

Holiday {or any day!} Photo Tips:

  • Coordinate: You don’t have to dress everyone in matching holiday sweaters! But choose a theme, or color story, so everyone’s outfits work well together. Solid colors work better than a lot of pattern, layers work better than short sleeves, and a couple cute accessories can really pull things together! Choose one color that everyone pulls into their outfit somewhere – Example: If you chose red, then mom would wear a red top, dad might have a red shirt layered under a sweater, baby could have a red bow in her hair – you get the idea.
  • Shake it up: Don’t take stuffy, boring photos on the family couch. Get outside! Jump in fall leaves, play in the snow, run in the grass. Find an interesting landmark in your city to take photos with. The more unexpected the better!
  • Props: Some fun props can make a world of difference! I love, love, LOVE bringing big wooden letters into photos – have the kids hold letters that spell a word, like JOY or LOVE. Or have each kid hold a sign with a different word – spelling a phrase like Joy to the World. Have everyone wear hats and scarves – or big winter boots in the snow! Eat snowcones, shovel snow, throw the kids in the air, kick a soccer ball – trust me, when you’re having fun, it’ll show in your photos!

Have a Family Photo Day:

Shutterfly wants to help families across the country have an easier time capturing those perfect family moments to share in their Holiday Cards and Photo Books by helping you host Family Photo Days!  What’s a Family Photo Day? Well, it’s a super smart idea, a total Busy Mom Solution – get a bunch of your friends together, set up some fun props to share, brainstorm fun ideas and silly settings, grab your cameras, and prepare to be delighted by some amazing holiday photos!

It’s not about the professional photographer or the dull photo shoot in front of the mantle. It’s something anyone can do. Get together with friends and brainstorm! Think about creative ways to show off your families’ personalities.

Online Tool Kit:

Check out Shutterfly Family Photo Day online for some super cool tools and features:

  • Learn more about Family Photo Day, and watch a really great video that will seriously give you some awesome ideas. So easy, and so fun!
  • Download the digital toolkit for a HUGE list of photo tips – including indoor shots, outdoor ideas, setting and prop ideas, wardrobe tips, and so much more. You’ll feel like a pro in no time!
  • Get FREE Holiday Cards! Enter your favorite family photo – and get 5 totally free cards just for entering! And the winner will get a full YEAR worth of free cards! Awesomesauce, I know.

Secret Trick for Holiday Photos:

If all else fails, and you just cannot get one picture where everyone looks good, use my secret trick – use an easy and free editing program like Picnik.com to crop your photos – take the best parts of a few of your favorites, make sure you’ve got everyone in at least one pic, and put them all together in a fun multiple-photo Christmas Card! No one will ever know that you had to crop out the brother pulling sisters hair. We’ve done this for many of our cards, and they turn out perfect.

More Holiday Fun:

Check out a few of my other Holiday Prep posts too! Learn my super easy peasy secret for amazing Bake Pop desserts, read my Top 10 Tips for Holiday Planning, learn how to get a great 25% off coupon for Melissa & Doug Toys, and get your business ready for the holidays too!

What do you think? 

Did you watch the video? Does it make you more excited for great holiday photo shoots now too? What do you think of the idea to pull your family and friends together for a fun Family Photo Day? Share your thoughts, along with your best holiday photo tips, in the comments!

{Disclaimer: I received a complimentary set of holiday cards for sharing this amazingly cool promotion with you – but I would’ve shared it anyway, because I know you’ll love it. Fun tips and advice, creative inspiration, and free photo cards? That’s what I call super-cool.}

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