Instead of sending your yearly Christmas card out with barely a signature… try this instead. It’s a lot more fun and will create a sense of connection with those family and friends you care about.
I’ve looked forward to getting one Christmas card every single year for as long as I can remember.
Aunt Cindy’s.
Every year when we bring in cards from the mailbox, I look to see if one will be hers. It isn’t that she has the most expensive card or the most out of the box one either.
Nope. Her card isn’t stuffed with gift cards or homemade ornaments. It’s much simpler than that.
Every year, in her card, she includes a sheet of paper. One sheet of paper printed from her computer or copied on a machine that tells about her family’s year.
The highlights. The lowlights, if there are any. And fun stuff in between.
It isn’t braggy or “look what we did” and it isn’t written to puff herself up about life. It’s written to help her family and friends keep in the know about her life. Oh and it’s funny.
It is so dadgum funny we’re all usually in stitches by the time it’s over. Then we read it again.
Now that, my friends, is a good Christmas card.Â
Pull out these fun connecting questions to share some laughs with your precious ones!
Use them at:
- meal times
- car rides
- as a “calm down” trick
- for dinner time conversation
- or any time the day is getting chaotic or
- you need a reset to connect.
What's in this post...
How to make a Christmas card people actually want to read
You don’t have to labor over every card to make them anticipated. With a little thought and planning you’ll be the most anticipated card every year.
Get your Christmas cards first
So first things first, actually get your Christmas cards and envelopes. You can get something basic or personalized. Our Christmas cards this year (which have not come in yet) feature all 5 kids.
They are all looking at the camera at one time. I’m serious. That alone is enough to memorialize.
Minted has beautiful cards on sale right now. You can get matching stamps, return address printing and you can even get them to address the labels so all you have to do is mail (after you’ve done below, of course!).
Tis the season… countdown to Christmas with these lovely advent cards🎄.
Learn MoreThen… think back over your year then write a fun story and recap
This is the hardest part. One year, no lie, I kept memos all year of the monthly highlights so we could add them into our Christmas card. I’m not talking about Bragging Rights, but just fun and interesting things. Like…
“We loved swimming this year. One day we perfected a now beloved game. Matt and the kids wore orange plastic cones on their heads and paddled around on pool floats while screaming at the top of their lungs.”
We’re going for fun here. If you aren’t good at funny, just aim for highlights that meant a lot to you. If you are passionate about what you’re writing it will connect with people. Did your daughter win a spelling bee or your son score his first goal? Did your baby take their first steps or thrown an epic tantrum at Wal-Mart?
Pull out these fun connecting questions to share some laughs with your precious ones!
Use them at:
- meal times
- car rides
- as a “calm down” trick
- for dinner time conversation
- or any time the day is getting chaotic or
- you need a reset to connect.
It doesn’t have to be TV worthy it just has to have made an impact on you. In no particular order the following things made an impact on me:
- My 3-year-old dumped an entire Cheez-It box of beach sand all over the minivan.
- After many years of wait, I’ve gotten our preliminary house plans.
- I paid off our minivan.
- My 1-year-old finally said the words, “I wuv oo, mama”
You get the idea. These didn’t make it in the Christmas card, but they could have. Just share things that have been close to you.
If you are sending someone a Christmas card then – hopefully – they will care about the things you care about.
If you feel silly sending real life updates to some people on your Christmas card list then they should probably be removed from your Christmas card list.
Give yourself permission to move on. You’ll feel better. And you’ll save money.
Strong and happy families have carefully crafted Family Cultures. They don’t let guilt drive them, rather they spend their time and energy digging deep into a few key family areas that pay off in spades.
Learn MoreRun copies and stuff it in the envelope….
Then when you’ve written the letter just print multiple copies. The key is to not make it so complicated you don’t get around to it. Complication is the enemy here. You want simple and heartfelt then print and stuff. Or if you want to get more techy…
Do a QR code for fun!
This year, since I have a blog and all, I decided to something fun I’d never seen before. I put a QR code in our Christmas cards so people could scan it and be taken to my blog to read our update.
If you don’t have a family blog but want to do some QR fun then you can link to a PDF or document elsewhere. Here’s how it works.
How to do a QR code:
- Create your letter or recap in Microsoft Word then save it as PDF instead of a doc. (How to do that here).
- Save your PDF somewhere like Dropbox, Evernote, or even Gmail. Wherever you save this document needs a URL because this URL (the www….) is what will be used to create your QR code. (Here is how you do that).  Oh, you can also have your QR code link to a FB post if you’ve written something substantial this year.
- Go to a free QR generator like this one.
- Insert the URL where your PDF is stored and voila, you’ll have a QR code ready.
- Download the QR code onto your computer to be used later.
- Get a set of labels (I used Avery) and then print the QR code onto your labels.
- Stick the labels on your Christmas card and you’re donzo.
Note: you can read any QR code with free apps.Â
Tis the season… countdown to Christmas with these lovely advent cards🎄.
Learn MoreSo there you have it…
You get your Christmas cards (I prefer Minted because they’re beautiful and the interface is easy to use), you write up a yearly summary.
Get your kids to help, ask family members what stood out to them, get quotes, use photos, whatever. However you do it, don’t make it such a big deal that you give up. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid Silly.
Year after year as you begin this tradition you’ll find people hope your card is the one they’re pulling out of the mailbox.
Be real.
Be fun.
Don’t aim to impress, aim to connect.Â
Pull out these fun connecting questions to share some laughs with your precious ones!
Use them at:
- meal times
- car rides
- as a “calm down” trick
- for dinner time conversation
- or any time the day is getting chaotic or
- you need a reset to connect.
FAQs
We like to send them to immediate family, extended family, close friends, some people in our church, and our neighbors. I keep a few extra in case I forget to send one to someone!
I like to send Christmas cards to connect with our family and friends and as a keepsake for our family. I keep each year’s Christmas card and letter and look back on them when I am preparing to make the Christmas card for the current year. They will be fun to look back on as our kids get older!
We hang them in our kitchen at eye-level so our kids can see them, and we talk about who the people are. It’s a great way for small kids to remember people’s names at church or get to know family members that they don’t see often. After the holidays are over, some parents cut out the pictures from the Christmas cards they get and make them into prayer cards for the year, so that kids can remember who they are praying for by looking at the pictures.
Related Reads:
- How To Correct Your Kids In Front Of Others (Without Losing Your Cool)
- A Crucial Conversation To Have With Kids Before They Open Their Presents
- How To Have (Or Be) Flexible House Guests While Keeping Your Routine
- “Is Santa Real?”
- Free Printable Advent Devotion For Moms & Kids
- Be A Confident Parent With Extended Family: Do’s & Don’ts
- How To Get Ahead Of The Holiday Rush & Slow Down
- How To Write A Christmas Card People Want To Read
- Tips For Hosting Holiday Parties With Kids
- Family Christmas Traditions That Won’t Break The Bank
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Why do people send Christmas letters to people they barely know?
I don’t think they do, do they? I’m thinking about friends and family who live all over the world and they don’t see them regularly. This is the case for us!
If you are sending cards to people who require a recap of an entire year….. sounds like these people arent very important to you after all and you’re just looking for a captive audience to help you feel goodabout yourself. An entire year and you couldn’t send them a personal letter as opposed to a stock letter intended for 50 other people?? 356 days in a year and you disnt stop for a si glu second and say “I wonder how so and so is doing, I should check in with them”?????? What kind of a relationship is that??? You are all fooling yourselves of you think the majority of people welcome these letters from someone they only hear from once a year.
Whew, Becky, sounds like you feel very strongly that it’s selfish not to be in regular communication with people! You’d just never send a card writing about your own life because that would seem like bragging or something else that you would NOT do. I’m sure those close to you love that you are thoughtful in this way!
I love your kids!
I absolutely LOVE this idea!! My mom always used to send out a Christmas update in a poem form and she wrote a stanza for each person of the family. Probably didn’t have a ton of humor in it, but it was a nice little update for family that lived further away. Now that I have my own family, I have started the same and love to reflect back on the year and all that it included! Thanks for sharing :)
yes, I loved getting the family updates :)