The holiday season is supposed to be a time when we focus on faith, family and friends. However the fact is that there are less than three weeks left to prepare our hearts and homes. If you are wise you already have a plan, or are in the process of making one of the beautiful and very useful planners that I linked to in my post yesterday.
Some of the items that I must still accomplish this year include; purchasing and wrapping gifts for family and friends, baking cookies and other treats, helping the children make special cards for grandparents, and preparing to host a party. Like other busy families, we also have two recitals to attend this year, a few extra church activities, and volunteer activities (this year, caroling at some nursing homes).
One thing that I have accomplished is mailing out the greeting cards, thanks to the help of an online greeting card company. What I’ll share with you today will hopefully free up some of your valuable time and money for gift shopping, which will be the main topic of my blog for the next few weeks.
SAVE TIME AND MONEY BY UTILIZING ONLINE PHOTO CARD SERVICES
Probably the best time and money savers for us over the holidays have been online photo card services. Save the hassle and money of going to a professional photographer and take a few quick snapshots of your family. Next go online, download the photos into your favorite card, download your address book, order, and within a few days your cards will be in hands or those of your extended family and friends.
A few of the best deals online right now are at Hallmark.com, where I took advantage of their “mail your cards for free” coupon code (HOLSTAMP) and ordered one hundred Christmas postcards which they shipped to my family and friends for a total cost of less than $90 including tax! Hallmark is also offering free shipping to you (coupon code = HOLSHIP), if you want to take the time to sign and post your cards personally.
Here are some tips that I’ve used over the years to make our cards turn out really nice:
1. Don’t necessarily plan to take photos of your family as a whole. Many of the postcard and card options available will allow for two or more photos. This year we took one of our older children and put it on the front of a photo postcard, and we put our new baby’s photo on the back. Mom and Dad’s photo could go on the back – the window is smaller and therefore won’t show all the wrinkles and gray hair you’ve accumulated in the past year!
2. Dress in solid colors. If you don’t have coordinating colors, consider editing the photo to make it black & white or sepia. Some of the most beautiful photos in Christmas cards that we’ve received over the years have been black and white. If you do prefer to wear busier outfits, then choose a simple card or even better, a photo postcard which you can find at very low prices at business-oriented sites such as vistaprint.com.
3. Don’t take the photo in full sun. The best lighting is actually on a cloudy day or indoors because you won’t have to compete with shadows. You can take a picture next to the Christmas tree with the lights on. We’ve done this in the early evening with great success. The key is to focus on the people in front of the tree so that the lights in the background blur a bit.
4. If you’re looking for even more advice, here is a link to site that explains how to take great Christmas pictures.
When your cards are sent out (which shouldn’t take very long if you follow the tips on this page!), stop back here to find great deals on online gifts, in-store gifts, food and more!
Here’s to a happy and holy season of giving!
