I’m in the holiday spirit and ready to break out the Christmas tunes at any given moment {too soon?}.
One of my favorite things about the holidays is looking forward to a mailbox full of happy & festive holiday cards from friends and family I hear from every day and some I haven’t heard from in ages. Since it will be Baby Girl’s first Christmas, I hate not to include her on the holiday card but not knowing when she will arrive exactly and coordinating a family photo for Christmas cards and then her newborn shots has my head spinning just a tad – but mostly because I look forward to it so much every year!
I ordered Wyatt’s birthday invitations this year from Minted and had such a fabulous experience that I decided to go with them for our holiday cards this year as well!
So, here are a few of my picks for our holiday card this year. Do you have a favorite?
After browsing tons of fabulous designs, I thought I’d share how I went about selecting my holiday cards. Everyone has different priorities for selecting their card designs, but here is what I found to be my top 5 “must haves” for my holiday cards:
1. Single, Large Photo Layout
I love a good reason to take yet another family photo that really reflects the personality and lifestyle of our little clan, so a flat card with a clean, simple one-photo layout was my #1 priority. I filtered out all other design options from the search for that reason, which made my search quite a bit easier!
2. Classic Holiday Message
Around the holidays, I’m especially nostalgic for the “classics.” This year, I must admit I was tempted by some of the very cute & clever phrases, song lyrics, and words that adorned the sweet designs, but I decided sticking to a classic message like “Happy Holidays” or “Joy” felt more like something that fit our family so there I stuck.
3. Whimsical Design
While I stuck with classic message, I love a little juxtaposition so a bit of whimsy in the design was also important to me. I love the hand-painted look of some of the design treatments like the evergreen sprigs, the shiny gold foil, or the special edge designs. Pairing a little something fun with the classic message and a photo I’m in love with makes for a homerun holiday card in my book.
4. Last Name Leaders
Call me traditional again, but I just love having a strong, simple statement like “The Schoenith’s” or even the year stamp showing as a prominent design treatment. When you see a wall or fridge filled with holiday cards, making yours easily identifiable and a keepsake (especially for family members that love to keep cards!) makes this touch especially significant.
5. Ease of Use
Onto the more “2.0” version of myself, ease of use in browsing, ordering, & ask questions is such a priority for me {especially this time of year …} so being able to filter my search, find my perfect card on my iPhone at 1 AM from the comfort of my bed, and live chat customer service with a question made my choice even easier. And, don’t think for one minute I won’t be uploading my Christmas List so these cards come pre-addressed and ready to go!
Last but not least, I have a fun giveaway for you and YOUR holiday cards this year from my friends at Minted. Click here and enter to win $150 credit towards your holiday card purchase at Minted this year!
Giveaway entries accepted 11/22/13-11/26/13 11:50 pm PT. Giveaway sponsored by Minted. All opinions are my own. As part of this collaboration, I received compensation. All opinions are my own. A winner will be chosen at random and prize fulfillment will be handled by Minted.
