The Best Places To Stage Family Christmas Card Photo Shoots

Christmas maybe a few months away, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about how you’re going to put together that perfect Christmas greeting card photo. The key to getting a Christmas card photo just right is to make sure that everyone in the photo is genuinely happy, as that’s how the most natural expressions of joy come about- and coming up with the perfect time and place to do this could take a bit of thought. And there is no shortage of ideas out there!

With that in mind, here are three settings that we feel make for awesome Christmas card photos.

A Beach Setting

Particularly if your family lives near a large body of water (though by no means is this option limited to families that do), a nice, relaxing beach setting as a backdrop to your family photo gives off the impression that your family is having an easy time enjoying all the natural beauty around them. Simply park your family on the sand with the turquoise of the water and the light blue of the sky behind you and smile. Bonus points for you if you’re able to catch the setting or rising sun in the background over the water. No, sand and waves do not exactly scream “Christmas,” but they do have a way of implicitly wishing peace and harmony, especially when paired with your beautiful, smiling family- and in some parts of the country, snow isn’t exactly a realistic Christmas expectation anyway. 

Your Living/Family Room

As long as there’s adequate lighting and no real glare, the inside of your own home can actually be the perfect place to take a family photo for a Christmas card. Recipients of such a photo will be able to see the natural comfort of the family in its own home, and by sending such a Christmas card, you’re sending its recipients an invitation to take a glimpse into life at your family’s house. There’s just a level of unspoken calm, comfort, and inner tranquility of viewing a family together inside their own home.

In The Snow

As anybody who has seen any Christmas movie ever made can attest, nothing quite gives off a Christmas vibe the way that snow does. If your family doesn’t happen to live anywhere near where snow falls, there’s no need to worry- there are plenty of ways to feign snowfall in a way that makes for a good setting, between computer-generated effects or simply posing in front of a winter-themed background. Even though the recipient of your Christmas card may be very well aware of the fact that you don’t live in an area that experiences much snow, and thus that the snow in the picture isn’t real, they won’t allow that to ruin the theme you’re going for when they admire that picture. And if you do happen to find yourself in an area where snow has fallen, you’ve hit the jackpot! The theme is complete, and could not possibly be more perfectly executed- as long as everybody manages to keep warm enough to smile!