The most awaited (at least in my home) holiday season is just around the corner. With that I start to think about what this year’s holiday card will be like. Yes I still send out holiday cards via snail mail. I don’t know about you but I love getting cards especially holiday ones, and I display the ones I receive proudly. There were several years where we sent out cards that had a family picture. Honestly I wish I could do it every year but professionally taken pictures can be expensive. Even if you don’t have a professional photographer, you too can create a holiday card that will wow your family and friends. Once you have the photo selected, visit www.cardfool.com and choose from a variety of templates, craft your own personal message, and ship directly to anyone first-class mail in the U.S. for just $3.99. I hope you find this post useful.

5 Tips to Capture the Perfect Family Holiday Card

With the holidays fast approaching, now is the time to start planning that holiday card.  The team at CardFool wants to make sure, that even if you don’t have a professional photographer, you too can create a holiday card that will wow your family and friends.

As the creative director and cofounder, Tim McCabe has put together his five tips to capturing the best photo. Once you have the photo selected, users can visit www.cardfool.com and choose from a variety of templates, craft your own personal message, and ship directly to anyone first-class mail in the U.S. for just $3.99. Tim is also available for interview.

1. Magic Time. If you have grade-school kids, be prepared to get in and get out. Kids typically can sit and participate for about 20 minutes. But with a game plan, you can utilize those 20 minutes efficiently.

2. Get Lit. Make sure the background is properly lit. With cameras these days, you can review a photo before you go ahead and print it to ensure everyone’s faces forward and clearly visible

3. Skip The Props – if you are having more than eight people in the frame, skip the props and instead focus on your location. You don’t need any extras like bales of hay or a gigantic Christmas tree taking up precious restate. Think simple and clean, regardless of how many people are in the photo. This applies to everything, clothing, background, poses, etc.

4. Smartphone – if you don’t have a fancy camera, or know someone who does, don’t worry. Today’s smart phones are equipped with a great camera. The key to making the photo professional are three simple tips. First, have someone else snap the photo. You don’t want your holiday photo to be a selfie. Second, capture the photo both horizonal and vertical, making sure that the legs and head are not chopped off. That way when it comes time to choosing the card layout, you have some options. Third, have fun with the filters. Your phone comes with several color options and lighting, play around with it, but don’t choose more than two different filters to prevent the photo looking over-processed.

5. Have fun – with today’s busy life, treasure the moment that your family is all together and you’re spending some quality time capturing a great moment. Reflect on the past year, your family’s accomplishment, and don’t forget to say “cheese.”

Here’s Tim’s 2017 card

Front Side

Back Side

About Tim McCabe – Creative Director, Co-Founder of CardFool

Tim McCabe is creative director and co-founder of CardFool.com, the only funny online personalized greeting card service. As a cartoonist and artist for more 15 years, McCabe and the talented staff have an uncanny ability to capture the spirit of the times to produce funny, cutting-edge greetings. Tim’s work has been featured on funny cards from the U.S. to Europe to Australia, and on other published products like books, educational materials, and posters.

Knowing that there was no funny card website where you could personalize and add your own photos to cards, Tim and a group of writers and artists decided to build CardFool.com. He helped launch CardFool in 2015 so that more people can customize and send funny cards easily… and because he believes in free first class postage! (CardFool includes free stamps on all sent cards)

Along with his talented coworkers, Tim’s three young kids also critique his work. Their favorite CardFool card features a drawing of a ninja riding a unicorn over an exploding volcano. It reads, “This is the most awesome card I could find.” They found it so funny that they now want to use it as the family Christmas card.

Do you still send holiday cards? Let me know below…

Check out more great “Tips” posts here.