We get it. Holiday cards are another thing on your ever growing list of things to do before the end of the year. After all the concerts, pageants, parties, and classroom gift exchanges, the last thing you want to do is sit down and create a holiday card. Do people even do this any more? Does it matter?
The answer is yes. The holiday card tradition isn’t going anywhere. And yes, it matters. Because every opportunity you have to celebrate your family and share your story with those you love matters.
That said, in order to make holiday cards more manageable, and to make creating and sharing your holiday cards a fun holiday tradition, rather than a tired holiday chore, try these tips.
Be Real
Stop aiming for overly staged moments that don’t feel authentic to your family. This makes it so much easier for your kids (and your partner) to participate comfortably. And it makes the experience enjoyable for all of you.
Drop your notions of “supposed to be” and share who you are. That’s what your loved ones want to spend time with - and what you deserve to celebrate.
Be Simple
No props, no costumes. This is a holiday card, not a magazine spread. Enjoy the moment and share who you are in a way that feels natural. Step away from the pressure you impose on yourself, or the pressure you perceive others are putting on you.
Take this opportunity to sit down with your family and have a conversation about what the year felt like for each of you. What moments mattered the most to each of you? What did you learn? What do you want to celebrate.
We find that family conversations like this are especially helpful for getting ready for your holiday card video shoot. While we never recommend “rehearsing” for holiday video card shoots (or any of our Portraits that Move film shoots!), it is always a good idea to take a moment for conversation with your family.
Whenever you can center yourselves and share what your individual and collective experience feels like - what your life really is like - you are not only participating in the power of storytelling, you are getting a real sense of the powerful, beautiful, simple ways all of your moments add up together to create your life.
Make it Move
One of the things that our clients appreciate most about our take on holiday cards is that they are moving video messages that they can share far and wide. Gone are the costs of mailing, the long lines at the post office, or the many trips to the mailbox.
With our videos, families send and share their real voices - their moving images - with the ones they love.
Get Help
You don’t have to do it all yourself. If you’re designing a card, use templates. Encourage your kids to design and create the card themselves - to make it more authentic, to give them a chance to share their creativity, and to take some of the load off you. And call us!
For a Portraits that Move holiday video card, all you need to do is open your door to us. We do all the rest. And we are grateful to be a part of your holiday traditions.
A Gift From Us
From now until December 23, book a Signature Portrait Video (to be filmed any time in 2020) and get a FREE Portraits that Move Holiday Card Video.