Making Holiday Cards Personal

Even though it's not yet Halloween, the winter holidays will be here before you know it! Despite all the craziness with school and soccer and dance and Halloween decorating, I still try to devote a section of my mind to planning for our holiday cards. We send cards to roughly the same group of people every year, so I try to make our holiday cards fresh and interesting, with lots of personal touches.

Here are 5 things I do to try and create personalized holiday cards:

1) Customize your cards with photos and text.
The cards that get propped up on our mantelpiece are the ones that have photos on them -- I love looking at photos of all my family and friends! So we try to do the same, and include lots of photos in our cards so everyone can see how we've changed.

One great site for customized cards is PurpleTrail. Not only do they have lots of designs to choose from, you can also create your own card from scratch using the Purple Trail Design Center. It's easy and fun -- check out my latest attempt at a fun, personalized holiday card design with the Purple Trail Design Center!

Don't you just love Alfie's long, luscious locks of hair.... I'm sure our family will really get a kick out of that :)

Once you've decided on a design, you can personalize it with your own photos, text and embellishments. Then you can order it and have them print it and send to you, or you can download it to print out yourself, or you can send it as an online card. So be sure to check out PurpleTrail’s personalized holiday cards for inspiration!

2) Write a family newsletter.
Every year I try to think of all the intersting things that have happened to us throughout the year, then write something witty for our family and friends to enjoy. I'm not talking about a smug, we're-the-greatest-family-ever kind of newsletter, just an update on how we're doing, what kinds of things we're enjoying, and what new things we've done. We live quite a distance away from our families, and we hardly ever get to see them, so everyone says they enjoy our annual updates.

3) Get the kids to decorate the card.
First of all, every one has to sign each and every holiday card. Period. And sometimes the kids like to draw little candy canes and wreaths beside their names, which gives it even more of a personalized touch.

4) Slip in some of the kids' artwork.
In addition to our holiday card, we sometimes like to send godparents and grandparents some of the kids' artwork to put up on their fridge.

5) Personalize return address labels and stamps.
Having personalized return address labels and photo stamps is another great way to personalize holiday cards and make them your own -- so that even before they open the envelope, they know it's from you!

Disclosure: In writing this post I am participating in a giveaway for PurpleTrail.com, which makes me eligible for a PurpleTrail gift code. If you are a blogger, you can join this contest too, at http://www.purpletrail.com/blogcontests. Product information is provided by the featured company/product and is clearly indicated as such. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.