Holidays Cards with Snapfish

“This post is sponsored by Snapfish. As always, all opinions are my own.”

Today, history was made.  For the first time in my life, our Christmas cards are stuffed, stamped, and ready to ship out and it’s not even December yet! I may be setting the bar pretty high for the years to follow, but gosh it feels so good to check this off my list.  For any families out there, you know that getting holiday cards out on time can be quite the process. That’s why I got an early start on our holidays cards with Snapfish this year and I am over the moon excited with how they turned out.

So when is a good time to start planning for family holiday photos?  If you’re going the professional route and hiring a photographer, I’d recommend starting in early November. Here’s why.

BOOK EARLY

Photographers get booked fast during the holidays so make sure you reserve a spot asap. Plus, doing it before the madness of Thanksgiving week creates less stress on the entire family. Think of it this way – the more family members you have, the more planning needs to be done. I also love booking a shoot earlier on in the month because the weather is usually warmer (which is a huge help if you have kids).

ALLOWING FOR CHANGES

Sometimes the weather stinks and is unpredictable like it is here in Houston.  One day it’s gorgeous and the next it’s ice cold and raining.  If you’re shooting indoors, this won’t affect you, but a lot of holiday photos are outdoors so you may need to reschedule for a later date if the weather isn’t favorable.  Also, kids get sicks and sometimes emergencies arise so plan accordingly.

EDIT TIME

Once the shoot is over, it may take up to 2 weeks or more to get the images back.  Make sure to communicate with your photographer about the turnaround time. Again, this is a busy season for them too!

SWOON TIME

During the edit time, most photographers will send you a few teasers until the whole batch is sent. And, once you get your photos back, you’ll need another week to gush over all the beautiful candid moments he/she captured of your sweet family.  I mean is there anything better than having these photos to look back on for the next 50+ years?

CHRISTMAS CARD CREATION

This is the fun part! Snapfish has been my go-to source of all things online photo printing because they have such a huge collection of products to choose from. Of course there are photo enlargements, collage printing, and canvas printing, but they also have personalized pillows, throws, blocks, bags, jewelry, phone cases, ornaments, journals, and so much more for every occasion besides Christmas and Holidays. You can take a peek at all the personalized Back To School gifts I got Marli this past fall to get her ready for Kindergarten. With over 1,000 cards to choose from and customizable options within these cards, the possibilities are endless.

I spent a good hour on their site narrowing down our Christmas cards and finally decided on the Shimmering Snowflake Embossed Foil Card. I thought the embossed foil on the corners added a nice touch of sparkle without taking away from our family photo. I was able to add a photo of the girls on the back, but you could easily add as many photos as you’d like with their templates. An added bonus was the personalized mailing address on the envelopes at no additional cost.  That definitely saved me a lot of time!  I couldn’t have been happier with the quality of the card and how clear the photos came out. For shipping options, you can select from 4 options depending on your timeline.  The lowest price option takes up to 8 business days while rush shipping will get you your products within 4 business days.  Can’t really beat that!

POST OFFICE DELAYS

So now that your cards are ready to ship out, it’s always a good idea to send them by mid-December in case there are any delays with the post office (which happens more than you know).  Be sure to include enough postage if you’re shipping additional items with your Christmas card and double check those addresses!  There’s nothing worst than having it sent back to you because of this.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering those Christmas cards, now is the perfect time to get a head start on it. From now until December 31st, Snapfish is offering 40% off all purchases with code SANTA40!! I just ordered a few personalized 2019 calendars to send out as well as a photo book of our best 2018 moments to put on our coffee table.  They have such a huge collection of gift items so you’re bound to find something for each person in your family. If you’re planning on ordering something, I expect a goody in the mail from you! Happy holidays, sweet friends.