5 Ways to Make Your Holiday Cards Unique

It's hard to believe that the holidays are just around the corner. With my kids growing up and having more time commitments and both my husband and I having more time commitments, we are not able to see family and friends as often as we would like. So, we like to send out holiday cards so that they can see how our family has grown throughout the year. We also love getting holiday cards from family and friends because it makes us feel closer to them, as well.

Here are some ideas to make your holiday cards unique and special this year (and every year):

1) Make it personal - include a personalized message. Whether it's just including your names or even addressing it to the recipient personally, it just adds a special touch to your holiday cards.

2) Include a letter or a family newsletter - as I mentioned above, sometimes you don't have a chance to talk to your friends and family on a regular basis, so they may not know what's going on in your life. Including a letter or family newsletter that highlights what has been going on for the past year will help keep the connection and help your family and friends feel like a part of your life.  For example, as I was getting ready to prepare our holiday cards last year, a close member of the family became ill so we ended up spending most of December and January in ICU hoping and praying for their recovery, so I'll be including that in our family newsletter this year since we weren't able to touch base with all of our friends about it at that time and to also update them that this family member is recovering well right now.

3) Include your current contact information. Sometimes phone numbers and e-mails get misplaced, so when we receive holiday cards, I take that time to update our family and friends' addresses and contact information they've sent along in our address book so we know we have the most current ones handy. If you include yours in your holiday cards, they can do the same, especially since technology has people adding social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  It can also be a good way to share a new business you have started or new job you have with your friends or family.

4) Have your kids take part in helping you put the card together. Whether it's just writing out the addresses on the envelopes to making the cards, it can be a great bonding experience for you (and it will relieve some of the work for you hopefully). If you don't have time to make your own cards, you can even have them personalize the store-bought ones by adding a little bit of bling to it with rhinestones, glitter, or stickers!

5) And my favorite - add at least one photo to your holiday cards. We love to see how our friends' families have grown throughout the years when we receive their holiday cards! It's amazing how different card companies, like Purple Trail's personalized holiday cards, make it so easy for you to upload your photos to use on your card. And voila, you have just made it super-personalized!  This is what I treasure most about the holidays in my family - seeing the holiday photos my husband I took together when it was just the two of us dating, then when we were newlyweds, to just having a dog, then adding one child, two children, three children, and finally our family of six right now!  I know we'll look back at our own holiday cards and photos and reminisce about that period of time in our lives.  My parents love to take a picture of them with their grandkids and that, too, has changed over the years!

It's always my goal to get our holiday cards out right after Thanksgiving (which has yet to happen) which means I should be ordering them very soon!  I truly enjoyed creating the design above using Purple Trail's personalized holiday cards service.  It really is very easy to use.  If you compare it to the original card on their site, I was able to change the picture and upload my own to make it personalized.  Plus, I was able to change the wording on the card, so I changed each line, which also was very easy to do.  I could have also changed the background color and text style if I wanted.  I would encourage you to also play around with Purple Trail's personalized holiday cards and send us a link to the designs you come up with!

Disclosure: Maria is participating in a giveaway for PurpleTrail.com making her eligible for a PurpleTrail gift code.

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