Christmas cards...

[RunawayPumpkin]

Ok this is my 2nd thread in AIBU today (glutton for punishment)

I have brought some lovely Christmas cards that you put your own photo in with the view of sending them to family and friends who have not seen the children for a while, I thought of the children in front of the Christmas tree would make a lovely photo, however on inspecting last years Christmas photos I find that
A] there is not a really nice one and
B] the children have changed a lot in the past year. As a lot of the cards would be sent overseas I need to post them early so AIBU to ..

A] put up my Christmas tree, take photos then take it down again till December
OR
B] drag family to the garden center/ shops the moment I see the first Christmas tree up and take photo.
Children are 14 and 10 and are not very accommodating of option B

(C) Save them for next year and take a nice pic when your tree IS up?

I wouldn't do either! I would simply put a nice recent photo in of them and be done with it. Anything else is going to look seriously contrived!

Honestly? It's a bit naff if your kids are 14 and 10
it's only excusable if your pfb is under one IMO

Olivia next year the children will have grown again, pesky things!

Can't you photo-shop a Christmassy scene?

We normally stick a santa hat on someone and make up a photo (quite often the spaniel!)

Christmas cards!! It's not the middle of October!!

YABU

Why does a card have to be all fake Christmassy? If overseas family want to see recent photos of your kids, just send them recent photos.

So its a no to dragging the kids to the garden center in santa hats then

BigChris, I did send them once before when DS2 was about 2 years old, maybe I need to accept they are not babies anymore

Sob wail sniff

Drag them to the garden centre, film it in your mobile and put video and photos on your 14 yr olds facebook

He is not allowed face book was going to send lovely card to MIL

I like the sort of Christmas cards I can throw into the recycling bin after twelfth night. My heart sinks when I get sent something with a photo or handmade stuff then I have to find somewhere to keep it.

Email for photos every time for me.

Send normal cards and a photo separately.

Your 14 year old NEEDS face book. Not having it almost as embarassing as being dressed up for christmas photos.

No 14 year old needs face book see my other AIBU thread, (MIL COULD HAVE PHONED) face book is the devils work

Just take a generic photo of the family. No need to embarrass them more than they already will be.

I agree with photo-shopping it, or using graphic converter, but not everyone has that software,

BUT you can do quite a lot in 'word', basic stuff such as frames etc........to make a normal photo look a bit more xmassy

in word, look at "insert" above, & you'll find clip art, wordart, you'll find basic frames, hats etc--- all of these can be added to your chosen photo ....though to add a pdf photo file to word, you will need to drag it onto you desktop first, & then onto an open word page....resize it by clicking on the corners & pushing-dragging the edges until its the size you want, same goes with the clip art & wordart

hope that helps :-)

A couple of suggestions if you are hell bent on this idea! You could upload your photos digitally to a site like Photobox (but there are lots of others) and they then print some nice Christmas cards for you, with a variety of themes/layouts etc. You could simply email your pics to a local photographer/printer and ask them if they will print some nice quality cards for you.

What I do with cards for people who are a long way away that we haven't seen much of, is to simply print some two or three nice snaps taken during the year, and on the back I type a sticky label - "DH winning the Nobel Prize", "Scuttle and woofs signing autographs" etc - these are then included inside the card. In this way we avoid the "round robin of Doom" scenario, the card can be as festive as you like, and photos can be kept or discarded by recipient. The printed label allows you to give a little bit of back story too, so you are giving a flavour of the year. Another option is a bit more full on but would be nice for relatives (who you are sure would appreciate it - naff for anyone else) is again to go on Photobox and have a little minibook made up of your favourite family photos for the year. They do very small books which are quite cheap and at this time of year are always doing deals/ 2 for 1 offers and so on.

The royals have any fairly recent photo for theirs - no xmas tree in sight!

Can I at least put the kids in bad knitwear?

Nah- you need to dress them identically in check shirts, plain jumpers and give them matching side partings