Christmas card maker

The editor opens with a Christmas card template, and the gallery has more holiday designs to switch to. Use a single big family photo, or several photos in a collage layout for a year-in-review card. Photos can sit in rounded frames, circles, stars or polaroid borders, and you can crop, pan and zoom each one inside its frame.

Recolorable Christmas stickers, snow-friendly patterns such as stars and dots, and red, green or gold-toned gradients set the mood. Filters help photos taken at different times look like a set: warm for cozy indoor shots, vintage or fade for a nostalgic look, black and white for a classic card with a single accent color.

Photos from an iPhone in HEIC format work directly; there is no need to convert them first.

• Merry Christmas from the Johnsons
• Happy Holidays and a bright New Year (a good choice for mixed lists)
• Season's Greetings from our family to yours
• Peace, love and joy this holiday season
• Merry and bright, and only slightly chaotic
• Cheers to 2027 (for a New Year card)
• Glory to God in the highest (for a faith-centered card)

Sign with first names and the year. When you write a family name in the plural, add -s or -es, not an apostrophe: the Smiths, the Joneses, the Martinezes. Use an apostrophe only for possession, as in the Smiths' new home.

Size	Use
5 × 7 in	The most common US holiday card; fits an A7 envelope
4 × 6 in photo print	Order from any photo lab
5 × 7 in photo print	Larger photo-paper card
148 × 148 mm square	Modern square card
1080 × 1350 px	Instagram or Facebook post
1080 × 1920 px	Story or text message
1200 × 630 px	Facebook post or email header

Switch sizes and the layout adapts automatically, so one design covers the printed card and the digital versions.

Print shop: download the PDF. It is 300 dpi with a 3 mm (about 1/8 in) bleed and crop marks, and the editor shows the trim line and safe zone.

Photo lab: choose the 4 × 6 or 5 × 7 in photo print size and download a JPG. These sizes match photo paper exactly, so there is no bleed to trim.

At home: print the PDF or JPG on card stock or photo paper and trim along the marks.

Digital: download a JPG and text, email or post it. A digital card is a good backup for friends whose mailing address you do not have.

If you mail cards, check the US Postal Service holiday shipping dates each year. Most people aim to mail in the first half of December.

A year-in-review card tells the family story in one glance. Pick six to nine photos, one for each big moment, and place them in a grid or mosaic layout. Add a single line for each person, for example Ella started kindergarten. Ben learned to ride a bike. We finally painted the porch., or put the longer update on the back as a second design.

The same tools work for other seasonal cards:

• Hanukkah: blue and white with stars, Happy Hanukkah or Chag Sameach.
• New Year: send in early January when December gets too busy; Happy New Year with the new year in large type.
• Thanksgiving or friendsgiving: warm fall colors and a short thank-you.
• Business holiday cards: your logo and brand colors from the brand kit, with a neutral Season's Greetings that works for every client.

Switch the size for each use without redesigning: the layout adapts automatically.

• Pick photos with similar light, or apply the same filter to all of them.
• Keep faces inside the safe zone, away from the trim line.
• Add a short year recap on the back, or as a second design, in a few lines.
• Check name spellings and the year before you print.

Your family photos stay on your phone or computer; nothing is uploaded. For a general photo postcard, use the postcard maker, or arrange many photos with the collage maker.