72 Family Christmas Photoshoot Ideas for your Holiday Cards

Looking for an easy, casual and fun family Christmas photo idea? Look no further than your own phone. Taking a selfie can be as simple as using your arm, or if you truly want a bit more height, purchase an inexpensive selfie stick (elongating the distance between the camera and your family will also allow you to capture more of the background).

Get creative with these Christmas picture ideas by leaving a messy floor or table in the background, standing in front of a recognizable building or including a planned “photobomb” of a local celebrity. A more casual selfie pose may also work well if you want to use a non-photo holiday card and place your family photos on the inside or back of the card.

Another Christmas photo idea can center around the act of decorating the tree once it is home. Everyone has their favorite ornaments and someone always receives the honor to top the tree with a star or special topper. Photograph this family event and share it with your close friends and family in 2022.

Why waste a bunch of time this holiday season searching for the perfect setting? Just head to your front porch to get the perfect shot (and then watch your favorite Christmas movie as a family with the time you saved). To give this photo setting a bit more holiday flair, make sure to decorate your porch with a few festive touches like poinsettia plants, a beautiful wreath, or even a cheeky bit of mistletoe.

The fireplace is the heart of the home any time of year, and especially during the holidays. So gather your family around the mantel for a traditional at-home Christmas photo. To keep this feeling modern, you can create a more candid scene by having your family pose as if they’re spending an afternoon cozy by the fireplace, or you could go more formal by having everyone stand around the fireplace. Bonus points for swapping out your usual mantel decor for a holiday-themed art print!

Capture a holiday card pose of your children in one of their favorite spots: the playground. Whether that’s in a neighborhood park or on a collection of logs in the woods, capturing your children playing and exploring will be sure to translate to smiles that look perfect for the family Christmas card. Get creative with the family poses for these adorable Christmas card picture ideas. Soaring on swings, arranged along a slide and playing in a sandbox are just a few Christmas poses to consider for your kids’ Christmas pictures.

Does your family love nature? Bring the outdoors into your holiday card! This woodland setting is perfect for a holiday family photoshoot. The natural greens and browns of the grass and trees will create a backdrop that makes your family pop, and the light shining through the leaves will give you a luminous glow. Take a stroll in the woods and capture some precious family moments for this year’s Christmas card. Pair with complementing, but not matching outfits for a more relaxed vibe.

Let the professionals handle creating a magical holiday atmosphere by taking your Christmas family photo at a theme park or fair ground that is decked out in festive cheer. This works perfectly if you plan to head to a Disney resort this fall — as the park brings out it’s holiday decorations in early November every year. If you can’t make it to Disneyland or Disneyworld, look up when your local theme park transforms into a winter wonderland and plan to take your photos then!

You won’t need to shout “smile” for this family Christmas photo idea. Take your children to a nearby snow-covered hill and let them play with their favorite winter toy, the sled! Capture their natural joy as they speed down the hill and trek back up. For the brave parents, consider a group shot with the whole family in the sled or on a toboggan as an adventurous family Christmas card idea.

Head to a rooftop with a view for a creative photoshoot opportunity this year. Think if you know of any public rooftop parking lots or elevated platforms that could create a dramatic backdrop for your family photo.

Take the family to a plant nursery for a Christmas photoshoot idea for a holiday card featuring lush greenery. This is the perfect photo location for the family of green thumbs who want to incorporate some beautiful flowers, ivy or ferns into the backdrop. Nurseries and gardens tend to have a wide variety of plants, so let your children run to their favorite spots and get shooting!

Looking for the perfect holiday prop for kids? Pose with them in a wheelbarrow or wagon for a rustic look, fit for the season and super-cute Christmas family picture ideas. No matter your backdrop, a wagon is a perfect prop for a Christmas photo featuring your young children, and they will stay comfortable with a place to sit. You can even play off the colors of the wheelbarrow to make coordinating everyone’s outfits a breeze.

Feature a holiday wreath for the perfect seasonal detail and an easy Christmas card picture idea. Adding some festive greenery to the background of your holiday photo is the perfect way to incorporate some seasonal elegance, while still keeping the focus on your family. This is a chic family Christmas photo shoot idea for the family that loves minimalism but also wants to show some holiday cheer. Pair with a stylish typographic holiday card design for the ultimate elegance.

Take the family for a picnic to capture those seasonal smiles. All you need is a blanket and the perfect grassy field to capture some holiday photo magic. This is also great for the family wanting an easy backyard holiday photo shoot idea — just grab a blanket and head outside.

This is a great idea if the thought of planning complicated coordinating outfits is too much for you. Simply get your family to dress in neutral colors (white, tan, and black work well) and then wrap everyone up in a cozy throw or blanket featuring a holiday motif. For something classic and sophisticated, look for a plaid or tartan blanket, but you could also go all out on the Christmas kitsch here!

Take holiday treats outside by having everyone gather around a campfire or bonfire to make some s’mores! Not only will this give your photographer plenty of opportunities to capture candid fun, it will also create a memory for your family to cherish for years to come.

Have an army of little elves? Put them to work in your holiday photo! Transform your dining table or living room into a wrapping or cookie decorating station and have your family dress up in their most festive outfits (think ugly holiday sweaters or even cute elf and santa costumes). Then, instruct everyone to pose while wrapping gifts or frosting cookies.

No matter your holiday drink of choice, everyone loves a sweet holiday-themed mug! Use them as fun props in your photoshoot by giving each member of your family a personalized monogrammed mug for them to hold up in photos. Then, get shots of everyone pretending to take sips of hot cocoa, warming their hands outside on their mugs, and more.

If the holidays aren’t complete at your home without cozying up on the couch to watch Elf, The Grinch, or Home Alone, use that tradition as the jumping off point for your Christmas photo! The key with this is to layer in as many festive props as you can to keep the photo looking intentional. So serve your popcorn in a red and green bowl, arm the kids with mugs of hot chocolate, and keep Christmas cookies within easy reach. Then, pose on the couch with the remote and capture your family’s reactions to their favorite holiday movie.

For a timeless family portrait, have everyone pose standing still and smiling in front of your backdrop. Make sure to think about how you’re arranging family members based on height —we recommend putting the tallest people in the middle, and then posing children in front of them. You could also pose older members of the family sitting down in a leather armchair and arrange the rest of the family around them.

Encourage everyone in the family to jump in unison for the photographer. This is a great photo idea for families with growing children who have larger than life personalities. Let everyone pick a signature move and capture all the action for the perfect family Christmas photo. Or, swing your child toward the camera and capture their glowing smile. Friends and family will love seeing their different personalities, and you will enjoy the memories of such a fun holiday shoot.

Capture a warm family moment by showcasing some parental love. This is the perfect pose for a family of four. Simply hold one child on each parent’s shoulders for a holiday photo full of love and light. And, you can execute this family photo anywhere, so feel free to get creative with location!

Want to incorporate your four legged family members into the holiday card? An easy way to pose everyone — dogs and cats included — is to sit on the front steps or the porch of your home. This way everyone is perfectly framed by the features of your house and has a comfortable seat for the family photoshoot. Choosing this option also makes it easy if you are photographing younger children that might need snacks or breaks during the shoot. You can easily run inside and grab whatever it is they need.

Capturing your family as they have a conversation is an intimate spin on a candid photo — and works great if you have older children. Simply gather everyone around a cozy backdrop like the kitchen table, in the living room, or around a bonfire and spark a conversation about something that is sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face. To give people something to do with their hands, have them hold (and sip!) holiday drinks like hot cider or even a glass of wine.

There’s no better way to showcase the sweetness of a growing family than featuring your smiling baby on the family Christmas card. Having a genuine moment with your child while shooting is the perfect way to capture an effortless and natural feeling holiday photo. Try to plan your photoshoot with your child during a time when they will be fed and well rested. This way you are likely to capture more smiling baby photos and less crying baby meltdowns.

If your children are in the phase of life where they seem to grow out of their clothes overnight, use your holiday card to showcase their growth! For this Christmas family photo, have your child pop on a festive outfit and line up against the wall or door where you keep track of their height at home, making sure the place that marks their height from the previous year is clear. If you have multiple children, you could take the same picture of each child, and pick a card design that features slots for multiple photos.

Let’s be real — kids love Christmas because of the pile of presents that await them on Christmas morning. So have fun with it by staging a fight around the Christmas tree! You could instruct kids to play tug-of-war with one of the gift boxes, or have one get caught in the act of trying to steal a present from the other. The possibilities are endless.

If your family is up for the physical challenge, why not arrange everyone into a classic human pyramid? This is an unexpectedly hilarious way to show off multiple generations of family members, and is sure to be memorable for everyone who receives it!

Does your family love to have fun together? Christmas family photos don’t need to be stiff and posed. Showcase your family’s personality in your holiday photo this year with some movement! Not only is this a great way to share the joy of the holiday season, but it's also a perfect solution for camera-shy family members. Not sure how to pose? Have a dance party! Jump in the air! Start a pillow fight! There are a lot of easy active Christmas card picture ideas. Friends and family will love your vibrant photo, and you won’t have to stress over how to pose everyone together.

Having trouble deciding on a pose for the whole family? Take your holiday photo in motion! Is there an activity your family does routinely on the weekends (a certain hike, a stroll through a farmers market, an outdoor restaurant your child loves)? Walking through a local outdoor market can be the perfect holiday photo setting for a family on the go. Showcase one of your favorite city spots to give friends and family a peek into your daily routine while you enjoy a festive and productive Christmas photoshoot idea for the holiday card.

Another favorite family tradition is picking out the Christmas tree, which can lead to awesome Christmas photoshoot ideas for the holiday card. Capture a behind-the-scenes look at where your family accomplishes this task.

If your family is musically inclined, showcase your creative talent in your holiday photo! Have everyone get dressed in their holiday caroling outfits and then have them pose as if they are singing in front of your home (or another home on the block with great Christmas decorations). In addition to singing, you could also have family members pretend to play an instrument like the guitar, ukulele, or flute.

Is there anything more iconic than snapping a photo with the big man himself? Pile your family into the car and head to the local mall or community center where you know Santa will be making an appearance. Then, have everyone pose and embrace the hilarity that often ensues. Capturing your child crying or giving Santa a sly look will only make your photo full of even more authentic holiday cheer.

This is a great activity to do if you’re hoping to get a photo that is simultaneously candid and full of festive spirit. While you can have a photographer snap away during the entire process, be sure to take extra care on the finishing touches of your snowman — that will allow them to get shots of everyone (snowman included!) looking their best.

Dressing everyone in flannel shirts is a failsafe way to get a coordinated look to your family Christmas photo. Just be sure to pick flannel shirts that feature some variation in color or pattern size to avoid looking too matchy-matchy.

Dressing in dark clothes with a light, snowy backdrop is the perfect way to make sure the focus is on your loving family. If you can keep an eye on the weather forecast, you can see when it is supposed to snow and then take some scenic wintery Christmas family photos as it is snowing all around you. Just don’t stay out in the snow too long!

If planning and orchestrating a family holiday photo shoot is just not in the cards this year, embrace all the photos you already have on your phone! Even the simplest photos can be spruced up by making them black and white or using a program to apply an artistic filter. Zooming in on your subject’s faces and cropping out anything in the background is another simple trick. There are many ways to start with a simple phone photo and transform it into a beautiful option for the front of your holiday card.

One of our favorite artistic family Christmas photoshoot ideas is to take the photo from a distance to incorporate some beautiful scenery alongside your family. Whether this is a favorite spot the family visits often or a location you discovered while on a family vacation, loved ones will enjoy the view.

Make your family the center of attention on your holiday card by taking up the whole frame. Focus in on the bond your family shares by being the only subject of your Christmas photo shoot. This is the perfect family picture idea to capture a classic photo of your growing family. Simply find a comfortable spot and zoom in!

Whether your family follows one religion, several or none at all, including a nod to the many faiths practiced in America can spark truly unique family Christmas photo shoot ideas. A menorah symbolizes the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, and a Kinara is a similar candle holder symbol from African American cultures. You might also include a Buddha statue, a crescent and star to represent Islam, some sweet grass in a smudge bowl as a Native American symbol or any other religious honors you choose.