All my packages include digital files, so I thought I would do a little guide with ideas for using your images for Christmas. However, this guide will work just as well for using your very own images, and I have used some of our family images as examples.

There are lots of opportunities for using your images beyond just giving the perfect portrait as a Christmas present. There is no shortage of options our there of weird and wonderful products adorned with your images, but I am quite particular in my taste, so there won’t be any mugs or cushions mentioned here. I tell my self that these ideas a little bit more tasteful, and I hope you might find a couple of ideas you can use straight away 😉

The perfect portrait

It might be a cliché, but a perfect portrait really does make a great Christmas present. It’s a brilliant excuse for getting some new beautiful images of your children and family, and it will be loved by the people you give it to, so a total win win.
Oh, and it’s a perfect square item to wrap – who doesn’t prefer wrapping neat square gifts!

Collage print

There are lots of options now for getting collages printed online, in quite decent quality!
All my shoots are designed to provide people with big galleries full of personality and connection, and a large collage is the perfect way to include the full story form a shoot. It is equally perfect for your own images though, and these are from our summer holiday. It has been in or lounge for a few months now and I love it! It is a constant reminder of our holiday and holds a lot of stories and memories for me. I would be delighted if my husband had made this for me as a present! And likewise, I think it would make a great present for my husband – another win win, a present I like too!

Multiple mini frames

If you have ever had a family shoot with me, you know I am a big advocate of multiple images. I feel multiple images tell a bigger story, show more connection and therefore evoke more emotion every time you see them. There are so many frames about today, and giving a present with maybe three pretty little pick and mix frames is a beautiful gift. And, small standing frames won’t need hanging on the wall, they can easily move around the house from room to room, and next year you can just update with new prints.

Just prints

In this overly digital moment in time, printed images hold a lot of value, even just small prints, not mounted, not framed. Receiving a pretty package of prints will bring back memories of the time when we would go to the store to collect the folder of prints and eagerly explore the memories. Watch your kids open and look through printed images, it’s brilliant, like a whole new thing for them. I put lots of prints up in the boys bedrooms, they are lovely little reminders of precious moments in time.

Album or picture book

This is one of my husbands presents every year! All our birthdays are in the run up to Christmas, so it’s a lovely reminder of our fab warm summer holiday, and everyone loves looking through these. We have years worth of picture books, all exactly the same, so they look lovely on the coffee table (choose wisely, choose a style that goes with your house!) The boys love looking through them all the time and it helps them remember all the holidays we have been on, that they really wouldn’t remember otherwise. Another present I would love to receive too, and definitely a present I benefit from giving…

Gift tags

I think this is a super cute idea – if I do say so my self. Print of some mini images, or stickers and stick/glue them onto luggage tags and your have some adorable gift tags. You can also use a small sqaure print and write a thoughtful message on the back. Combined with ribbon and maybe even a bit of green, and your present immediately looks like you have made a spectacular effort. It even looks great with environmentally friendly brown paper!

Decorative

The truth is when we first hit school age and was introduced to the idea of purchasing(!) a picture of our son dressed in a donkey outfit, I really didn’t feel it was “my thing”, and the image certainly didn’t go up anywhere! However, three years down the line, now learning the ropes of KS2(!), suddenly these annual images have become a treasured tradition. I think they are mighty cute milestones, and whatever pictures we may have taken on our phones years ago of that donkey outfit are long gone and nowhere to be found. Because these are tangible prints, they come out of the loft with the other decorations every year and the growing string of donkeys, sheep and shepherds are heart warming little keepsakes.

The little light up clip sting is great, or you can just use pegs on a normal light string!

This year I have also printed a handful of Christmas images from previous years and placed them around the house. It’s a mindful exercise to revisit the traditions you are creating for YOU Christmas with your children, and I will continue to print a new little addition every year, to document, what it ultimately a crazy time of the year!

Christmas cards

If you are going to make the effort of sending Christmas cards, you might as well make them personal! Personalised cards will stop the receiver in their tracks and actually take a closer look, and you could even go the extra mile and write a genuinely personalised message in there!

Thank you cards

Super easy was to quickly sort Thank You cards from your children after Christmas (or birthdays!), I don’t think these have to be festive looking, any great picture will work, and there is a really good chance this card will go on the grandparents fridge for further enjoyment, rather than straight in the bin.

Memo holders

There are lots of different novelty memo holders out there, and if you are looking for a cute small gift this could be perfect. Great for people to have on their desk at work, or as part of little decorations around the house. John Lewis has got a great one which hold multiple images, to be alternated, I am going to go back and get one!

That’s it, I hope you might find a couple of ideas to use this year, and next year, and the year after that… x