How to Write Family Christmas Letters
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The Art of Christmas Letter Writing
Love 'em or hate 'em, family Christmas letters have become a part of our culture. Each year, millions of people send and receive these annual updates. Would you like help creating great holiday letters? Here are some tips on how to write Christmas letters your readers will enjoy, as well as some links for Christmas letter paper you can order online and Christmas letter templates you can download and use immediately.
(Image of printable Christmas letter template from Christmas Letter Tips.com)8 Tips for Writing Better Family Christmas Letters
Simple reminders to keep your letters fun for everyone!
1. Be yourself.This is the cardinal rule of holiday letter writing. Write like you speak. Your letter should sound like you wrote it, not like it was penned by your seventh grade English teacher.
2. Don't brag.
If something good happened to you and your family, announce it, but keep it low-key. Readers don't enjoy gloating. Remember when you played sports in school and had to shake hands with the losing team after winning a great victory? Keep that image in mind while announcing your latest victories.
3. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly.
If you're tempted to add words like "great" and "exciting" and "wonderful" in every sentence, take a break and see rule #1 above.
4. Be creative.
Your Christmas letter doesn't have to be a long narrative of everything that happened to your family this year. Be creative. Use bullet points, create a puzzle, or turn it into a multiple-choice quiz. You'll find more creative Christmas letter ideas at Christmas Letter Tips.com.
5. Make it colorful.
Holiday letters are easier and more fun to read when you spice them up with family photos, Christmas clip art, or other images (such as scanned children's artwork). You can also buy Christmas stationery or Christmas letter templates (such as the one pictured here) to make your letter more fun.
6. Have fun!
Remember that the goal of your annual Christmas letter should be to entertain and inform your readers. If you don't have fun creating it, your recipients probably won't enjoy reading it.
7. Read it out loud.
Have you succeeded in writing an informative, entertaining holiday letter? Read it out loud, or have someone else read it to you. If it doesn't sound right, try again.
8. Add a personal note.
Add one or two handwritten lines at the bottom of each letter to add a personal touch and leave your readers feeling good.
An All-in-One Christmas Card and Letter
Share your top 10 moments of the year
With today's technology, who needs a separate piece of paper for your Christmas letter? Forget about stuffing your letter inside a card. This clever design from Shutterfly can serve as a card and a letter.The front of this 5 x 7 card offers room for three photos and a list of the top 10 highlights of your year. And you can create it all online! Simply type in the text in the provided areas and upload your photos. Then preview your design before ordering. You're done! Shutterfly also offers other creative holiday cards. Visit Shutterfly to see more.
Christmas Letter Templates and Stationery
Make your Christmas letters look great with templates
Once you've written your letter, you'll want to create a design or buy a template or preprinted stationery that will add color and fun to your words.You can get printable Christmas stationery with matching envelopes online at places such as American Greetings.
American Greetings offers a 30-day free trial membership, which will give you access to printable Christmas cards, as well as holiday letterhead, Santa letter paper and other printable and electronic holiday cards and hundreds of other printable projects.
You can buy printable Christmas letter templates online or get preprinted Christmas stationery at local stationery stores, discount stores and greeting card shops. If you prefer to shop or shop online, see below for some of the great Christmas letterhead you can purchase from Zazzle.
Christmas Letter Paper
Stationery for your holiday letter
Here are just a few of the designs you'll find there. Click on a picture to see a larger image and to explore the wide range of paper they offer.
Creating Digital Christmas Letters
Put Your Family Christmas Letter Online
There are several options for putting your family Christmas letters online, including creating a page on your blog or your own web site or , but if you just want to create a colorful digital Christmas letter for your friends and family, Smilebox is a great way to do it.
Smilebox is a site that helps you create personalized ecards, slideshows, scrapbooks, invitations and more. You can add your own text, photos and music, so you'll have a truIy digital Christmas letter. It's easy, fun and free. Yes, free.
If you simply want to make a card, letter or invitation to send via email or post on Facebook, the service is absolutely free and your holiday letter will have some ads in it. If you don't want the ads, sign up for the free trial and you won't have ads in your final product and you'll also be able to download or print your letter so you can save it forever.
Spice Up Your Envelopes with Christmas Stamps and Labels
Make your Christmas letters look good on the outside, too
On Zazzle, you can also order a variety of Christmas stamps created by artists. Here are just a few of the holiday stamps you'll find there:
Set the Christmas Mood!
Every day in December, Amazon will be offering free Christmas music downloads
Add a Christmas Postmark
Get a North Pole or other fun postmark for your family Christmas letters
You can also add a little fun to your envelopes by getting a postmark from the North Pole. No kidding! All is takes is a little extra time. The North Pole, Alaska post office will stamp all of your envelopes with their special holiday cancellation for no additional charge (you still need to put regular postage on your envelopes). All you have to do is adress and stamp your envelopes as you normally would. Then stick them all in a larger envelope and send them to:North Pole Christmas Cancellation
c/o Postmaster
5400 Mail Trail
Fairbanks, AK 99709-9999
The North Pole elves (ok, postal employees) will then make sure your letters get sent to the appropriate addresses, just as if you'd dropped them at your local post office. But you can tell your friends they came from the North Pole!
To ensure delivery in time for Christmas, be sure to get your letters to the North Pole by December 15 at the very latest. Christmas is a very busy time at the North Pole.
If you'd prefer a postmark from another Christmas-themed city, such as a Santa postmark from Santa Claus, Indiana, here are some other cities you can use. Follow the instructions above to send your letter and get your Christmas postmark.
Nazareth, PA 18064
Santa, ID 83866
Santa Claus, IN 47579
Noel, MO 64854
Seal It With a Photo
Add a special touch to your envelope
One great way to personalize your family Christmas letter is to seal the envelope with personalized photo seals. Upload any photo to add your personal touch. Whether it's a portrait of the whole family, just the kids, a new addition to the family, or something entirely different, personalized photos seals can bring your envelopes to life. Photos can be printed in black and white or color and are self-adhesive for ease of use. Creative Christmas Letters Book
For more ideas, check out this book
Ideas for Writing Creative Christmas Letters That People Are Actually Eager to Read
Amazon Price: $14.94 (as of 05/30/2012)![]()
This book has some great suggestions for creative Christmas letters and gives real examples from the author's family letters. Ideas include Christmas letters disguised as classified ads, trivia games, election results, family statistics and more. If you're looking for some unique ideas, this book will get you thinking.
The Perfect Christmas Letter
A musical parody of the traditonal family letter
Christmas Letter Poll
Love 'em or hate 'em?
Christmas Shirts on CafePress
Get inspired! Wear a Christmas tee to get in the spirit.
Why We Celebrate
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Love 'em or hate 'em?
Give us your feedback on Christmas letters and this lens!
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Beautiful-Bridal Mar 29, 2012 @ 8:43 am | delete
- I love your tips for writing better family Christmas letters, thanks for sharing!
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polesport
Mar 8, 2012 @ 6:35 am | delete
- important to me is that they are on paper and not emails!
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oakstreet Jan 6, 2012 @ 10:16 am | delete
- Oh, I have never thought of a family Christmas letter before until I watch your len and I 'like'' the video on Perfect Christmas letter. God bless you in 2012.
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susan300
Dec 24, 2011 @ 12:23 am | delete
- Great info. Makes those letters seem less daunting! :)
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nyclittleitaly Dec 22, 2011 @ 5:39 pm | delete
- Great information.
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peterandrew
Dec 21, 2011 @ 4:06 pm | delete
- nice ideas for every one which are away from their family like me i am doing business of
printer ink cartridges in another country away from my family, i want an idea how to write thanks for helping this great information for me
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MusicalKay28
Dec 20, 2011 @ 11:25 am | delete
- I normally like receiving cards, but when it comes to sending them out myself, I usually forget! These are great ideas though.
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FlaminCatDesigns
Dec 16, 2011 @ 3:36 pm | delete
- Great lens! Family Christmas letters can be fun but I am glad you mentioned the bragging, it is annoying. For anyone doing their family history, finding an old Christmas letter can bring a few tidbits they may have been looking for.
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Edutopia
Dec 14, 2011 @ 10:50 am | delete
- Nothing grates the senses quite like a poorly done family Christmas letter. This lens needs more exposure so we can save many a family from themselves, haha.
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kmcvay
Dec 13, 2011 @ 6:28 pm | delete
- Nice lens, and not over-commercialized. Blessed.
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Read More About Christmas Letter Writing
More sites with advice on writing Christmas letters
- How To Write Christmas Letters People Will Actually Enjoy Reading - How To Do Things.com
- Computers have made it easy for anyone to create an annual Christmas letter, but do your readers think of ho, ho, ho or oh, no, no when they get your mail? Follow these tips to make sure your letters are fun to read and write.
- How to Write a Christmas Letter - Great Christmas Letters.com
- Get tips on how to write a Christmas letter at Great Christmas Letters.com.
- How to Write a Christmas Letter - Parenting Squad
- Advice on writing Christmas letters
- Ideas for Creative Christmas Letters
- Stumped about what to put in your annual Christmas letter? Then think outside the box. Maybe it's time for an extreme makeover.
Check the Christmas countdown to find out!
Countdown to Christmas
NPR Talks About Christmas Letters
'Tis the Season!

This lens belongs to the
'Tis the Season for Christmas Lenses
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with holiday tips, ideas and trivia.
by lisadh
I started Christmas Letter Tips.com three years ago because I wanted to help people write letters that others enjoyed. Hope you find this info useful!... more »
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