Easy to Customize Holiday Card and Gift Ideas

This Christmas season create easy to customize holiday cards and gifts for everyone on your list using these unique ideas.

The holidays are just around the corner which means it’s time to start thinking about Christmas cards and gift ideas for friends and family. Today we’re sharing our favorite trends and ideas for holiday cards this year along with unique gift ideas.

Disclosure: This blog post is sponsored by Minted and also contains affiliate links for holiday cards and gifts we think you’ll like. This means if you make a purchase from one of these links, we’ll make a small commission at no additional cost to you so we can keep the great ideas for the home coming your way. All opinions expressed are our own, derived from our personal experience.

One of the things I enjoy most at Christmas time is exchanging holiday cards and gifts with our loved ones. Last year around this time, I shared my holiday card checklist with tips and ideas for mailing cards. Each year I send about 150 or more cards to our friends and family around the country. I love using online services like Minted for creating our holiday cards because they offer tons of different options and features that make this task so much easier. I also love to save time by doing as much of my holiday shopping online as I can. With a fantastic collection of art and customizable photo gifts, Minted is practically a one stop shop to take care of both holiday cards and gifts this year.

Holiday Card Ideas and Trends

First, let’s talk about holiday cards, then we’ll go into the unique gift ideas you can create with Minted’s help. There are literally thousands of holiday cards you could choose from online, but my favorites are all at Minted. Each one is specially designed by one of their independent artists. You can easily customize it with your choice of colors, fonts, shapes and your personal photos. Then Minted will make it for you with deluxe, high quality materials. With all the holiday card options Minted offers, I thought I’d help narrow down the choices for you with five different ideas for sending your holiday cards this year.

Idea #1: Give Thanks Instead

Maybe Christmas cards aren’t your thing? Minted has an entire collection of gorgeous Thanksgiving cards. How fun would it be to send one of those to really get a jumpstart this year? If you had your family photo taken by a professional photographer this fall, I think featuring it on a Thanksgiving card would really show it off!

Idea #2: Send a Work of Art

One of the trends I noticed this year among the holiday cards Minted recommends are all the designs using watercolors. Some are simple and unique like this Watercolor Spray Card in sea blue. If you prefer more traditional Christmas colors, it also comes in berry red and leaf green.

Other watercolor holiday cards are downright gorgeous works of art, like this Watercolor Florals card shown below.

Idea #3: Focus on Fido

Didn’t have time to take a family photo this year? Or maybe you don’t have kids? There are many cute options to feature your dog instead, like Feliz Fun shown below. This one totally reminds me of my sister’s mischievous fur babies. Who doesn’t love funny pet photos, am I right?

Idea #4: Multiply the Fun

We’re not great at taking family photo of the four of us together, so I’m thankful for all the fun holiday card options that showcase multiple photos on Minted. One of my favorites this year is this Modern Family Joy card you see below.

I also really love the Bethlehem Star card. It comes in six different colors, but I think would be especially gorgeous in the plum color (see below). The color is so unique it would really stand out among all the red and green holiday cards your friends receive this year.

Idea #5: Let someone else do the work for you. 

I mentioned earlier that I appreciate how Minted helps me save time during the busy holiday season. One of their time saving services that I love, love, LOVE is their FREE recipient addressing service. They actually print all of your addresses on envelopes for you, so all you need to do is add postage and mail. I especially love how each of their unique holiday card designs has a special coordinating envelope to go with it. Below is the envelope design for that Bethlehem Star card I showed you earlier. Isn’t it just gorgeous? And seriously the best part is, Minted will do all that work for you for FREE!

One of the other ways Minted helps you save time is their “Find It Fast” feature so you can see your actual real life family in all of the photos on the holiday cards rather than the glamorous models. You can also filter by photo orientation, price, format, printing type, theme, shape and even color to help narrow down your choices from the hundreds and hundreds of holiday card options.

Unique Holiday Gift Ideas

While Minted is well known for their high quality stationery products, they also offer fine art, including special limited edition prints and foil-pressed wall art. There are so many options that you’re sure to find something unique for everyone on your holiday shopping list. My favorites though are the ones that can be personalized.

Idea #1: Turn a Child’s Drawing Into Art

You can create and frame unique one-of-a-kind prints using your child’s own artwork. It can be printed in a multitude of colors with a variety of frame options. You can even have it printed as foil art or letterpress. Wouldn’t this be an awesome gift for the grandparents? Or maybe for your spouse’s office?

Idea #2: A Home is a Work of Art

Now this is a seriously cool idea — House Portrait Art. You upload a photo of your home or a special building and Minted will turn it into a custom line drawing. As with the child’s drawing art, you can also have it framed and printed in a variety of styles. This would be a fun sentimental gift for your brother, sister or parents.

Idea #3: Location, Location, Location

If the previous idea wasn’t a good fit for you, maybe you’ll like this one? Minted has tons of different options to showcase your favorite locations as art. For example, you can choose from one of the many foil stamped maps and landmarks in Minted’s collection. You can also create custom map art by entering an address. You select your area, and then Minted will create a custom art print for you. Or have a few of your own pictures turned into a photo collage the shape of your state.

Idea #4: Showcase Your Favorite Memories

Upload a bunch of your favorite photos from a special event or memory and turn them into unique photo art for someone special. For example, wouldn’t your sister or best friend love this All Hung Up Photo Art? I think it would be really cool to fill it with a bunch of her Instagram photos from the past year.

Idea #5 Special and Sentimental Signs

Convert your wedding vows, favorite poem or song lyrics into a sign for your wall. Obviously this would be a great gift idea for your spouse, but what about making one like this for your mother-in-law with her favorite poem or hymn? It would also be a great group gift for your boss with the company mission statement or a quote from a leader he or she admires. You can customize the text, the color, the font and the frame to make it as special and unique as the person who will be receiving it.

What’s Next?

While you’re here be sure to check out these other holiday ideas –

• Holiday Card Checklist
• DIY Hanging Christmas Tree Decoration
• Homemade Hot Cocoa Recipe
• Unique Ideas for Displaying Christmas Cards

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