Pics ‘n’ Props

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
December 11, 2014

Usually by this time of the year, I’ve already sent out all of our holiday cards. But, I’ve been extra busy this month with work and various projects (e.g. Instagram. Twitter. Facebook. Ahem.). Soooooo, my cards — which are sitting here at my desk — will need to wait a few days longer before I get them addressed and mailed out.

If there are some of you who have yet to order your cards, I would like to share this tip. Order more than you need. Not only will they come in handy when you rush to mail out last-minute cards to people you’ve forgotten about (oops!), but they’ll be really fun to send out in the upcoming years.

One day, when our children are no longer small and adorable, they may not want to pose for cute holiday card photos. In fact, they may look downright surly. And let’s face it — when kids are surly at 3, 4 or 5 — they’re still pretty darned sweet looking. At 16 or 17, not so much.

I didn’t pre-plan this idea. It sort of happened five years ago when I realized I had ordered about 30 cards too many. I didn’t want to throw them out, so I stashed them away. The following year, I did the same thing. Clearly, I hadn’t done the math that year, either. You get the picture. After a few years of this over ordering, that’s when I came up with this brilliant plan. Genius, right? 😉

One day, when my son is in high school or college, those of you on my holiday card list may be receiving a card of him sitting on Santa’s lap for the first time, or a photo montage card that shows a tiny 2-year-old toddler playing in snow that comes up to his waist. I think the recipients will get a kick out of that, too. Don’t you? Just pretend to act surprised when you receive it 15 years from now, OK?

For those wondering, I made all my holiday cards on Shutterfly. And, no, they didn’t pay me to say this. And, yes, I  paid for all my cards and am a loyal customer.

Anyhow, with that tip sorted out, let me offer another one. I’ve been a fan of Hallmark’s Pics ‘n’ Props series ever since I saw a friend use one of their kits for the first day of school photos. I got one and used it for my son’s first day of kindergarten, too.

For some mommas and poppas who can look at something on Pinterest and duplicate it with ease, these props aren’t a big deal. But for folks like me, they’re a super easy way to add a little fun to holiday pictures with a minimal amount of stress.

Like this:

By the way, I don’t know who these two people ↑ are.  I asked Hallmark for a press photo to use with this blog post, and they graciously provided this.

Anyhow, shhhhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but I’m bringing a couple of these kits to my son’s winter holiday party at school. I think the children will have fun pretending to be Rudolph, the Abominable Snowman and a … uh … lumberjack?

That’s right. You get fun things like this when I’m one of the room parents at school. Represent! 😉

CHECK THIS OUT: hallmark.com, shutterfly.com

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