All I want for Christmas is a Good Family Photo

If you know me, or have been keeping up with my blog, you know that I love me a good DIY photo shoot. With it being our first Christmas with Nash, Chris and I both have been thinking about Christmas card ideas for quite some time now-- Pintersting the heck out of Christmas photo shoots. Well, we had very different ideas of the "perfect" first Christmas photo shoot. Chris wanted something cutesy and just for Nash. Me? I wanted something classy, timeless and gorgeous of the three of us. Let's see who won...

Marriage is all about compromising right? So, we both won. I told Chris we would have our gorgeous family picture on the front and the cutesy/fun picture on the back. Guess what-- The cutesy/fun picture came out so ridiculously cute it absolutely has to go on the front of our card! The lesson learned here is don't shoot down your husband or wife's idea, because it could end up being better than your idea in the end.

So what were the two photo ideas and how did we DIY them?

I've always loved the photo shoots of kids or families on a vintage sofa in a field somewhere. I'll post our inspo pics vs. reality at the bottom of the post. I found a gorgeous, green vintage sofa on craigslist that was perfect. (I actually love it so much, I'm thinking of getting it upholstered and putting it somewhere in our house!) My parents have a large, bare backyard, so that was our "field." To complete our set, I wrapped some amazon boxes up and dressed them in holiday ribbon and tossed some holiday throw pillows on the sofa.

I've linked this amazon tripod before, and I'll link it again. (We use this all the time.) So with the tripod, our little plush camera helper, and Nana & Papa as attention grabbers, we snapped a bunch of photos and hoped for at least one good one. Although, Getting Nash to smile was a true struggle. Both of my parents were trying their absolute hardest but he really wasn't interested and that's okay. I've realized babies love to smile in solo shots by themselves, but they get very distracted and confused during group shots. (It'll be easier next year when I can bribe him-- haha!) But overall, I think out picture came out beautiful, and fulfilled my vision.

Outfit details:

Nash: Janie & Jack Pants & Sweater and Ralph Lauren dress shirt

Me: Green Velvet Dress, Gold Belt, My wedding Loubs (had to seriously squeeze my postpartum foot into these babies!)

Chris: Red Velvet Jacket, Plain white shirt, denim pants

(Chris' jacket is from our Holiday themed wedding a few years ago, but I've linked a similar one from Express)

Now for the cute/fun photo shoot of just Nash. Last Christmas, while pregnant, Chris brought an idea to me he found on Pinterest. Maybe you've seen it-- a baby dressed up as a snowman, with orange on his nose, black buttons drawn on his belly, a hat and a scarf. I thought it was kind of tacky and silly, but I knew Chris wanted to do it so bad, so I finally agreed to it. Shame on me! Chris-- you win-- this will forever be one of my favorite photos of Nash.

For Nash, we used this snowman kit for the hat and scarf, orange/red lipstick mixed with yellow eye shadow for the makeup on his nose and black eyes shadow for his belly. For the set, I laid a white plush blanket out in front of our Christmas tree. I used our large galvanized party ice bucket and filled it with white fluffy blankets and faux snowballs.

Guys-- Can you even handle how cute this picture came out? How could any other photo compete for the front of the Christmas card?!

Lastly, we tried one more solo Christmas shot for Nash, that didn't come out great, but still cute and showcases his cute outfit. My poor little guy was beyond over picture-taking at this point and overdue for a nap. This one is not making the Christmas card cut.

PS - The sleigh was found in my Grandfather's best friend's basement a while back. My dad took it home and we have plans to repaint and monogram a D on the front for Doucette. Of course I didn't have time to do that this year-- Maybe next year!

Well, there you have it folks-- Our DIY Christmas photos. Now to Shutterfly, to get them printed!

Happy holiday season, everyone!

xo Courtney

PSS - Here was my inspo pic from google images for our family shot. I'm hoping to reuse the sofa year after year for a family shot.