Which photos print well

The front of the card is landscape: wider than it is tall, 5.5 × 4.125 inches. A photo with the same shape fills it best.

• Landscape, about 4:3. Most phone cameras take photos in this shape when you hold the phone sideways. A tall portrait photo does not fit the card: it gets a white border on both sides.
• At least 1,140 pixels wide. Larger is better. Photos from a modern phone are much larger than that. A photo from a chat or a social media download is often smaller, so use the original from your camera roll if you can.
• Faces away from the edges. When the card is cut, the edges go. Keep faces, and any words in the photo, about a tenth of the width and height away from each edge, and a little more at the bottom.
• Bright, daylit photos. Card paper prints large dark areas darker than your screen shows them. A photo by a window or outdoors in daylight prints better than a dim evening photo. A black sky or a dark room can look heavy.
• Sharp, not too busy. A calm background reads well at card size. A crowd of thirty people gets small.

If the photo has another shape

If your photo has a different shape from the card, you choose:

• Fill the card. We cut the photo to fit, up to 20 % of it.
• Whole picture. We show the whole photo, smaller, with a white border.

If only a little must go, we cut it without asking. If your photo is a little small, we enlarge it and tell you that it can look a little soft. If it is too small to print well, we ask you for a larger one.

The people in the photo

A photo of people is personal. Before you put it on a card that goes to many people, make sure that it is fine with everyone in it.

• Use a photo that you may use. Your own photo is the easy case. A photo that a friend took is fine if they agree.
• Ask the people in it. A quick "Can we put this one on our Christmas card?" is enough. Some people do not want their photo in many homes, and a card cannot be taken back once it is mailed.
• Children. For children in the photo, a parent or guardian decides. If your nieces are in the picture, ask their parents first.

How to upload your photo

Your AI app cannot pass the photo to us itself. You upload it on our page:

1. Tell your AI app that you want a Christmas card with your own photo.
2. It gives you a link to our upload page.
3. Open the link, choose the photo (JPEG or PNG, up to 10 MB) and upload it. If the page does not take your photo, save it as a JPEG first.
4. Go back to your AI app and tell it that you uploaded the photo.
5. Write the message together. Check the preview of the whole card, inside and out, and the price. Then approve.

You can upload another photo on the same page until you like it.

What we do with your photo

• We remove the photo data. Phone photos carry hidden details, for example the camera, the place and the time. We remove them from the picture.
• We keep it only as long as needed. We delete the photo when your cards are mailed or cancelled, or after 24 hours if no card uses it.

Ideas for the message inside

A photo card says a lot already, so the message can be short. One idea to adapt, or to give your AI app as a start:

Dear [name],

Here we are, a little taller and a little louder than last year! We hope your Christmas is full of good moments too.

Love,

The Parkers

The inside has room for about 550 characters, a few short paragraphs.

Good to know

• One photo, many cards. One approval sends the same card to up to 100 people in the US, each with their own greeting name.
• US addresses only. In 2026 we mail cards to recipients in the United States only.

We don't write your card

The example texts on this page are ideas, not a template. You or your AI app write the message, and you choose the photo. Before you approve, you see the preview of the exact card that we print.

Related

• What to write in a Christmas card
• When to mail Christmas cards in 2026
• Send one card to many people