It’s that time of the season again! Christmas is around the corner and I have some cute family Christmas outfit ideas to share and my goal is to make it so easy for you! Mixing and matching family Christmas outfits doesn’t have to be hard all you need is a little inspiration to get your wheels turning and you’ll be on your way! These outfits are based on either past family Christmas photos that we have taken and a few new ideas for the upcoming years. Here are a few tips on how to style your family’s outfits for a photo shoot. Let’s jump right in!
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1. Start with mom’s outfit first
Let’s face it, you mom are most likely the one putting together all of the family Christmas outfits for your photo shoot. I find that it is easiest to start with yourself. When you know what you are wearing it makes everyone else’s outfits easier to coordinate. Start with mom and then go from their. What makes this is easy is if you pick a dress or outfit that has multiple colors you can then start finding outfits for your family based on those colors!
For example, If you choose a plaid flannel shirt that has the colors that has the colors red, navy blue, and white, use these colors as the base for the other outfits for your family. Your spouse could wear a navy blue or white shirt. He could add a gray vest or sweater vest on top. Your kids could wear a mix of solids and prints featuring these colors.
In these pictures, I decided on this cute puffy sleeve red dress from a boutique called Red Dress. It is unfortunately from last year and not in stock but I have linked similar one and other great finds as well.
2. Pick colors in the same color palette
When choosing outfits for your Christmas family photos, choose colors that are similar or close to each other in the color wheel. Google color wheel and see what colors are next to each other. Or you could also pick colors that are contrasting from each other as well. For colors in the same palette, find colors that are similar but have different shades or hues. Try going lighter or darker.
Here’s a trick that is sure to help you with any family photo shoot outfits that you may need to coordinate. Look at nature. What do you mean Jenni? Well, I mean take a look outside and see what colors are already naturally together. When you look at flowers what colors are already paired together? Usually pinks, greens, yellows, etc. When you see animals what colors are paired together? Think leopards and pandas. You get the picture right? This makes it so much more easy when you see what colors are already naturally pairing.
Another tip is to look at paint guides for houses. Head to Pinterest and search for paint palettes. There you will find different paint color schemes already put together for you!
3. Make it easy with traditional Christmas colors
Lets not over complicate our family Christmas outfits here. When you think of Christmas colors which colors come to mind? Red and Green. This is the color scheme we went with in these photos. Once you have your base colors you can go from there. We added whites, and browns in the mix too. With Christmas family outfits, you can know that most of the work is done for you and all you need to do is find the outfits that match these traditional colors.
4. White goes with Everything
This needs no explanation. White literally goes with everything. Need to mix up your family photo shoot outfits? Add white. White shirts, white pants or skirts. White shoes or boots. You could add a white vest or shawl, headbands, scarfs you name it. If its white and you are pairing it with another color it will coordinate together.
5. Neutrals are always a great idea.
If all else fails or if you are looking for a more upscale style and vibe, neutrals are always so pretty. Plus, you get the added bonus of being able to wear the outfits again and again because neutrals pair so well with many things!
Say you have a colorful background, a cute vintage red truck with beautiful pine Christmas trees in tow. For this photo shoot, you may want to go with neutrals instead since the background is already full of colors. Neutrals are browns, tans, white, blacks, and navy. Denim is also a great addition as well.
6. Use Canva to help get a visual of all the outfits together
In this day and age, online shopping is king, well at least it is for me. The tricky part though with online shopping is you don’t get the see all of the outfits together before they arrive. Plus, you have to consider shipping and potential shipping delays. Here’s my trick, since I am a very visual person, I use Canva to make a collage of all the family Christmas outfits. Canva is free and it’s so easy make a collage. All you have to do is screenshot the outfits you are looking at upload them on to a blank design and put them all together. It is a great way to visually see all of the outfits together without having them in person.
If you are still debating on whether or not this dress for sister matches brother’s button down shirt using this method can be so helpful! In fact these product images are made in Canva!
7. Add a mixture of solids and prints
To make your family Christmas Photo Outfits stand out opt for a mixture of solid and prints. When choosing from a variety of colors it can be easy for every family member to be too matching, by adding mix of solid and prints throughout you can be sure that no one gets lost in the picture because they stand out on their own.
My family Christmas outfits thought process
For my dress I choose a solid white dress and so for my husband I choose a plaid green button down shirt. For his pants, I went with a lighter hue or brown also known as khaki since 2 of my boys had a darker shade of brown pants. Because I have 3 boys, I didn’t want them to all wear the same exact outfits so I had my youngest son wear red corduroy pants. I consider his red pants to be a little loud so I toned his outfit down with a white button down shirt. My oldest has a red button down shirt with white dots on it. I love how the white dots match his younger brothers white shirt. For my middle child, I found this plaid green shirt that was still in our color palette but was a shade lighter that my husband’s green shirt. It also has white mixed in it that matches with his brothers. We all wore brown shoes and my boots were a shade lighter which ends up tying in with my husband’s lighter pants.
I know this may sound like a lot but it really isn’t to hard to do.
Conclusion
Mixing and matching family outfits doesn’t have to be hard all it takes is a little bit of effort and thought. Once you get a few family member’s outfits down the rest becomes easy. Remember start with mom’s outfit first, pick colors in the same color scheme, make it easy with traditional Christmas colors, white goes with everything, Neutrals are a great option too, and add a mixture of solids and prints. Now that you have your matching family Christmas outfits picked out here are some cute places in Houston to take your Christmas pictures at. I hope this post has helped you and if it has I would love to see your how your family’s outfits turned out! Please tag me @jennimetz or use hashtag #jennimetz. I cannot wait to see what you all come up with!
XO,
