ArtPix 3D Editorial Team · Updated October 2026 · 9 min read
The family Christmas photo ideas that work best give everyone something to do, because a five-year-old told to stand still and smile by the tree gives you a lot of blurry frames and one forced grin.
The old routine, everyone lined up in front of the tree, still has its place on a card. But the photos people keep are usually the ones where something was happening: snow, a song, a plate of cookies, a dog that would not sit.
Below are 15 Christmas picture ideas, from a royal portrait to a snowman for every member of the family, with what to set up first for each.
Quick answer: Pick the idea by your youngest family member, not by the prettiest result online. With children under six, choose an activity, such as decorating the tree, baking or a snow day, and take dozens of shots, because only a few will have every face right. Save posed ideas like a royal portrait or a pajama lineup for older kids. Most ideas here cost nothing beyond what you own; matching pajamas run roughly $15 to $30 a person.
Dress up for a royal family portrait
A royal portrait is the one posed idea children actually enjoy, because the costume is the joke. Paper or felt crowns, a blanket worn as a cape and the biggest armchair in the house as the throne are enough. Seat the eldest child in the chair and arrange everyone else around it, chins up. Take the serious shot first, then let someone break character: the laughing frame is usually the one that ends up on the fridge.
Form a family band and shoot the album cover
Of all the funny family Christmas photo ideas, this one needs the least planning. Hand everyone an instrument, real or not: a guitar, a toy keyboard, a pot and two wooden spoons, a hairbrush for the singer. Shoot one serious album cover against a plain wall, then a few frames of the band mid-song. Let the youngest name the band and keep the name for the caption.
Photograph everyone decorating the tree
Among Christmas photo ideas for family groups with small children, decorating the tree is the easiest candid shot, because everyone is busy and nobody is posing. Set the camera on a shelf or a tripod at the height of the middle branches, switch on the timer or burst mode and let the evening run. The best frames are small moments: a child on a parent's shoulders placing the star, two hands on one ornament. Turn the room lights down and the tree lights up for a warmer picture.
Pose in front of the decorations you made
If you spent a weekend on the mantel, the stockings or the table, put that work behind you in the photo. Stand the family slightly to one side so the decorations stay in view, and step back far enough to fit them in whole. These Christmas family photo ideas double as a record, too: next December, the picture tells you which garland went where.
Go out for a snow day
Snow gives you soft light and a clean background for free, and children are too busy to grumble. Head to a park or a sledding hill the morning after a snowfall, before the snow turns grey. Bright coats in red, green or mustard stand out against white far better than black ones. Shoot the sledding, the snowball fight and the walk back, then one group photo while cheeks are still pink. Keep a dry pair of gloves in the car.
Catch everyone in mid-air
A jump shot turns a stiff group photo into one full of open mouths and flying hair. Use burst mode, count to three out loud and have everyone jump on "three". It takes a few tries to get every pair of feet off the ground at once. This is also one of the easier family of 3 Christmas photo ideas to pull off, since three people sync faster than six. Do it outdoors, well away from the tree.
Line up on the stairs in matching pajamas
Among family Christmas photo outfit ideas, matching pajamas scale best: the same plaid set comes in every size, from grandparents to toddlers. They also hide the fact that nobody dressed up. A staircase then solves the main problem of large family Christmas photo ideas, which is fitting everyone in one frame: put people one step apart and every face shows. If matching feels too much, pick one color family, such as red, cream and green, and let everyone choose their own piece.
Photograph the trip to Grandma's
If you travel for Christmas, the trip itself is worth a few frames. Shoot the family packing the trunk, the kids asleep under blankets in the back seat, the first hug at the door. These in-between pictures rarely make the card, yet they are the ones people look for years later, because they show what the holidays actually felt like. Let a passenger, never the driver, take the back-seat shot.
Hold up the cookies you baked together
Baking gives you flour on noses, crooked icing and a reason for everyone to sit in one place. When the cookies are done, have each person hold their best one, or their worst, next to their face. Shoot at the kitchen table in daylight rather than under a ceiling bulb. If the whole clan is coming, our ideas for a Christmas gift exchange for big families fit the same afternoon.
Recreate an old family photo
Find a family photo from twenty or thirty years ago, ideally one with the same people as children, and restage it today: same pose, same spot, similar clothes. Hold the old print up in the new shot, or set the two side by side later. It works best with a photo that has a clear setting, such as a sofa, a porch or the front of a tree. Grandparents tend to love this one more than anyone. And once you have the picture, these Christmas photo gift ideas turn it into presents.
Lay out everyone's outfit instead of the people
A flat lay is the portrait for a family that hates portraits. Each person lays out an outfit on the floor as if a body were in it, then adds two or three things that say who they are: a favorite book, a mug, a toy dinosaur, running shoes. Shoot straight down from a chair or a step stool in daylight. It makes a quiet, funny card, and guessing whose outfit is whose is half the fun.
Build a snowman for every member of the family
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When nobody will stand still, let snowmen do it. Build one per person, roughly to height, and dress each in its owner's real hat and scarf. Photograph the snowman family alone, then take a second frame with the real family beside their doubles. It is one of the better family of 4 Christmas photo ideas when two of the four are small and restless, because the building is the outing.
Capture the kids waiting for Santa
Christmas Eve gives you the best light of the year for a child's face: the glow of the tree in a dark room. Photograph the kids at the window watching the sky, leaving out milk and cookies, or asleep on the sofa before the big night. Turn off the ceiling lights and use your phone's night mode instead of the flash. Of the Christmas card family photo ideas on this list, this one says the season without needing a caption.
Hang the year's best shot on the wall as a glass photo tile
Glass Photo Tile 16x12 Rectangle from ArtPix 3D
Most Christmas photos go on a card and then disappear into a phone. If one frame from this list turns out to be the photo of the year, print it big. Ours is a glass tile about 16 by 12 inches, printed in color and shaped like the pictures a phone takes, so a group shot fits without cutting anyone off the edge. Tell us landscape or portrait when you order, and our designers crop it and correct the color. At this size it needs a proper wall fixing, so read how to hang glass photo tiles first. It is the wrong choice for a small or heavily cropped phone image, which will show every flaw at sixteen inches: print that one smaller.
Gather the kids around the family pet
If the dog is the real star of your house, build the picture around it. Sit the children on the floor with the pet between them, and hold a treat in your free hand just above the camera so every head turns the same way. A red bandana is enough of a costume for most dogs. Shoot fast: pets give you a few seconds, children a few more. If the dog will not settle, photograph it alone first and add the children once it has had its walk.
Pick two or three of these, not fifteen: one posed, one candid, one for the card. Whatever ends up as the photo of the year, our glass photo tiles are one way to get it off the phone and onto a wall.
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