What to Wear: Our Guide to Family Outfits this Holiday Season
Have you ever taken photos in the holiday season before? For many families, it has become an annual tradition! From Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the holiday activities that you do inbetween, this season usually comes with an abundance of planning for everyone! Whether you are getting pictures done with our Christmas backdrops or you have scheduled a full session for updated family photos, we want to help take some of the stress off planning at least one thing: your photoshoot outfits! Here’s a guide with some of our top tips and outfit inspiration.
Find a Color Scheme in Your Closet
Picking a color scheme is one of the first things that people do when they’re planning their outfits for their photoshoot. Our advice is to look at what you already own! Sometimes outfit planning gets complicated because of the runaround that happens as we visit different stores, trying to find the perfect outfit for every member of our family. Then, you’re left with a bunch of returns and receipts that make it hard to know exactly how much you spent. Here’s the order we suggest when looking at your closets:
Pick Mom’s outfit first: If there’s an outfit that Mom loves herself in, build off that! After determining if that outfit is dressy or casual, you can use that as a guideline for the rest of the family. It’s so important that Mom loves the way she looks, otherwise, she is not going to love her photos!
Then, find the girls’ outfits: Outfits for girls (of all ages) generally have more options and variety than boy’s clothing, so it can dictate what colors and patterns you’d like to bring in. If you pick the girls’ outfits next, you can find their favorites that coordinate with Mom’s outfit. In this stage, you can also decide if you would like to do something special like matching dresses.
Last, look at what they boys have: There’s less variety in the styles and cuts of boy clothes, so it’s great to save their outfits until the end to help you fill in the gaps. If you have a color scheme that you’ve woven between all the girls’ outfits, then you can see what the men have that compliments or directly coordinates with what you’ve already chosen. Are the girls all in sweaters? Find a long sleeve option for the men! Are the girls all wearing different colors? Find options that help tie the girls’ outfits together. This can be with multi-colored, patterned shirts, or neutrals!
Take Your Pick: Natural or Stylized?
Remember, these are YOUR photos, and there is no right or wrong way to go about them. It’s all a matter of preference! When you’re choosing how your clothes look, you need to decide if they will reflect how your family dresses day to day or if they will be stylized in a way that is dressier than usual. In the picture above, we liked how they had a theme of brown and blue throughout; the incorporated other neutrals and subtle pops of color to give it a natural look that still feels elevated. You could imagine them wearing it day to day!
This image is an example of stylized outfits that still look casual. The matching theme of white throughout the family, including the color of the backdrop, creates a white-on-white effect that looks really sophisticated!
Holiday Outfits- Awesome or Cheesy?
We love seeing everyone’s holiday outfits! Many of us fondly remember getting a new holiday dress or Christmas pajama set each year. It’s a great thing to document! Okay, matching pajamas might inherently be a little cheesy…but it’s a really fun way to include the whole family in the holiday spirit! Many of our clients bring holiday props or outfits, like matching pajamas, for a few of the pictures and then stay in normal clothes for the rest of the session; we allow outfit changes! If you’re hoping for a more subtle holiday approach, we like how this family’s outfits stick to a red and black theme; we think all that red would look amazing on a Christmas card without overtly saying “Christmas!”.
Check out this gallery for a few fun holiday outfit ideas that will either having you laughing or saying “awww!”
Feeling like booking a holiday session of your own? Find the button “Book Appointment” on our website’s dropdown menu, this will show you our availability! Have any questions? Message us here on our website or call your nearest studio. We can’t wait to capture these holiday memories for you.
-The Camera Shy Team