Ah....the time-honored ritual of Christmas cards!

Every November I open a tab with each of the online photo companies, upload our selected photo (post edited to leave out the stress of having that taken and choosing just the right one - you know that drill!) and look for the cutest possible combination of graphics, colors and available text space.

I forward my husband my passwords and he goes in to look at each of the choices.
I stress about the cost of something that kills trees and only gets looked at for 20 days, then tossed.
We debate.
We disagree on the choice.
We eat, sleep, go on with our lives.
Then, suddenly (yeah, right, as if Christmas comes as a surprise each year), it's the middle of December and I'm in a time crunch.
I blow off Husband's attitude to skip cards this year and, for the past 5 years, Shutterfly saves the day!

Given my past history, it's amazing that I'm so close to ordering this year's cards.  And it's only the last day of November.

So, without further delay...I think...am almost 100% positive...for 2010....we're using this one.  I'm a sucker for all things retro and all things blue = perfect.

There are many reasons Shutterfly stands out:

Their selection of cards gets cuter and more stylish every year!  Here's their latest batch of Christmas photo cards and holiday cards.  Of course, we do photo cards now that we have three cute faces to share, but pre-marriage my choices were the plain, boxed sets from the stationery store.  Now there's a huge variety of stationery cards that don't require matching outfits or pulling teeth to get smiles.

Another perk for my pocketbook - there are many price points.  I can't stomach the cost that some companies want me to pay per card but Shutterfly makes me feel wise and trendy without worrying that our card will be politely placed on the bottom of someone's card holder behind the free notepad from their realtor.
 
They also have calendars which I give to the grandparents EVERY year.  The benefit of such is that I can make sure they know all the birthdays and anniversaries they might otherwise forget (not naming names here, but someone forgot our youngest's 1st birthday this year....)  I make a special one for my grandmother using photos from all the extended family, adding new babies and new spouses is a must!  I finally got smart and set Gram's calendar to start in Feb of the next year so I can insert any last minute holiday pics from this  year and still get it to her without wasting a month.  Brilliant feature, Shutterfly.  Maybe I'll do an 18-month calendar for her this year.

Shutterfly also has my vote for supporting Heifer International.  In my classroom, every year, the kids and their families participate in a Read A Thon to raise money for the purchase of livestock to help families in third world countries become independent and self-sustaining.  10% of the purchase of these cards goes to Heifer!  Terrific!  They also support LiveStrong and the American Lung Association.  Albeit the cards aren't that cute, the point of Heifer is the livestock, not snowflakes and it's for a good cause, right?

Not only do they offer fabulous holiday cards, but we've done #2 and #3's birth announcements and thank you cards from Shutterfly.  Over the years, I've needed one copy here and there for baby books and such, so it's nice that they allow me to save all my old projects without a fee or minimum annual order.

#1 and #2 have first-year of life photo books from Shutterfly as well.  The quality of the glossy hard cover and the ability to caption and design each page made it simple for a brain-dead, lack-of-sleep mommy to create a book for each boy in the middle of the night.  Of course, Trilogy is already 16 months old and I have yet to order his, but it's created and in my cart now!

They always have coupon, codes and special offers so be sure to sign up for their email newsletter or connect to them on FB or Twitter.

December is just around the corner and I bet you'll be getting your first holiday card in the mail before the end of the week.  Some people are just that together, aren't they?  Well, now with Shutterfly and the reminder I'll get from my husband when he reads this post, you just might get mine by then too! =)

Happy Holidays!

If you have a blog and would like to check out what Shutterfly has to offer, click here. Disclosure - I did receive 50 free cards for promoting Shutterfly, but I was planning to use them anyway!  So that means I'm only paying for 75 of my cards =)