New Ideas to Help You Celebrate and Document your Holidays

Sometimes people get a little too overwhelmed with trying to make every holiday "picture perfect" and they forget to have fun. One way to help ease that stress is to create some fun and easy holiday traditions that are relatively stress-free and easy to do. The possibilities available with "You Custom Trading Card Maker" (www.customtradingcardmaker.com) can make a great tradition for any holiday and can document your holiday celebrations at the same time. The best part about the program is that it is easy to use and it takes only about five minutes to make each card.

Here are some examples:

New Year's Day Take a picture of you, your family, or your friends as they bring in the new year. Use the back of the card to list their New Year's Resolutions

Valentine's Day Instead of store bought valentine cards, make up your own with family pictures, pictures of the recipients' favorite things or creative holiday themed shots such as a pile of conversation hearts.

Document Valentine's Day with your significant other by taking a picture each year and highlighting how you celebrated.

Easter Use custom trading cards to create a scavenger hunt for your family to find their Easter baskets. Provide a pictorial hint on the front such as a picture of the room they need to go to or an extreme close-up of the hiding spot. On the back, give a few hints to lead them in the right direction.

Instead of filling the Easter basket with candy, add in some custom trading cards in the form of coupons such as a special movie night at home, playing a board game or doing a craft.

Mother's Day/Father's Day Take a picture of the kids and have them each write their favorite things about mom or dad on the back.

Fourth of July Teach your kids about Independence Day. Have them document what their favorite freedoms are and include an appropriate picture on the front.

Halloween Get a great shot of the costume and write about its special features and why it was chosen on the back.

Thanksgiving Have each family member create a card that highlights what they are most thankful for. Set them out for everyone to browse during the day.

Christmas Create memorable ornaments for each member of the family. Put a recent photo on the front and fill the back with fun facts from the previous year. Punch a hole and tie a loop to hang from the tree.

General Create invitations with appropriate photos and the details on the back.

Forget about elaborate, expensive party favors for your kids' birthday parties. During the party, get a shot of the birthday kid and each guest. Make up a trading card with the picture and a list of all the fun things they did at the party.

Use a trading card as a thank you. Take pictures from your celebration and turn them into funny or sentimental cards and send them out with messages on the back.