The nice (and naughty) Christmas Card list


So many sweet families sent me Christmas cards this past year featuring photos I've taken for their families or businesses. You don't know how much joy this brings me!


Have you ever wished you had a break-down of the best -- and a warning against the worst -- places to print your Christmas cards? Here it is! I'm thrilled to say that VERY few printers made the naughty list and I have a few tips to help your photos live their best lives in print.


Printing tips:

  1. Always de-select "auto correct color" on professional portraits. Shutterfly is notorious for leaving this toggle ON and unless you know where to look for it and turn it off, your images can come back looking a little orange.
  2. Opt for "smooth matte" or semi-glossy finish or if you plan to print images on the smaller side. A rougher paper texture can make smaller images look distorted. If you plan to print one big image on the front of your card, no need to worry about this because the image will be viewed at a greater distance.
  3. Put candids & professional portraits on different sides of the card. I love sending and receiving candids! And as long as you are keeping styles consistent on each side of the card, you can still have a cohesive look. (In other words, avoid putting professional portraits side by side with your iPhone snapshots as it will often over-exaggerate the difference).

Ready to see the naughty & nice list?!

A hand holds multiple holiday photo greeting cards featuring festive designs and photographs.

top performers

In my opinion, the top-performing printers in 2024 were (in order);

  1. Mpix - Mpix is considered the consumer-friendly version of Miller's Professional Imaging, a pro printing lab. It is no surprise that these cards rose to the top as a fabulous combination of print quality and paper weight. I particularly liked the lustre finish of these cards.
  2. Minted - Out of the top nine cards I selected, three of them were Minted! The finish had a nice matte texture without being too rough. The card was substantial (I would guess 300gsm). And I was thrilled to see that the color calibration matched my editing monitor precisely.
  3. Canva - Did you know you could order cards and other print materials directly through Canva? I've been pleasantly surprised with the quality of posters, business cards, and other small print items I've ordered through Canva over the years so when we started sending Christmas cards, I gave them a shot. Last year I designed my cards and ordered 50 cards on deluxe matte paper (with envelopes) for $51. While the weight is not as impressive as Minted or Mpix, the price combined with print quality make this my favorite budget option.
A hand holds a collection of printed photos and greeting cards spread out in a fan arrangement.

honorable mention

I was equally pleased with all of these options and look forward to collecting more data next year:

  • Zazzle
  • Simply to Impress
  • Paper Culture
  • Photo Affections

On my watch list

  • Vistaprint & Snapfish - The only reason these didn't make it on the honorable mention list is because the cards I received this year were from friends out of state so I couldn't compare printer calibration to my monitor (and most of them were phone snapshots so it's hard to make a just comparison).
  • Shutterfly - I'll admit it. I have heartburn over this one. Shutterfly has long been on my naughty for that obnoxious "auto-correct color" toggle. And this year I ordered some small photo gifts for grandparents -- wall calendars and ornaments -- that turned out truly terrible and the customer service left much to be desired. I've had too many run-ins to justify any purchase from Shutterfly except for $1 magnets. That said, about half of the Christmas cards I received that were printed through Shutterfly deserve honorable mention! Proceed with your best judgement and order in time for shipping mistakes to be resolved.

naughty list

  • Drug store & office supply print labs - Walgreens, CVS, FexEx, etc. have yet to wow me on past projects and this year was no exception. I won't go into depth on this one because I only received one Walgreens photo card but the skin saturation was less than flattering.
  • Lifetouch - This one makes my naughty list mostly because I know how much this company must be charging for prints and the image quality was nowhere near where I would expect for that price point. The shadows lost detail and the ink appeared to have rubbed off when the card was run through the post office.