I love a good Christmas card, which means as a reviewer, I had one question heading into the holiday season: Who prints the best holiday photo cards?
Like many people, I gravitate toward photo designs to share a photo of my family with my loved ones. It’s especially handy since I don’t post my son’s face to social media, so for some family members, it’s a rare way to see what my son looks like now. (He’s so cute, but you still won’t see his face in this story.) While some may claim holiday cards are on the out, Canva says that holiday card searches are up 90 percent this year compared to 2024, so if there ever were a year to try it, this seems to be the one.
Along with trying different designs that caught our eye at seven different holiday photo card sites, we uploaded our own designs to companies that offered the option, like Mixbook and Shutterfly. Also, we tried the premium line at Truly Engaging and designed our own card from scratch on Canva, in addition to using a premade design from the site.
I had my friends and family look at the cards, pick the best photo quality, and choose which cards they liked best overall, and I also took into account price-to-value, print speed, and photo and paper quality. With all those variables in mind, the clear winner for my friends, family, and me was Mixbook. Mixbook offers the best combination of design tools and photo quality among the cards I’ve tested. Next up is Vistaprint, which has less design customization, but impressive photo and print quality for the price.
Read on to discover the details, and don’t miss the Honorable Mentions for some fun designs like this one from Shutterfly, which my testers loved, even if it didn’t make for a top pick. If you’re looking for more holiday ideas, don’t miss our guides to the Best Artificial Christmas Trees, Best Smart Christmas Lights, Best Advent Calendars, Best White Elephant Gifts, and Best Permanent Outdoor Lights.
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