How to use color palettes to coordinate family photos -

Do you get a head start on your holiday photos or do you wait until last minute to get your holiday pictures taken? This year, we got a head start and took our photos in early October, like really really early October and went for two different looks: comfy casual and Christmas pajamas.

While Christmas pajamas are usually my go-to, mostly because it’s the only time of year I can get my husband to wear matching pajamas with us, it’s still fun to switch it up from time to time.

First you have to choose your style

The first thing to figure out is what style you want to go for.

Casual

You can go for a laid back style and include denim and leggings, tennis shoes and cozy holiday sweaters for a really comfy and cozy holiday photo. Sit by the fireplace, or cozy up in bed for the memory making and photos.

Dressy

Get all dolled up in your favorite holiday dress, have your husband wear his nicest shoes and get your kids dressed to a tee for an upscale photoshoot for the holidays. We’ve actually never gone all out for our family photos but this seems like a really fun idea to try.

Pajamas

One of the easiest because you don’t have to coordinate outfits since they are likely all matching anyways so it’s little effort. I recommend this when you’ve booked your photos last minute and you don’t have much time to think of what you all should wear. Here’s a list of all of our favorite Christmas pajamas here.

Ugly Christmas sweater

And last but not least, you can go for the ugly sweater option. Something to look back on for years to come that is for sure. Also, Target has a bunch of good ones if you go down this route.

Now it’s time to choose your colors

I’ve never taken holiday pictures in the traditional red and green colors. You do not need to wear “christmas colors” for your holiday photos and in fact, I actually recommend steering away from it.

This year, I’ve been very into petal pink and have been taking a lot of our photos in neutral colors with hints of pink. I love the way the colors look up against holiday decorations and bring together a really soft look.

A few other color palettes that I am very into this year are shades of blue (especially denim) and pastel greens. Rather than getting everyone into the same shade of one color, have fun with it by using different tones of the same color to bring your photos to life.