How to Make Your Holiday Newsletter Worth Reading

Most people who receive holiday newsletters toss it right after opening it. They are just too impersonal. So how can you make a holiday newsletter that your friends and relatives will actually want to look at? Here are a few tips to make your holiday newsletter worth reading this year.

Photos

Even though we laugh at kids that just want to skip to the pictures in books, we adults secretly do it too. So why not make your newsletter mostly pictures? A picture tells a story better than a few paragraphs of boring type. Just make a collage of pictures on your computer and print this out in color, if possible. Make sure you include clever captions of each wacky shot. Heck, they might even keep this one on their fridge till New Year.

Stories

Although it is tedious to write down a funny story, your recipients will likely read it. Think about some memorable situation, inspiring or just funny, that has happened to you and your family that year. Take the time to compose the story; even if you aren't a writer you can probably tell a story well enough to get the point across. Make sure to keep the story quick and to the point-no more than a page. It is also beneficial to have a catchy title over your story to further grab their attention before they toss the holiday letter aside.

Color

Along with photos to spruce up the look, be sure to add some color to the border of the letter as well. No one wants to look at a boring old black and white letter. But there is such a thing as overdoing it too. Keep it simple. For example, just dot a few corners of the holiday letter with a candy cane embellishment on your publishing program, or a few blue snowflakes. Too much on one page will make readers visually irritated and less likely to really give it a good look.

Size

In the same measure, you should also make sure that your type is readable for everyone you will be sending it to. Likely you will have some recipients with poor vision and you need to accommodate your holiday newsletter to them. If you choose a tiny print to get the most you can on a page, you are not going to get as many people to read it as you would if you made the type larger. Be sure to use a font that is standard it easily read; nothing annoys a reader more than not being able to decipher a typed letter. Think about how much time you have as the holidays draw near and use this as a guideline for how long the letter should be in the first place. Short is always received well, but make it big.

Two versions

Some of your relatives haven't heard from you all year and actually appreciate a long letter. For them you should make a separate version of the letter with more information. The standard letter you send out should be for those that you have had some contact with throughout the year and just want a holiday greeting with a family picture.

If you follow at least some of these tips, your holiday newsletter will definitely be worth reading this year.