I recently got a fun idea for my Christmas card this year, and I was so excited about it that I immediately got started on a prototype (even though it was only August at the time). It came out even better than I imagined it would. Even my husband told me it was the coolest thing I’d ever made, haha.
So, here it is… my family holiday newsletter in the form of a mini newspaper!
I currently live in New Mexico (recently moved from Utah) and most of the rest of our extended family is back in New Hampshire and Vermont, so we don’t get much time together in person. In the past I’ve done your typical photo Christmas cards, so this will be something a little more personalized and special for our close family and friends to catch up on what we’ve been up to this year.
I designed and format it for a regular 8.5x11 inch sheet, printed it out on newsprint paper, and folded it like a newspaper. If you look closely, you can see it isn’t finished yet. I still need to write some real text, but I have three months so I’m in no hurry! Eventually, there will be an article dedicated to each member of the family summarizing the year for that particular person.
I’m also trying to keep the final result a surprise for my family and friends who will be receiving it, so I also created a fake mockup with a totally imaginary family to show you all what a completed one looks like. (You can also find a video flip-through on TikTok HERE.)
I had a lot of fun with this project, trying to make it as authentic and newspaper-like in the format and details. I even put in a few fake ads that were relevant to the content, such as a holiday sale (since it’s a Christmas card) and a pet store near the section about the family dog. The nice part about this is that it can all fit nicely into a regular A2 card envelope. (I’ve had trouble in the past with mailing my handmade cards that were odd shapes or too bulky.)
If you think this is something you’d like to try yourself, I’ve made it available in my Etsy shop as a Canva template! Canva, if you’re unfamiliar, is a user-friendly online layout tool for flyers, posters, social media images, and more. While you do need a Canva account to use the template, you do NOT need the paid version.
My newspaper template on Canva
Once you customize your template in Canva with your own images and text, you can download it as a pdf and follow my included instructions for printing and assembling. There are versions for 4, 8, and 12 page newsletters, as well as a template for web-only viewing, if you’d rather email or post on your social media.
Click on the image below to go to my Mini Newspaper Canva template!
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