How to Make a Christmas Photo Slideshow
For a Christmas photo slideshow, pick one idea, such as past Christmases or the year in review, then choose 50 to 85 photos and set them to music. That makes a video of 3 to 5 minutes. Play it at the gathering or send it to relatives who can’t be there. Start collecting photos in early December, since the family will take a while to send theirs.
What to Put in a Christmas Slideshow
A slideshow built around one idea is easier to follow than a pile of everything. Four ideas to start from:
- Past Christmases, from the oldest to this year. People like seeing how the kids and the tree have changed.
- The year in review, with a few photos from each month, January through early December. It also works as a New Year’s slideshow.
- The same spot every year, such as the kids in front of the tree or on the couch in their pajamas, one photo per year.
- A gift for someone far away, made from this year’s photos of the kids.
You can combine them. Past Christmases first and this year’s photos last is an easy way to do it.
Finding the Photos
Your phone’s library is the first place to look. You can scroll through Apple Photos or Google Photos by year and month, so open December of each year and pick from there. For a year in review, go through every month.
Then ask the family. Parents and siblings often have Christmas photos you’ve never seen. Send them a link to a shared album and set a deadline a week before you need the photos. Old prints can be scanned, and our guide to scanning old photos for a slideshow has the settings to use.
Skip near duplicates. One good photo of the group is better than five of the same pose, and a Christmas morning full of kids and wrapping paper produces dozens.
How Many Photos and How Long
For 3 to 5 minutes, pick 50 to 85 photos at 3 seconds each. Each photo is on screen for that time plus a half-second transition. For a year in review, the number of photos per month sets the length:
| Photos per month | Total photos | 3 s each + ½ s transition | 5 s each + ½ s transition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 36 | 2 min 6 s | 3 min 18 s |
| 4 | 48 | 2 min 48 s | 4 min 24 s |
| 5 | 60 | 3 min 30 s | 5 min 30 s |
| 6 | 72 | 4 min 12 s | 6 min 36 s |
For past Christmases, 4 photos from each of 15 years is 60 photos, or 3 minutes 30 seconds at 3 seconds each.
Three seconds is enough for most photos. If most of yours are old ones, use 5 seconds so people have time to find themselves in them. If it’s playing at the table with everyone talking, 3 minutes is plenty. Our guide to choosing music for a photo slideshow has running times for 40 to 200 photos.
Putting the Photos in Order
Past Christmases go in order by year, and a year in review goes in order by month. If you’re using the same spot every year, run those photos together so the kids visibly grow from one slide to the next. End on a recent group photo.
Titles and Captions
Open with a title slide, such as “Merry Christmas” and your family name. For past Christmases, put the year on each photo. “Christmas 2009” is only two words, and it lets the younger kids guess how old everyone was. Close with a short message and everyone’s names.
Choosing the Music
Pick something cheerful that plays in the background, such as an instrumental. People will be talking and unwrapping, and a lot of singing competes with them. Slower music suits a slideshow made for grandparents.
Any music in your slideshow must be properly licensed, and most popular songs are protected by copyright. Pixabay Music is a good place to look, and you can search it for Christmas or holiday music. A single song runs about 3 to 4 minutes, so a 5-minute slideshow usually needs a second one.
What to Check in a Slideshow Maker
Before you spend an evening on a slideshow, make a short test one with a few photos in the maker you plan to use, and check two things. Does the finished video carry a watermark? Some makers let you build a slideshow and then put their logo on the video, and that logo will be on the TV in front of the family. Can you download the video without paying? Some only let you play it on their site, or ask you to pay before you can have the file. You need the file to play it on a TV or upload it somewhere. Our guide to choosing a slideshow video maker covers what else to look for.
Making the Slideshow
Put the photos you picked in order in one album, then upload them to the maker you chose. Add your music and text, create the video, and watch it all the way through once before Christmas.
Playing It at the Gathering
- Play it after dinner, when people are still at the table and the kids haven’t started on the next round of presents.
- Keep the captions short. Someone across the room can read “Christmas 2009” even when they can’t hear the music over the kids.
- Turn the volume down a little. People will want to say “look how little she was” over the music.
Photos taken upright on a phone will have black bars on the sides when shown on a TV. That’s normal. Our guide to presenting your slideshow video covers playing it on a TV and sharing it.
Sending It to Relatives Who Can’t Be There
If grandparents or other family are far away, send them the slideshow a day or two before Christmas, or first thing on Christmas morning. A finished SlideshowGo slideshow is a regular MP4 video that you download. To share it, upload the MP4 to a place your family already uses, such as YouTube, Google Photos or Facebook, and send them the link. You can also send it straight to Dropbox from SlideshowGo, which works with a free Dropbox account, and share it from there. Call them afterward so you can talk about it.
