Fun And Easy Ways To Create Personalized Video Greetings For The Holidays

With COVID-19 still raging all over the country and around the world, the holidays should be approached with not a small measure of care and creativity. This time of the year usually would have millions of Americans flying off to meet with family and friends. But doctors advise against this, pleading that, in the time of Corona, the more prudent move is to stay put wherever you are.

According to a recent survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, many are heeding that advice. We know, however, that this season is still all about sharing joy and warmth and the urge to connect to our loved ones remain strong. But instead of traveling for miles to make it to Christmas dinner or to a New Year's bash, why not send your love in a different way? We suggest creating a personalized holiday video greeting.

Personalized videos are a powerful way to capture and keep somebody's attention. Brands have been using them increasingly in recent years to build awareness and loyalty. By making something customized, it can easily delight the people you love, keep them updated on what's happening in your life and send them well wishes into the next year.

Don't worry if you don't know anything about making or editing a video. These days, there are a lot of dedicated video services such as InVideo that have countless template bases and user friendly interfaces to help tweak them to whatever purpose you deem fit. Here are some suggestions with corresponding tips to send your greetings via video:

Vacation Highlights

While we can't exactly go out and have family vacations of our own this year, you can still express your holiday spirit by making a compilation of past trips. By remembering the good times, it will also help everyone to look forward to a future where we can all go book a flight safely without being paranoid. You can send it along with a message like "Here's to wandering without worry in 2021," or "Looking forward to spending the next holiday with you."

Here's one other way to do it:

• Gather a bunch of old family vacation photos and give these pictures to your family members. Yes, even your kids (if they're old enough.)
• Film yourself talking about what you liked about those days while holding the picture and what you're excited for next year. You don't have to take long, around 2 to 3 minutes is plenty.
• Do this for the whole family. You can even put a fun little twist on it for the kids by giving them pictures of only themselves.
• Once you have all the footage you have, upload the footage to an online video maker where you can put festive themes using templates.

Creating A Festive Slideshow

While slideshows can feel played out and cheesy, it also gives a whiff of nostalgia and a sense of regularity. You know it's going to be there every year whether you want it or not. But most of all, it lets you savor the memories of a year well earned. And we think that everybody deserves to smile a little this year after all we've been through.

Here are some tips on how to an engaging slideshow:

• Grab your favorite pictures. They can be from last year's holidays, meaningful events like birthdays, graduations, promotions and the like. You can even include some video clips if you want to.
• Scan the images and get those clips ready. You want them all to be organized and arranged neatly so you'll have no problem arranging them to make the slideshow that you want.
• Try telling a story with the photos. Will it give a sense of adventure? Will you insert a Christmas story into it? Will you make use of a song? A good theme gives it a nice structure.
• Speaking of songs, always remember that the background music matters. Try to use something lively and engaging.
• Open up an online slideshow maker and drop them in whatever sequence you want. You can choose how long each slide lasts, the music, the effects. Do everything you can to make it feel one-of-a-kind.
• As much as possible, keep it short and sweet. Repetitiveness can lead to boredom especially if the audience can't relate to the photos you're showing.

Video Stories

This is a great feature if you want to turn boring holiday messages into fun and dynamic videos. That's not to say that a well-crafted message with personal anecdotes and heartwarming stories won't be appreciated, but imagine those put in video format to further emphasize the theme and emotion of your message. Text-to-video makers offer tons of ways that you can customize your videos. Some makers even offer premade templates that you can just plug your message or article into. It's a unique way to spice up a holiday message for your loved ones.

Personalization is the key to anyone's heart. Not only does it make the other person feel special, but it also forms a bond between both of you that deepens your relationship. And who knows, maybe you'll get a personalized video sent to you someday, too!