Christmas with young children is one of those seasons of life that seems to become more special with every passing year.
The excitement when the decorations come out. Christmas stories before bed. Flour all over the kitchen while you attempt some Christmas baking. Decorating gingerbread houses (and eating half the lollies before they make it onto the roof).
And, because this is Cairns, there’s a good chance Christmas also involves bare feet, swimmers and jumping into the pool!
If you’re thinking about having Christmas family photos in Cairns this year, your photos don’t have to mean sitting perfectly beside a Christmas tree and asking everyone to smile at the camera.
Instead, we can photograph the things your family actually loves about Christmas.
Have Your Christmas Photoshoot at Home
An in-home Christmas photoshoot is perfect if you’d love your photographs to tell the story of Christmas with your children as they are right now.
Rather than creating a Christmas set for you, we use your own home, your decorations and your family traditions.
You might choose one activity or combine a couple during your session.
Build a Gingerbread House
This is such a fun option with little ones because there’s something for everyone to do.
Decorate the gingerbread house together, sneak a few lollies, lick the icing from your fingers and embrace the inevitable mess.
The finished gingerbread house doesn’t need to be Pinterest worthy. In fact, I’d argue the slightly wonky ones make much better memories.
Decorate the Christmas Tree
If decorating the tree is a big event in your house every year, let’s photograph it.
We can capture the little hands carefully hanging decorations, Dad lifting someone up to reach a high branch, everyone untangling the lights and, of course, putting the star on top.
Years from now, you’ll also have photographs of the decorations your children loved and the home where those childhood Christmases happened.
Do Some Christmas Baking
Cookies, gingerbread, your family’s traditional Christmas recipe – whatever you normally make together.
Christmas baking gives children something to focus on rather than worrying about having their photograph taken, which is exactly what I love about activity-based family sessions.
There can be mixing, rolling, decorating, taste testing and plenty of cuddles in between.
And yes, your kitchen is allowed to look like people actually live there!
Read Your Favourite Christmas Stories
Not every Christmas activity needs to be busy.
If you have Christmas books that come out every December, we can slow things down and photograph everyone curled up together reading them.
This can be especially beautiful with babies and younger children – and imagine having photographs of the same Christmas story being read to them year after year.
Jump in the Pool
Possibly the most Cairns Christmas photoshoot of all.
While the northern hemisphere might have matching jumpers, fireplaces and snow, Christmas in Far North Queensland is HOT.
So let’s embrace it.
Put on your swimmers, grab the pool toys and finish your session with everyone jumping in.
Cannonballs, splashing Dad, children being thrown into the air, cuddles in the water – it doesn’t necessarily scream traditional Christmas photos, but it absolutely tells the story of what Christmas feels like for a family growing up in Cairns.
Your Christmas Photos Don’t Have to Look Like Everyone Else’s
The idea isn’t to squeeze all of these activities into one photoshoot.
Instead, think about this:
What do you want to remember about Christmas with your children at this age?
Maybe your toddler is obsessed with helping you bake.
Maybe decorating the tree is a whole-family event.
Maybe every December you pull out the same pile of Christmas books.
Or perhaps your children’s favourite part of Christmas holidays is spending half the day in the pool.
Those are the things worth photographing.
Your session can include some more traditional family photographs too, but then we can let everyone relax, do something you genuinely enjoy together and create photographs that feel like your family at Christmas.
Or Keep It Simple With a Cairns Christmas Mini Session
If an in-home storytelling session isn’t what you’re looking for and you’d simply love some beautiful, updated photographs of your family for Christmas, my Cairns Christmas Mini Sessions might be a better fit.
Related Post: Are Christmas Mini Sessions Worth It?
Christmas minis are short and sweet, with a styled Christmas setup already created for you.
They’re perfect for updating your family photographs, creating Christmas cards, sending photographs to grandparents or simply documenting how much your children have grown since last Christmas.
I release my Christmas Mini Session dates to my waitlist first, along with all the booking details.
Join the Cairns Christmas Mini Session waitlist
If you’re worried that 15 minutes won’t be enough with young children, have a read of my post What if my child doesn’t cooperate during Christmas mini sessions?
Christmas Family Photography in Cairns
Whether you’d like me to photograph a slow morning at home decorating gingerbread houses or you’d prefer the simplicity of one of my Christmas Mini Sessions, the goal is the same:
Photographs that help you remember this particular Christmas with your family.
Because the decorations will change. The favourite Christmas book will eventually be packed away. The little person who needed Dad to lift them up to put the star on the tree will one day be tall enough to do it themselves.
And that’s exactly why it’s worth photographing.
Want to plan an in-home Christmas family photoshoot in Cairns? Get in touch with me here.
Prefer a Christmas Mini Session? Join my mini session waitlist here to be the first to hear when Christmas dates are released.
