On a lighter, fun note here are some quick tips on creating animated holiday cards with PowerPoint or Canva.
Sending cards is a big element of the year-end holidays and festivities. Every year I have grand ideas for holiday cards. The plan is to get (or make) cards by mid-November and have them all in the mail by the first of December.
This of course never happens, and more often than I care to admit, cards don’t get sent at all.
Introduction
A few years ago, I created and sent animated digital cards. I was pushing my creative boundaries and thought it was a unique idea. I was surprised by the response. Most people really liked it. Some not so much.
Granted, I still enjoy getting and sending paper cards. But, sometimes different is good too.
Today’s presentation software makes creating unique animated holiday cards easy. Depending on the app and the amount of customization, this could take you anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours.
Canva Animated Holiday Presentations
Canva is my go-to platform for creating a variety of graphics in a hurry. The number of templates available for free is amazing. For Pro subscribers the choice is even greater.
Several of their presentation templates already have animation added. Great for anyone who has limited time.
Animating PowerPoint Holiday Templates
Over the last several years there has been a boom of free presentation templates sites. My current favorite is Slidesgo. Another site with lots of holiday templates is Free PowerPoint Templates (fppt). All of these can be used in what I call the Big 3: PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.
Most of these templates do not have animation embedded in them. It will take bit longer to make modifications that include animation. This of course depends on the amount of animation you add and your knowledge of the software.
Conclusion
When looking for a fun and different option with holiday cards, using presentation templates and software can be the answer.
The large variety of free holiday templates makes this much easier and less time consuming. The two platforms I use most often are Canva and PowerPoint. However, this can be done with Keynote and Google Slides as well.
The key is to not get too bogged down in details or making these perfect. People will enjoy the effort and something unique.
Have you created animated holiday cards with presentation software? What recommendations do you have for template sites and apps? Share in the comments below.
