Candy Cane Christmas Cards With Photos (Easy Classmate Gift)

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These photo Christmas cards with candy canes are a fun way to add a bit of personality to your Christmas cards this year. The candy cane slots through the photo so it looks like your child is holding it, and every kid who gets one has to look twice.

They’re cheap, they take about ten minutes once you’ve got the photos, and they work as a classmate gift, a teacher gift or a card for the grandparents.

Short on time? Take one photo of your child with their hand out as if they’re holding something invisible, print it at 6×4, cut two small slits where their fingers are, and push a candy cane through. That’s the whole project.

Why These Work Better Than A Shop-Bought Card

When I was a kid, everyone in the class handed out a card from a bulk pack with a quick to-and-from message inside.

These days the class gift bar is a lot higher, and I’m regularly in awe of how organised some parents are when my kids come home with something clever.

What I like about these is that they cost almost nothing, they take one afternoon, and the kids get to star in their own Christmas card. They also don’t have to be candy canes. A novelty Christmas pencil, a crayon, a lollipop, anything that slots into a small gap works just as well.

Looking for more ideas? I’ve put together a round-up of class gift ideas for students if you want options.

What You Need

Photos of your kids pretending to hold something
Individually wrapped candy canes, or pencils, crayons or lollipops
An image editing program (I use the free version of Canva)
A craft knife or Stanley knife
A cutting mat
A printer, or a photo printing service

One thing worth getting right: buy individually wrapped candy canes. I grabbed a bag of minis, got home and realised they were loose in the bag, which is no good for handing out at school. The ones in my photos are unwrapped purely for the tutorial.

How To Make Candy Cane Photo Cards

Step One: Take The Photo

Photograph your child with one hand held out in front of them, as if they’re gripping something invisible.

Three things that make this work:

Keep the hand away from the face. If it’s too close, the candy cane will cover half their head when you slot it in.
Have them make a loose fist, like they’re holding a pole, not a pen. A closed hand looks wrong once there’s a candy cane through it.
Shoot against a plain background so the card doesn’t look busy.

Take more than you think you need. Ours weren’t perfect and one of my girls flat out refused to smile, but working with kids, you know the drill.

Step Two: Edit And Add Text

Open the photo in Canva or whatever editing app you use, and add your text.

What to put on it:

A short message like “Merry Christmas” or “Have a sweet Christmas”
Your child’s name, so the recipient knows who it’s from
Optionally a TO: box, so you can write each classmate’s name on

Adding the TO box is the small touch that makes these feel personal rather than mass-produced, and it takes thirty seconds to add in Canva.

Add a white border while you’re in there. It makes the finished thing read as a postcard rather than a photo, and it stops your text sitting too close to the edge.

Step Three: Print Them

Print at 6×4, which is a standard photo size and the default photo setting on most home printers.

I use a basic Epson at home, nothing fancy. If you’d rather not deal with printer ink, upload them to a photo printing service and collect them. For a class of thirty that’s often cheaper than doing it yourself anyway.

Print on photo paper if you have it. Regular paper works but tears easily when you cut the slits, and the whole thing feels flimsy in a school bag.

Step Four: Cut The Slits

Put the photo on a cutting mat and use a craft knife to cut two small slits, one above the hand and one below it, roughly where the top and bottom of the fist are.

Keep the slits short, about a centimetre. Longer slits let the candy cane slide around and the photo tears more easily.

Cut them slightly narrower than you think you need. You can always widen a slit, you can’t un-cut one.

If you’re making a lot, cut the first one carefully, then use it as a guide for the rest.

Step Five: Slot The Candy Cane In

Thread the candy cane through the top slit and out the bottom one, hooked end up so it looks like it’s being held.

Go slowly. The photo will tear if you force it, and there’s nothing more annoying than ruining a card at the last step.

Have the kids write a message on the back before you slot the candy cane in, since it’s much easier to write on a flat card.

Make A Non-Candy Version

A lot of schools now have allergy policies or discourage lollies altogether, and some parents would rather their kids didn’t come home with thirty candy canes.

The good news is the card works with anything long and thin:

Novelty Christmas pencils, which are the best swap and often cheaper than candy canes
Crayons, good for younger classes
A small candy bubble wand
A rolled-up joke, tied with ribbon. Pick a few from my Christmas jokes and riddles for kids, or use my printable Christmas lunch box jokes which are already cut to size.

If you’re going non-candy, adjust the photo so your child’s hand is positioned for whatever you’re using. A pencil sits differently to a candy cane.

Ideas To Take It Further

Do the whole family. One card each from every kid, or a group shot with several hands out and several candy canes.

Use it for other occasions. The same trick works for Valentine’s Day with a lollipop, Easter with a chocolate bar, or a birthday with a novelty pen.

Make one from Santa. If you can find a photo of Santa with his hand in roughly the right position, it works just as well and the little kids love it.

Add it to a Christmas Eve box. These make a nice extra alongside the usual bits. More Christmas Eve box ideas here.

Common Problems

The candy cane keeps falling out. Your slits are too long or too far apart. Cut them closer together on the next one and use double-sided tape at the back.
The photo tears when you slot it in. Print on photo paper rather than regular paper, and push the candy cane through slowly rather than forcing it.
The candy cane covers their face. The hand was too close to the head in the photo. Reshoot with the arm further out.
They look like they’re holding nothing. The hand was too open. A loose fist reads much better than a flat palm.

Got leftover candy canes afterwards? Check out these recipes using candy canes to use up the rest of the bag.

Grab access to my free printable Christmas library for gift tags, jokes, planners and more Christmas printables.

More Christmas ideas:

Candy Cane Christmas Cards With Photos (Easy Classmate Gift)

Why These Work Better Than A Shop-Bought Card

What You Need