How to make Christmas videos for free

Christmas is nearly here, so why not think about sending a festive video to your loved ones. There are various websites that let you create brilliant personalised videos online that you can share with friends and family, including the Portable North Pole, Elf Yourself and more.

Got some last minute Christmas shopping to do? Our round-up of the best tech gifts for Christmas will help, but also check out the Best Christmas tech deals.

Portable North Pole

This one has been our favourite for several years. If you’ve never tried it, you should. The videos change each year, and are brilliant.

This year there are three free videos available (kids, adults, groups), but there are 12 Premium videos you can ‘unlock’ for £7.99. It’s only a shame you can’t buy just the one you want as you could previously.

If you don’t want to use a PC and a web browser, you can download the Portable North Pole app and create your video on your phone or tablet.

It’s an easy process, simply click ‘Personalise’ on the video message you prefer, then follow the onscreen instructions. You’ll need to enter the name of the recipient, their gender, a photograph of the recipient, their date of birth, where they live and your relationship with them.

You also need to decide whether they’ve been naughty or nice, pick what they do on a daily basis and what the recipients goal was for the year. You can then pick a gift they’d like to receive.

When you’re done, you can preview the video and then select an email address to send it to. Small children and big kids will be amazed (we were!).

Elf Yourself

Another hilarious personalised video is Elf Yourself, which is more suited to groups of friends or families than the Portable North Pole, which is designed for one individual. You simply add up to five portraits that are dressed up as elves doing a jolly dance. Even if you’re having a rubbish day, you won’t be able to stifle a giggle when watching this one.

Once you’ve added up to five faces, click ‘Let’s Dance’ and choose from a variety of different dances. Then, send that video via email, share it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest or get the link/embed code for the video.

There’s an app for Elf Yourself, too.

JibJab eCards

Not quite as impressive but still fun are the video eCards from JibJab. A particular favourite of ours is Santa’s Twerk Shop, but there are lots of other videos to choose from, all of which you can personalise fro free with up to five photographs that are placed into the video in a similar way to the Elf Yourself video.

It’s well worth taking a look at JibJab, as there are 200+ different video cards that you can personalise, so there’s bound to be one that hits on a personal joke that you share among your friends or family.

If the kids are impatient, check out these Christmas countdown apps