Planning a Christmas pyjama family and dog photo this year? You do not need a pet-sized outfit to pull it off. A bandana, blanket, or ribbon in a single colour, lifted straight from your family's print, gives you a coordinated look, while every person in the picture gets a proper matching set.
We sell Christmas sleepwear and nothing else, which you can read more about in our story, and customers ask us the same thing every year: how do we get the dog in the shot without it looking like an afterthought?
Why Dogs End Up in Every Family Christmas Photo
The dog is in the photo because it is in the family. In UK households, the Christmas Eve pyjama photo has become a fixed tradition, and the dog is usually already there, curled up on the sofa arm or stretched out under the tree while the presents get shuffled about.
The practical difference is that dogs do not take direction. Children will hold a pose for four seconds if you bribe them properly; a spaniel will not. So the shot gets built around the dog: work out where they are likely to settle, then arrange everyone else near them. The three things that change the result are colour matching, positioning, and timing.
Coordinating Your Dog Without a Matching Pyjama Set
Our range of Christmas Pyjamas covers babies, children, and adults, so the dog's contribution comes from an accessory rather than sleepwear. The method is simple: pick the single dominant colour from your family's print and match it to that one shade. Red tartan, match the red. Fir tree or forest print, match the deep green. Ignore the secondary colours entirely.
Plain beats patterned here. A second print next to a busy pyjama design competes for attention, whereas a flat block of colour reads as deliberate coordination. Here are some different options:
• A plain bandana in the matching shade, tied loosely
• A folded throw or blanket for the dog to lie on, in the same colour family
• A plain collar swap for the evening
• A length of tartan ribbon looped onto the lead or collar
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Quick tip: Hold the bandana or blanket next to the actual pyjama fabric in daylight before you commit. Screen colours shift across devices, and a red that looked identical online can appear orange next to a true Christmas red. |
Some dogs dislike anything around the neck. If yours flattens their ears or scratches at it, the blanket is the low-stress version and photographs just as well. The RSPCA advises that anything a dog wears should be loose, supervised, and taken off the moment they seem unhappy with it.
Tips for Getting the Perfect Family and Dog Photo
The best time of day is late morning after a walk, or last thing on Christmas Eve, once the dog has settled. A dog with unspent energy will not hold still, and right and proper dog-care guidance is a useful reminder that a proper walk first makes everything easier. Avoid the twenty minutes after dinner, when most dogs would rather sleep than sit.
Put the dog front and centre, or on a lap, with children on either side rather than behind, because small dogs disappear at the back. Face a window and shoot in daylight where you can: on-camera flash causes eye-shine in dogs and turns a lovely photo into two green discs.
To get everyone looking the same way, hold a treat or a squeaky toy just above the lens. Squeak it once, then shoot a burst rather than one posed frame. The outtakes are usually the ones that end up on the fridge.
Shop Family Christmas Pyjamas
Our family Christmas pyjamas are sold as coordinated collections across baby sleepsuits, kids' sizes, and adult sets with plus sizes up to 4XL, so one print covers the whole household. We stock prints with one strong dominant colour, tartan reds and forest greens especially, which makes matching a bandana or blanket straightforward. We deliver across the UK, and ordering ahead of the pre-Christmas cut-off is the safest way to have everything on the bed before Christmas Eve.
Pick your family's print, then match your dog to it. Choose a print with one strong colour, add a plain bandana or blanket, and your Christmas pyjamas family-and-dog photo is sorted. Get in touch today, and our team can help.
