We're six (long) days away from the most-photographed day of the year but the festive fatigue is kicking in.
Every other person on your Instagram feed has snapped a merry group shot in front of the light tunnel at Kew Gardens — #christmasatkew is London’s most Instagrammed festive spot with more than 41,000 tags (double that of runner-up Winter Wonderland, says thortful.com).
The trick now is how to make your Insta-game stand out, without being a try-hard. This is your Christmas 2019 social media etiquette guide.
Snap app-y
This year, the smartest way to send a greeting is in augmented reality. Spotify and Sony Music have teamed up to offer an AR effect that turns you into a festive George Michael in the style of Wham!’s Last Christmas cover, while start-up HoloMe is offering the chance to be turned into a hologram: send your Santa hat-wearing AR alter-ego to your cousin in Melbourne and it’ll look like you’re dancing in her living room.
Kirakira adds a sparkling effect to your Stories, Christmas Photo comes with more than 100 festive frames and filters, and MadeMine lets you create a cartoon Christmas card of all the family.
Insta v reality
Up your finstagram game (a finsta is a private, unfiltered Insta account). Content ideas include dad falling asleep by 6pm, your aunt’s “alternative” turkey burger dinner, and behind-the-scenes footage of the family quiz.
Send to Instagram’s Close Friends list so your boss doesn’t see.
Hashtag hacks
Festive manis? Old news: this year, it’s all jewel-encrusted: #ChristmasLips, glittery #ChristmasBrows (see: vlogger @sophiehannah’s sparkly design draped with baubles), and festive eye looks — on Instagram, #candycaneeyeliner pulls up more than 1,000 posts.
Decor-wise, colourful trees are this season’s status symbol: there are more than 25,000 snaps tagged #pinkchristmastree on Instagram, and red, blue and black spruces are trending.
On TikTok, #ChristmasExplosions is a craze that’s seen users post 18-second clips of their transformations. Enter a decoration-free room, fling a bauble in like a grenade, then flick to the room once it’s decked out with lights and tinsel like a winter wonderland.
Take a tech-tox
Leave your phone in your room and forget about your December date who’s blue-ticked you for three days. Set your allocated scroll times using Moment (inthemoment.io). Don’t allow Twitter checks until the Gavin and Stacey special has finished.
Normal techiquette still applies: no drunk filming, one photo upload a day, and phones away at the table.
By January, you’ll be well-trained.
