How to Use National Family PJ Day (Nov. 14) to Get Your Holiday Card Photos Done Early

Next Saturday, November 14, is National Family PJ Day, and this year it gives you something more useful than an excuse to stay in: a free afternoon five weeks before the mail gets slow. If your family already owns its christmas pjs family set, or can get one delivered this week, you can shoot the holiday card that day and have it designed, printed and addressed before Thanksgiving dishes are done. This guide is the schedule for doing that, from the delivery math to the dog.

The short answer

Shoot on Saturday, November 14, pick the photo that weekend, and order prints by Sunday, November 22. That leaves 33 days between the shoot and December 17, the date USPS recommends for First-Class Mail to arrive by Christmas, compared with 19 days if you wait for Thanksgiving weekend. The catch is delivery: pajamas ordered today, Saturday, November 7, land between about November 11 and November 18 under our shipping policy's estimates, so the 14th is possible but not certain. If the parcel is late, Saturday, November 21 still leaves 26 days. The plan below is our editorial suggestion, and we sell the pajamas in it.

If you shoot on	Days until USPS's December 17 date	What it feels like
Saturday, November 14 (National Family PJ Day)	33	Relaxed. Room for a reshoot and a second proof
Saturday, November 21	26	Comfortable, if you order prints the same week
Saturday, November 28 (Thanksgiving weekend)	19	Workable, with no slack for a printing mistake
Saturday, December 5	12	Tight. Consider a New Year card instead

If you still need the pajamas, start with prints that had every member's size in stock when we read them, so one order covers the whole household.

What Is National Family PJ Day, and Who Started It?

National Family PJ Day is an informal observance held every November 14. National Today and Checkiday both say it was created in 2019 by Soma, an American sleepwear and intimates brand, and National Today adds that it was set during Sleep Comfort Month. Checkiday cites National Day Calendar as the registry that lists it. In other words, it began as a brand-created calendar day, not a public holiday. Nobody gets the day off, and there are no official customs beyond wearing pajamas with the people you live with.

That is exactly why it works as a photo deadline. A date on the calendar does a job that "sometime before Thanksgiving" never does: it gives everyone a reason to be home and dressed in the same thing at the same hour. Three details make 2026 a good year to use it:

• It falls on a Saturday. No school pickup, no work calls, and a full afternoon of daylight.
• It sits 12 days before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26 this year, and the week of it fills up with travel, cooking and guests. A shoot on the 14th gets the card done before that week starts.
• The clocks have already changed. NIST notes that daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. on November 1, 2026. The early sunsets now come an hour sooner on the clock, so a "late afternoon" shoot has to start earlier than your summer habits suggest. Look up your town's sunset time for the 14th and plan backward from it.

If you want the story behind the matching itself, our companion piece on why families wear matching Christmas pajamas covers the Christmas Eve gift custom and the 2013 video card that made the look a holiday staple. Here we stay with the practical side: getting a usable card photo out of one Saturday.

The Holiday Card Time Math: Shoot, Pick, Print, Mail

Work backward from the mailbox, and the value of an early shoot becomes obvious. USPS lists Thursday, December 17 as its recommended send-by date for First-Class Mail within the lower 48 states, and the same date for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and US territories. USPS also says actual delivery may vary, so we aim a week ahead of that, at about December 10. Between the shoot and that mailing day sit four jobs, and each one takes longer than people expect.

Step	Target date	Why it takes the time it does
Shoot	Saturday, November 14	One afternoon, plan below
Shortlist	Sunday, November 15	Cut several hundred frames to about ten while the day is fresh
Final pick and card design	By Friday, November 20	Everyone gets a vote, and the greeting and names need a second reader
Order prints	By Sunday, November 22	Before Thanksgiving week takes over your evenings
Cards in hand	Your printer's estimate	Production and delivery times differ by printer and by finish, so read them before you pay
Address and stamp	Two evenings in early December	Address lists are always out of date somewhere
Mail	By about Thursday, December 10	A week ahead of USPS's December 17 date

The shoot itself is the smallest box on that table. What eats time is the choosing and the fixing. A family of five can easily produce 300 frames in an afternoon on burst mode, and somebody has to look at all of them. A proof can come back with a typo in a child's name. A printer can show a production estimate longer than the one you assumed. Each of those is a two-day setback, and the November 14 start is what absorbs them.

Cards going to military addresses or abroad

This is where an early shoot matters most. For APO, FPO and DPO addresses, USPS lists Wednesday, December 9 as the recommended send-by date for First-Class Mail. Its 2026 international table lists package services rather than letters, so for cards to relatives overseas, ask at your post office and mail them first. If you mail the military and overseas batch around December 1 and the domestic batch around December 10, you only need to plan one shoot, and November 14 covers both.

How this fits with our other card guides

Crop margins, card sizes and seven room-by-room scene ideas are already in our family Christmas card photo ideas, and color planning for a group is in the three-color method for family photo outfits. This article only moves the calendar forward and fills in the logistics those guides leave out.

Will New Christmas Pajamas Arrive Before November 14?

Possibly, but plan for the slow case. Our shipping policy estimates 1 to 3 days of processing, then 2 to 5 business days of delivery within the contiguous US, and it says processing can take longer in peak season. Here is the same arithmetic run for an order placed today, Saturday, November 7, counting processing in business days:

Shipping to	Fastest estimate	Slowest estimate	Our read
Contiguous US	Wednesday, November 11	Wednesday, November 18	About even odds for the 14th. Keep November 21 as plan B
Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico	About November 19	About November 27	Plan the shoot for Thanksgiving weekend or later

The fastest case assumes one day of processing on Monday, November 9 and two business days of delivery. The slowest case assumes three days of processing and five business days of delivery, with no extra peak-season delay. For Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico, the policy's 10 to 16 days are counted here as calendar days after processing. These are our estimates and not a promise, and the full order-date method for Christmas Day itself is in our Christmas pajama shipping deadlines guide.

Settle every size before the shoot

This step is easy to miss and expensive to get wrong. Under our refund policy, returns have to be unworn, with tags and the original packaging, and sale items cannot be returned. There is no direct exchange either: the policy's fastest route to a different size is to return the item and make a separate purchase. Once the family has worn the set for an afternoon of photos, it no longer meets the unworn condition.

So when the parcel arrives, open it that day and do a quick fitting with the tags on. Check sleeve length on the kids, the waistband on the adults and the neck opening on the baby. If something is wrong, sort it out before the 14th and shoot with the rest of the family in the print and the missing person in a plain color that matches it. Then wash everything once and let the tags go. A first wash before the shoot also takes out the folding creases that show up badly in window light.

Two sizing details help. Under CPSC rules, kids' sleepwear sold in the US has to be either flame-resistant or snug-fitting (infant garments for babies up to 9 months fall under a separate rule), and a snug-fitting piece should be bought in the child's true size rather than one up. And the adult sizes run wider than most families expect: the two listings below had sizes from S through 4XL in stock across their adult options when we read them. If you are buying for a large household, our Christmas pajamas size finder shows only the prints where every size on your list is still available.

A One-Afternoon Shoot Plan for National Family PJ Day

Treat the afternoon as three short sessions with breaks, not one long one. Small children give you about 20 good minutes at a time, and the light changes faster in November than people expect. The schedule below counts backward from sunset, so write your local sunset time at the top and fill in the clock times.

Time	What happens	Why
Sunset minus 3 hours	Late lunch, with anything messy eaten before pajamas go on	Ketchup on a white print ends the shoot
Sunset minus 2 hours 40 minutes	Adults dress first, kids next, baby last	The baby spends the least time in the outfit before the camera is ready
Sunset minus 2 hours 30 minutes	Session 1 indoors by the largest window: the whole group, looking at the camera	Bright daylight from the side gives the cleanest faces of the day
Sunset minus 2 hours	Break: snack, bathroom, change any child who needs it	Resets the mood before the hard shots
Sunset minus 1 hour 45 minutes	Session 2: the dog, then the candid frames	Everyone is warmed up, and the dog has had a walk
Sunset minus 1 hour	Session 3 outside on the step or in the yard, coats waiting at the door	Low, warm light, and you need only five minutes of it
Sunset	Done. Back up the photos before anyone touches the phone again	A lost phone loses the card

The shot list

You need fewer frames than you think. Write these on a sticky note and stop when each one has a keeper:

1. The card photo. Everyone in, everyone's face visible, room above or beside the group for the greeting. Shoot it both vertical and horizontal.
2. The backup card photo. Same group, different arrangement, in case the first has a blink you only notice on a big screen.
3. The candid. Someone tells a joke, the kids pile on a parent, the baby grabs a nose. Shoot in bursts and keep going for 30 seconds after the moment.
4. The detail. Hands holding mugs, a row of socks, the dog's bandana. Useful for the back of a two-sided card.
5. Each child alone. Grandparents usually want these, and they make the second-best gift after the card itself.

Phone setup, in five minutes

• Wipe the lens. Pocket lint is the most common reason for a hazy holiday photo.
• Free up storage and charge to full. Burst mode fills a phone quickly.
• Set the phone on a stack of books or a small tripod at the eye height of the shortest standing person, and use the timer or a remote.
• Turn the flash off indoors. Window light is softer, and flash makes busy all-over prints look flat.
• Walk closer rather than zooming. Digital zoom in an indoor room loses detail fast.

Shop the look

For window light against a pale wall, a darker print separates the family from the background, while a white print looks crisp against a dark sofa or a wood floor. Each of these is one listing: choose each member and size.

If your family wants something less obviously Christmas-themed for a card that will hang on fridges through January, look at the wider range of family matching pajamas christmas and year-round, and pick the print from the person who is hardest to fit, not the one you like best.

Getting the Dog Into the Family PJ Day Photo

Start with what the dog will actually wear. Many families search for dog christmas pajamas, but in the family sets we read for this article, the pet piece described in the listing is a bandana in the family print, not a full pajama set. That is good news for the photo: a bandana goes on in ten seconds, it shows the print at the dog's chest where the camera sees it, and most dogs stop noticing it quickly.

Check which pet sizes a print offers before you choose it. Some of the listings we read had both S(Pets) and L(Pets) in stock, while others had only the larger size, which can sit too loose on a small dog. Our dog Christmas pajamas size guide covers how to measure for it.

How to get a dog to stay in frame

• Walk the dog first. A tired dog sits. A dog that has been indoors all day does laps.
• Put the bandana on early. Ten minutes before the session, with a treat, so the novelty has worn off by the time the camera is up.
• Give one person the dog job. One adult in the frame holds the leash low or keeps a hand on the dog's shoulder. A second adult, out of frame behind the camera, holds the treat at lens height so the dog looks toward the phone.
• Shoot the dog shots early in session 2. Dogs get bored faster than kids do. Get the group frame with the dog, then let the dog go.
• Get low for the dog's portrait. Shoot at the dog's eye level, not from standing height.
• Take the bandana off afterward. Pet accessories are not covered by the rules for children's sleepwear, and nothing should stay on a dog when nobody is watching it.

A practical warning for the snack break: keep hot cocoa, chocolate and cookie plates on a high surface while the dog is loose. A sofa-level plate is the first thing a dog finds once the people are busy looking at a phone.

These two prints list a bandana for the pet and had both pet sizes in stock when we read them, so they suit households with a small dog as well as a large one.

How to Choose the Christmas Card Photo Without a Family Argument

Choosing is where most early-shoot plans stall, so give it a structure and a deadline. Do it on Sunday, November 15, while everyone still remembers which moments felt good.

1. One person makes the first cut. Whoever shot the photos deletes every frame with a blink, a blur or a missing face. On a phone, use the favorites button rather than deleting, so nothing is lost by accident.
2. Look at the survivors on a big screen. A laptop or TV shows closed eyes, a stray tag and a crooked collar that a phone screen hides.
3. Each person gets one veto. A teenager who hates a photo of themselves will hate the card for a month. One veto each is fair and keeps the shortlist moving.
4. Pick a winner and a runner-up. The runner-up becomes the back of the card, the grandparents' print or the plan B if the winner fails the crop.
5. Test the crop before you fall in love. Drop the winner into your printer's template with the safety lines turned on. If a hand, an ear or the dog's tail disappears, go to the runner-up.
6. Have someone else read the proof. Every name, the year, and the spelling of the dog's name. Order a single printed sample if your printer offers one, since screens glow and paper does not.

Set a hard stop: if there is no agreement by Friday, November 20, the person who shot the photos decides. That rule sounds harsh, but it is the reason the prints get ordered before Thanksgiving week.

What to do with the other 290 photos

Make one shared album and leave it alone until January. The candids nobody chose for the card often turn out to be the photos people print later, and the PJ Day album gives you something to look back on before next year's shoot.

If November 14 Slips: Backup Dates That Still Work

Missing the 14th is not a disaster. It only moves you down the table. Here is how each backup date changes the plan:

New shoot date	What changes	Watch out for
Sunday, November 15	Nothing, except a shorter choosing window	School-night bedtime cuts the afternoon short
Saturday, November 21	Pick on the 22nd and order prints by Tuesday, November 24	Military and overseas cards become tighter
Thanksgiving weekend, November 27 to 29	Shoot while relatives are visiting, order prints by November 30	No room for a reprint, and the house is full
Saturday, December 5	Choose a printer with a short production estimate, or send a digital card	Only 12 days to USPS's December 17 date
Christmas morning	Send a New Year card instead	None. It is a perfectly good plan

Thanksgiving weekend has one advantage the 14th lacks: grandparents and cousins may be in the house. If an extended-family card matters more to you than an early one, shoot the immediate family on PJ Day for your own card and save the big group for Thanksgiving. For a relaxed evening that doubles as a second photo session, our Christmas pajama party games keep a mixed-age group busy while you take candids.

If you missed the shoot because the pajamas were late, do not shoot in half the set. A card with three people in a print and two in whatever was clean looks unplanned in a way that a plain-color group never does. Either wait the week, or put everyone in solid red, cream or navy for the card and save the matching print for Christmas morning.

Frequently asked questions

When is National Family PJ Day in 2026? It is on Saturday, November 14, 2026. The observance falls on November 14 every year.

Who created National Family PJ Day? National Today and Checkiday say the sleepwear brand Soma created it in 2019. It is an informal observance, not a public holiday.

When should I mail Christmas cards in 2026? USPS recommends sending First-Class Mail by Thursday, December 17 for the lower 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. We would aim for about December 10, and earlier for military addresses, where USPS lists December 9.

Will pajamas ordered on November 7 arrive by November 14? Within the contiguous US, our policy estimates put arrival between about November 11 and November 18, so it is possible but not certain. Keep Saturday, November 21 as a backup shoot date.

Can we return the pajamas after wearing them for photos? No. Returns must be unworn, with tags and original packaging, so try everything on with the tags still attached and settle the sizes before the shoot.

Do PatPat family sets include a matching dog outfit? In the sets we read, the pet piece is a bandana in the family print rather than a full pajama set. Check which pet sizes the print stocks, and take the bandana off after the photos.

What time of day is best for an indoor pajama photo in November? Early to mid afternoon by a large window, about two to three hours before your local sunset. Daylight saving time ended on November 1, so the light goes earlier than many families expect.

Your sizes sell out one at a time, and the print that has everyone covered this week may not next week. Check every family member's size before you choose the print, then book the afternoon.

About this article

Written and fact-checked by the PatPat Editorial Team. How we research, source and review what we publish is set out on our editorial standards page.

Method. Product details and in-stock sizes were read from PatPat product pages in November 2026. PatPat is the seller of these pajamas, and we did not wear-test any garment or run a test shoot for this article. Delivery estimates are our own arithmetic from the PatPat shipping policy, and the shoot schedule, shot list and choosing process are editorial suggestions.

Sources. Origin of the observance: National Today, National Family PJ Day and Checkiday, National Family PJ Day. Mailing dates: USPS, 2026 Holiday Shipping Deadlines. End of daylight saving time: NIST, Daylight Saving Time. Children's sleepwear rules: CPSC, Children's Sleepwear. Delivery and return terms: PatPat shipping policy and refund policy.

Last updated 7 November 2026 · Next review November 2027