baby boy in pajamas with stars celebrates Christmas

Tis the Season: Cute Baby Holiday Outfits

The winter holidays provide so many options for dressing baby up in festive outfits. Parties, photos with Santa, religious services, and family gatherings all call for the best baby winter outfits, be they cute reindeer onesies or formal wear. We’ve got some baby holiday outfit ideas to help you keep your little ones festive and comfortable.

Baby Holiday Outfit Ideas for the Photo Studio

For many families, the holidays are the time for an annual family photo. Often this means dressing baby up in festive outfits. You need to strike a balance though—at the end of the day, you want a photo that focuses on the baby, not what she’s wearing. Santa bodysuits and fuzzy reindeer antlers, while cute, will dominate the photo.

Whether you go for formal baby winter outfits or more casual wear for your photo shoot depends on your preferences. Go with the lacy, frilly dress or tiny tuxedo if you want, but remember none of the baby’s clothes remain clean for long—it’s best to travel to the photo studio with the baby in comfortable clothes and change her there. Alternately, aim for clothing that suits your child’s personality. It will likely be more comfortable, making the baby less cranky while a stranger goes full paparazzi in her face.

Baby Holiday Outfit Ideas

In most situations outside the photo studio, you want baby winter outfits to be comfortable. If the baby is crawling, you might want to avoid long skirts, which will impede his or her movement and get dirty very quickly. If a little girl is wearing a skirt, a pair of loose-fitting tights help obscure her diaper.

Speaking of diapers, make sure your baby holiday outfit ideas take them into consideration. No matter how good he looks, at some point he’ll need a diaper change. Go with elasticized pants rather than button-fly or zippered pants, which require effort to put on and take off.

For colors and patterns, reds and greens are ideal for the Christmas season, while blues and whites are appropriate for Hanukkah. Bright bold plaids are also suitably festive, and of course who can resist a chance to put the baby into a gloriously ugly Christmas sweater?

A red hat or winter-themed mittens with a matching bodysuit are often all you need for a festive-looking outfit. Girls can wear festive ribbon hairbands, and both genders will look good in smart winter beanies or adorable in little Santa hats. (Remember, of course, that any headgear baby can remove will be removed!)

Babies spit up with some regularity, so you may want to protect your baby winter outfits with a matching bib. And of course, no matter how great he looks, keep a set of spare clothes handy in case of accidents.

The winter holidays are some of the most festive occasions of the year. Let baby celebrate them in style!