December carousels are the most-posted of the year, which means yours competes with everybody's. Two things separate a good one: real people instead of decorations, and a closing slide that actually ends the year.
8 things to shoot in December
1. Lights out of focus. Point at string lights and tap somewhere else to defocus. Cheapest December look that still works.
2. Tree in progress. Boxes open, a half-decorated tree, somebody on a chair. Better than the finished photo.
3. Markets and steam. Mulled wine, gloves, breath in the air. Night shots, hand-held, slightly blurry.
4. Wrapping evidence. Paper, scissors and tape on a table at midnight. Nobody photographs this and everybody recognises it.
5. The group photo, twice. One posed, one taken right after when everyone is laughing. Post both, in that order.
6. Snow if you get it. One wide, one close. No snow where you are? A frosted window does the same job.
7. Leftovers. Plates the morning after. Possibly the most honest holiday photo there is.
8. Year closer. A window, a road, a note. A quiet last slide gives the dump an ending instead of a stop.
Beating the December pile-up
Split the month. A lights-and-markets dump around the 15th, then the holiday itself after the 26th. Twenty slides of December in one post is where people quit swiping.
The quiet days between the 26th and the 30th have the same audience and a fraction of the competition. That window is the single best time to post all year.
Keep the year recap separate. One slide per month, posted on the 30th or 31st, is a different post with a different job.
The general rules about slide count, crop and sequencing live on the main photo dump guide, and 30 photo dump ideas covers themes that are not tied to a month.
December photo dump captions
Short and lowercase works best, and one plain word like the month name helps Instagram place the post. A few that fit December:
- december, all of it
- lights and loud kitchens
- closing out the year
- warm rooms, cold hands
- that was the year
More, grouped by mood: 100+ photo dump captions.
FAQ
Should a December dump be one post or several?
Several. Split the month into a lights and markets dump mid-month and a holiday dump after the 25th. Twenty slides of December in one post is where people stop swiping.
What about a full year recap instead?
Do both. The year recap is one slide per month and works best on the 30th or 31st. The December dump covers the month itself and can go up earlier.
More photo dump guides
- Photo dump: what it is and how to make one
- 30 photo dump ideas
- Which photo dump app you need
- 100+ photo dump captions
- Aesthetic photo dump guide
By month
- August photo dump ideas
- September photo dump ideas
- October photo dump ideas
- November photo dump ideas
- January photo dump ideas
By occasion
Pick which December post to make first
Two posts and a year recap. Start with the one you can assemble tonight.
If the layout is the part that stops you, PSTR assembles the slides from your camera roll and exports them at Instagram sizes. Free on both stores, with the AI layout on iPhone for now and the manual editor on Android.