Photo Book Ideas: Make a Family Yearbook

I’m always on the hunt for photo book ideas and I’m sharing how to make a family yearbook to get your photos off of the cloud and into print to be enjoyed for generations to come!

Making family yearbook photo books has been on my bucket list and New Years goals list for like the last 5 years. I feel so depressed at the prospect of my thousands of photos sitting in cyberspace somewhere, unable to be enjoyed by my children and someday, grandchildren.

When the pandemic hit and NJ was under lockdown/stay at home orders, I promised myself that I’d make headway on getting this going…you know, with all of that free time I’d have (note sarcasm). I had finished my 2014 book, but that left me with 5 more years and some of year 6 to work on. It was a daunting task, but I’ve made it through 2018 so far and I’m sharing my tips on how you, too, can just get this done.

A step-by-step guide to make a family yearbook

1. Identify where all of your photos live, and try to get them in one place. For a long time, I used a combination of Dropbox and iCloud, but have since tried to consolidate to one place for seamless organization. When it comes to photo books, it will be easier to have your pictures in one service.

2. Create an album on your device titled with the year. I have an iPhone, and so on iOS, in Photos, I create an album for each year (e.g., 2019 Photo Book album).

3. Start adding your photos to the album. This is the most time consuming part. I used to work on this on my phone during my evening train ride, but now I try to do a little each evening when I need a break from mindlessly scrolling instagram.

4. Delete unwanted photos. As you’re combing through the prior year’s photos, delete the 86 duplicates that you have of each photo. Ahhh, isn’t that better?

5. Add photos to your photo book service of choice. I like Shutterfly, it’s what I’m comfortable with and have always been happy with the quality. I usually do this through the Shutterfly app on my phone. It can take a while, so if you have a lot of photos (my last album had 600+ photos in it), give it a full day’s time to fully upload.

6. Choose your photo book size and style. I like the 10x10 size since this is a big yearbook that encompasses a full year of our lives. I also like the lay flat pages, which is an extra charge, but allows you to comfortably fit more photos on a page and actually get to see them without damaging the book or binding but opening it too far.

7. Start populating your pages. I like to cram as many photos on a page as possible, especially for random iPhone pics, and then spread out more important events or milestones with larger photos and spreads.

8. Review and order. I do a last review of all of my pages, and a quick scroll through my photos to ensure I’ve captured everything I want to include. Order it up and enjoy!

Tips for making the perfect family yearbook:

1. Done is better than perfect. You don’t have to have every single photo in the correct date order, you don’t need to add text or descriptions. Drop the photos in and move on.

2. Use those collage pages to the max. I love the collage pages with 8 or more pics on a page because it helps to use the space most effectively, especially for random iPhone pics. I like to add some large images sprinkled in - especially for images I truly love - but it’s a great way to save space and money to add a lot of pictures on each page.

3. Wait for a sale. I use Shutterfly and wait until they have their free pages promotion. I’ve saved over $100 per book with this sale!

4. Purchase a book for each child. I know it may sound morbid, but I think it’s a great idea to purchase additional copies for each child. Someday your kids can avoid fighting over them or cutting them up. Another great reason to wait for the sale too!

5. Have fun. I have really loved going down the rabbit hole of old photos, and my kids have loved getting to see pictures in print. And the good news? Once it’s done, it’s done and you’ll have it forever.

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So there you have it. A 2020 accomplishment that makes me so proud and so happy. I can’t wait to enjoy these books for so many years to come.

What do you think? Have you made family yearbooks? Have you used a similar process?

Drop some of your tips in the comments!