We all do it. We have 3 million photos on our phone of our kids doing the most adorable, the most ridiculous, and the most amazing everyday things. We love sharing them with Grandma, posting them on social media, and “occasionally” printing them off. We love these pictures, snapshots of our children in the tiny celebrations of everyday life. I am a picture taking Mom, and although I try to limit myself I have serious FOMO when it come so snagging that perfect picture of the perfect memory.
What Do You Do with all the pictures on your phone?
Keep reading for 9 ideas!
So what do you do with all those photos? Do they collect figurative “dust” on your hard drives? Are they organized in a way you can access them when needed? Are you able to flip through them when you want to reminisce or recall a sunny day in the middle of May 3 years ago? If you are stuck in a memory preserving “rut” then you have come to the right place.
Chat Books
Listed first because chat books are essentially the easiest form of photo printing and preserving family memories available. Chat books pulls pictures straight from your social media accounts (preferably Instagram) and compiles them in to 60 page books. You can set up a reoccurring account which essentially means you post it to social, add a caption chat book compiles it and when you have 60 new pictures, it prints and binds them to a book and sends it straight to your door. Easy Peasy. You can also organize your chat books by #hashtags and select to only print certain pictures with a certain #hashtag. There are various Chat Book options however, simple to more complex. But all essentially the same idea- they do the work for you.
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- For example: our family takes a Sunday selfie rain or shine every single Sunday after church. We started it nearly three years ago, and it is such a fun family tradition. I use it as a way to “snapshot” our family each week. You can see how we’ve changed, how the kids have grown and my little captions have served as a journal for how we were feeling that week. Each year I print a Chat books with only the #hashtag that I use for those Sunday Photos. They come in the cutest little book, and I can flip through them and quickly see how our family has changed over the years!
Digital Photo Albums
Digital Photo Albums. My preferred website of choice is Picaboo. Mostly because I have used them for 10 years now, and they haven’t failed me yet. You simply upload your digital pictures to their website and create a scrapbook. You can pick back grounds, text fonts, layouts etc. and personalize it however you would like. I work on mine one Sunday a month so that I can stay caught up, and every year around December they run crazy good coupons and I am able to print my Picaboo Book for a good deal. Our family looks forward to getting this “gift” in the mail every Holiday season and we truly treasure looking through our family memories over the years. We call them our “Family Year Book”. You could also do a photo album for a particular trip, or event.
Photo Calendars
Photo Calendars. I also love to create a photo calendar each year using either Picaboo or Shutterfly. Shutterfly often sends promo codes in the mail and I watch for them to come. I love making a calendar for the upcoming year with pictures from the previous year. So in February I may be looking at Valentine’s Day memories from the year before. This is a fun way to utilize those adorable pictures in one more way and it creates a really cute decoration!
Postagram
I love sending pictures to family who live far away. But my grandparents don’t necessarily have emails or smart phones. One tech savvy way I have discovered that I can share memories with them is with the App “Postagram”. It allows you to upload a picture directly from your phone, put it on a cute background, type a sweet little note and then send it on its way. And then within 3-5 days the recipient receives an adorable post card in the mail with a picture on it! My grandma has dozens of these hanging up in her house and I love knowing that we can send pictures to her in an easy and quick way.
Baby Books
I kept my kids’ baby books very simple, but I wanted to be able to hand write in them as well, so that they could also have a keep sake with my handwriting. We love looking through our baby books on the eve of their birthdays and laughing and crying over how tiny they were! You could purchase a simple baby book at Walmart or make one on a digital scrapbooking website such as Picaboo or shutterfly.
Print Off Photos
You may actually want to print off your pictures! Many places have photo printing options. My favorite is to print them off and mount them on my own canvases from Hobby Lobby using modge podge. I simply paint the canvas and let it dry. Then using modge podge I adhere the picture to the front and smooth it over. This is an inexpensive way to preserve those sweet family memories and get that canvas look. But if you don’t have time or don’t trust your crafting abilities simply print enlarged photos! Having family pictures on your wall demonstrates a sense of unity in your home.
Old Fashioned Scrap booking
If digital scrap booking still isn’t your thing, that’s ok! Hobby lobby still sells scrapbooking supplies! Preserve your family memories in a fun and crafty way! Many digital photo companies will print pictures directly from your phone and mail them straight to your door so that you can stay on top of the scrapbooking process. You can set aside one day a month to document so that you don’t forget details that you want to share with your family.
Bullet Journals
Kids say the best things and sometimes you think you will remember them but then you forget as life gets busy! Another great way to preserve family memories is to keep a bullet journal! I keep a bullet journal by my bedside and I try to write down little quotes that my kids say. Nothing long or fancy just a simple quote. These are such a fun thing to read through as they get older, and many I have forgotten about by the time I re-read them.
Picture Frame Souvenirs
When we travel we do not buy souvenirs for our kids. We pick out one family souvenir every place we go and that is a special picture frame. We have an entire collection of special frames with one special picture from each special trip. We love trying to preserve family memories this way, and it almost feels like a treasure hunt to find that one special frame.
Back Up Your Photos
Please please please whatever you do back up your photos! In a tragic incident 4 years ago all my photos were lost to cyber space and it was devastating! Now we back up to three places at all times. Dropbox, Costco, and a hard drive.
Have so much fun creating and preserving your family memories! And remember work on it through out the year so it’s not such a daunting task!
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