Creating an Annual Family Yearbook
Creating an annual family yearbook has become a special tradition in our house, and this post gives a peek into how I make it happen every year.
After David and I got married, I used either Snapfish or Shutterfly to create a wedding album for us, but it wasn’t until we had our first baby that the annual family yearbooks started.
Get our THIS LITTLE HOME OF MINE nEWSLETTER
Delivered directly to your inbox!
Our oldest child was born in September, so the first album I made included his first year of life: his birth in September to his first birthday the next September – and I gifted it to my husband that Christmas.
In the years to come, all of the siblings would be born around the same time of year: August/September. So the way I did the albums continued.
To this day, our albums start with the beginning of the fall season and end with the August/September birthday season – and yes, I still gift them to my husband and kids on Christmas morning.
Sure, some of the photos I put in the album are professional images we’ve had taken by our photographer friends here in the Carolinas: Tara Marie Photography and Joss G. Photography but most of the images are everyday pictures I’ve snapped with my phone.
Our family yearbooks include:
- pictures of home/pictures at home – cooking in the kitchen, playing outside, reading together, etc.
- photos of art projects, drawings, etc. the kids have created – A great way to preserve things like this without keeping all of it.
- snapshots of our school days and extracurriculars – lessons, programs, camps, etc.
- pictures of us all dressed up on Sunday mornings, doing activities at church, etc.
- photos from the holidays with our relatives, birthday celebrations, etc.
- travel photos
- professional pictures we’ve had taken
- text that includes the funny things the kids have said throughout the year – I keep these saved in the notes app on my phone and pull them up when I’m building our album each year.
You get the idea, and I can not even begin to explain how much my kids love these albums.
How I Make the Album
There are lots of great photo books companies out there, but I have always used Shutterfly.
- Style: Simply Modern
- Size: 10 x 10 Photo Book
- Cover: Hard Cover – Matte
- Photo Pages: I build the album manually but use a lot of their ready-made templates for layouts.
- Font: Lulo Clean – I’ve played with a few different ones and have decided I like this one best.
A Few Things to Note:
- My friend loves doing the flat-lay pages option. She has promised me that if I tried it, I would never go back, but because of the overall cost of the project already being high, I have held off on this option.
- I love choosing a special cover photo, but I also love placing a large photo on the back of the album.
- The front cover of each of our books includes our family name and the months/years the album includes. For Example:
- First Line: Smith Family
- Second Line: October 2026-September 2027
- Each year, I order at least two copies of the new album. One goes in our fireproof safe and the other is gifted on Christmas morning and then left out in our main living space for the kids – and guests – to look through as they like.
Something I’ve Considered:
I’ve thought about switching things up and including all of our special family moments from January through December and then creating the albums in time to gift for Valentine’s Day instead.
Valentine’s Day is definitely a family holiday in our house, so this could be fun – but our Christmas morning tradition has included a new album for so long, I’m not sure if we’d like to make this change or not.
Just something I’ve thought about…
Shutterfly Facebook Group for Coupon Codes
More than anything, I probably stick with Shutterfly because it’s just what I’ve always done – maybe I should branch out? ha!
But I also like the coupon codes – especially as I do always have to add extra pages. Yay for when those Unlimited Pages codes come out in the fall when I’m working on our album.
Have you seen this Shutterfly Fanatics Facebook Group? It gets a little wild in there sometimes, and to be honest, I mostly keep it hidden in my feed – but it can be really helpful when you’re working on a project, especially when you need codes for those projects you’re working on for Christmas gifts.
Are you ready to declutter your stuff?