Family photos are more than just snapshots of individual moments. They’re entire stories. Each captured moment represents a time and a place, a cast of characters, and all that came before and after.
To anyone outside your family, a treasured photo might just look like a grandmother hugging a child on a couch, or a typical group portrait in front of a pretty landscape. But to your family, they’re so much more than that. You notice that Grandma was wearing a necklace you gave her, and remember that it was the child’s birthday, and he was obsessed with dinosaurs, and it’s not in the photo, but you know Aunt Mary made her famous lemon cake. And remember that couch?! It’s so ugly but it was very stylish at the time. As for that pretty landscape shot? It came after getting lost on a long drive, and the big smiles are mostly because you were happy to be out of the car.
Every family has photos—and stories—just like these. When you make a family memory book with Mixbook, you’re creating an entire compendium of history, tales, and lore, authored by every generation together. Turning your family’s unique stories into keepsakes is one of the best legacy gift ideas for the holidays, or for any time.
Here are some of our top tips and suggestions for this meaningful project.
How to create your family storytelling photo book
While all custom photo books feature some combination of photos, text, and design elements, family memory books are distinct in their purpose. They’re storytelling photo books, with content and design chosen to convey a rich and personal narrative. The story or stories your book will tell… that’s entirely up to you!
Before you get started in Mixbook Studio™, spend a little time defining what your family memory book is about, who it’s for, and any parameters e.g. a time frame, number of generations, or branches on the family tree. Your book could be a comprehensive family history focused on genealogy, going back hundreds of years and spanning continents. Maybe it’s the life story of one individual family member, or a celebration of your own little household of parents, kids, and pets. A year-in-review can be approached as a storytelling photo book, and the first volume of a new annual tradition.
Brainstorm and sketch out the vision you have for your family memory book, then gather the photos and words that will bring it to life. Here are the essential steps:
- Find photos and scan mementos that capture the family stories your book will tell
- Communicate with other family members and write down their memories and quotes to add to your book
- Choose a photo book theme with a design you love that suits your particular project
- Create and customize the book in Mixbook Studio™
- Collaborate with family members, if desired
Choosing meaningful family photos
Browse your photos to find fitting choices for your family memory book. Ideal photos for this project are those that immediately remind you of a story, or that illustrate an element of your family history. This is a broad scope, so focus on your own unique photo book idea and curate a collection of pics that fit the concept.
Examples include photos of milestones like marriages and graduations, brand-new baby photos, memorable vacation moments, and portraits that capture the personalities of each family member.
Want to include old photo prints? Read our guide: How To Digitize Photos: 6 Simple Scanning Steps
More than photos: Adding quotes, timelines, maps & mementos to family memory books
For a richer narrative, consider adding text elements, scanned mementos, timelines, maps, and more to your family memory books. These kinds of features add more dimension and help communicate the stories behind the photos to anyone browsing the photo book.
Quotes, captions & memories
With the intuitive tools in the “Text” panel (to the left of the workspace in Mixbook Studio™), it’s easy to add written elements to any photo book. Options include:
- Captions: Add informative captions to briefly explain the who, what, why, where, and when of a photo. (Tip: Try our AI-powered caption generator to craft both short and long captions)
- Memories: Write down the stories shared by family members to add to your book’s narrative. Communicate with family members in person, on the phone, or through text or email to get their own recollections about events, traditions, or your family history.
- Quotes: Include exact quotes from family members, or type up the best family in-jokes and sayings.
- Q&A: Preserve the memories of family members by including interview-style features in your photo book.
Timelines
A fun feature to include in a storytelling photo book is a timeline. You might design a timeline around multi-generational stories or your immediate family’s milestones. Some photo book themes, such as Our Family Lineage, offer templates for a timeline feature, but it’s also easy to create your own. Simply align photos and matching blocks of text in chronological order, horizontally across a page or two-page spread. Find linear design accents in the Stickers panel.
Maps
With our Mixbook Maps tool, you can create custom maps for your family memory book. This can be helpful for illustrating events like moving to a new home, travels for work or pleasure, and even your ancestral heritage. Plus, maps are customizable with a choice of seven different styles as well as layering with other design elements like text, stickers, and photos.
Memorabilia
If you can scan or photograph an item of memorabilia, you can include it in your family memory book. Just a few examples include family heirlooms, postcards or souvenirs from your travels, baby items like tiny socks and hospital bracelets, wedding paraphernalia such as preserved flowers and invitations, and hand-written notes or doodles.
Find more ideas here: How to Enhance Your Year-in-Review Photo Book with Memorabilia
The best storytelling photo book themes
Browse Mixbook’s extensive collection of photo book themes and you’re sure to find one that’s perfect for your project. And if it’s not quite perfect, remember that all our themes are 100% customizable. For family memory books and legacy gift ideas, start with our family photo book themes or family history themes. If you’re making a year-in-review book, we have tons of great options as well.
Family history themes
Family history photo book themes are great for any books focusing on genealogy, as they offer templates for family trees, timelines, key details about your heritage, and more. Here are some best-sellers to consider:
Versatile family themes
Our broad collection of family photo book themes offers versatility and many different aesthetic styles. Check out these top choices:
Year-in-review themes
Start an ongoing collection of family memory books with a year-in-review concept. The project is straightforward as you only need to look through the past year’s worth of photos. Organize them by month, season, holiday, or milestone. Here are some of our favorites:
This holiday season, give a story, not just a sweater!
The best holiday gifts for your loved ones tell a story that they’ll never want to forget. Preserve that story in words and images on the printed page, and give a tangible keepsake they’ll treasure forever.
Related: Then & now: How to tell generational stories through photo books
Here’s a bonus to consider: You can order multiple copies of the same book to give to different family members, turning one idea into many great gifts. A photo book project is always saved in your Mixbook account, so you might even customize each individual copy for its recipient. How’s that for a personalized legacy gift idea?
Head over to Mixbook and get started on your family memory book today!
