Pregnancy can feel like a whirlwind as your schedule fills with parties, showers, doctor visits, and more. At the same time, you’re preparing your home and family for your baby’s arrival. Suddenly nine months seems like a very short time. Many of our most treasured memories are of our little ones — beginning their first year and including every milestone along the way. You’ll thank yourself for taking plenty of photos as you attend appointments, add the finishing touches to your nursery, and welcome your new baby into the world.
You’ll soon find yourself lamenting that they grow too fast, and checking in on keepsakes and albums of family photos and favorite memories. Custom photo books are the perfect connection to our favorite times and places. To help you plan your new baby’s photo albums, we’ve collected our favorite baby photo book ideas to save and share your most special moments.
Personalized Baby Photo Book Ideas
The first year of your life with a baby is filled with accomplishments and overflowing with love. There’s no doubt your camera roll will be taken over by baby photos, and it’s hard to choose just which ones to display.
Themes are a great way to organize your photos and build books unique to your family. Building multiple books helps you capture the special moments more thoroughly, and it means you don’t have to cut as many of your favorite photos!
Check out these creative ideas to choose a few for your next coffee table display.
Baby Shower
Your baby shower is a chance to catch everyone you love’s excitement for your baby’s arrival. Laughing guests playing games and a glowing mom-to-be holding onesies to her baby bump are moments that perfectly capture the joy and excitement of a new baby in the family.
A baby shower book should include everyone close to you and your baby. A shower photo-booth makes sure there are photos of everyone to choose from, but don’t miss out on candid moments, too. Classic baby shower games present plenty of opportunities for fun photos, and written wishes from guests to baby can be touching keepsakes to include. Remember to incorporate the shower theme as you build your memory book to really bring you back to the day.
Maternity Shoot
A maternity shoot captures you and your partner in all of the excitement, celebrating your love and your pregnancy in photos. If you opt-out of a professional shoot, you likely still have plenty of shots documenting your bump’s growth, and can dress up to have a friend take a few casual photos for you.
In addition to your photos, you and your partner can write about your time together. Share your first date, favorite wedding moment, and how you decided to start your family. You and your partner are the foundation of this beautiful new family, so press pause and remember these moments just before the baby arrived.
Babymoon
A babymoon is a chance for you and your darling to enjoy each other’s company and take a vacation before your bundle of joy arrives. Whether you go big or plan a staycation of date nights, take plenty of photos and live in the moment.
You and your partner are the foundation of your family, so take time for each other before life gets a whole lot busier. Try to sneak photos of each other so it’s not all posed selfies and of the smaller places you visit, like the cute breakfast cafe you visited on your last day. You can also keep a journal of your days to include quotes and specific memories written alongside your favorite travel photos.
First Nursery
You managed to sift through all of your Pinterest pins, maybe DIY a couple of things, built the furniture, and added the final decorative touches to complete the nursery. It’s a huge feat and really sets in that your baby is coming. It’s perfect on your Instagram and you’re so proud of how it fits into your home decor. But the fun isn’t in how beautiful it is finished — it’s in all of the love and effort put into crafting it.
Through the process there are tons of picture-perfect opportunities with paint-covered selfies, exciting furniture finds, and your mom working hard at a crocheted baby blanket. These active moments are the best to remember. So invite friends over to help and make it a small party, capture the moment you found the perfect lamp for the book shelf, and definitely don’t forget a photo of you and your partner in all of the excitement once your dream nursery is done.
Inspirational Quotes
There is no shortage of beautiful, inspirational quotes about life and love. Gather them all together and build a darling book of encouragement and cheer. You may want to look for typographers and artists to commission, or those who have free prints to add decorative pages. You can also DIY decorative pages with watercolor and a fountain pen!
Passages from your favorite childhood storybook and the books you read to your baby are also fun additions. Then invite your friends and family to share wishes for your family for a personalized book. It’s there for you and your partner every time you need a pick-me-up, and then for your child as they grow.
Delivery Day
It’s showtime! Of course, the moment your family grew is one you never want to forget. Photos of delivery preparations, the beginning of labor at home or hospital, and the moment you first hold your beautiful new baby will fill the pages of this photo album. You’ll cherish the sweat, tears, and messy bun you wore when you welcomed your most precious gift to the world.
Write down how you felt those first moments after birth, then your first night with baby, and so on. These feelings can be captured alongside photos to help you remember this special day. Baby’s first outfit, notes from nurses, and photos with visitors are also great to include, as are any extra fun facts, like what you were doing when labor began or songs that were on your labor playlist. Creating a delivery day photo book for each of your children is a great way to chart how much your family has grown, how times have changed, and the uniqueness of each birth.
Early Days
The following days may be tough and tiring, but you’ll never forget your first moments as a family. From the hospital to home, you’ll likely be welcoming visitors to meet the little one and help out around the house. Your baby will be getting cozy in their new room and playing with their first toys, both of which are fun to photograph.
Every baby selfie, story time, and house guest are great additions to a baby photo book. Take photos of moments like the first book you read to your baby and what outfit they came home in. Recording how you feel in these first few days and what you’re most looking forward to this first year can help build the memories for your baby’s photo book.
First Holiday Season
Holidays are such a happy time for so many families, and it’s extra exciting as a parent getting to re-experience the spirit and fun of the holiday season with some childlike wonder. They’re filled with events, friends, and adorable baby outfits. Not to mention all of the great photo-ops like sleeping under colorful and decorative lights, opening beautifully wrapped gifts, and, of course, their first visit with Santa.
This is another good time to consider professional photos of your little one and your family. You can design a holiday card everyone will love and take the opportunity to share updates about your family’s growth. The card will also look great in your photo book, where you can include every way your family celebrated and baby’s favorite gift!
Furry Siblings
Nothing is cuter than pets and babies, so of course you want photos of your baby and their first best friend, Fido. Cats napping in cribs and dogs doting on the baby are adorable images of all your babies, furry or not. The star of this book will be the moment your baby and pets meet, as it’s also the first photo of your family as a whole and together at home.
Your child will especially love seeing their beloved cat curling up next to their baby-selves when they’re older. Have your camera ready for furry introductions, naptime cuddles, and your baby learning to walk with their pet pals, because they’re too sweet to miss. Our beloved pets aren’t with us forever, so keep these precious memories for you and your kids to enjoy.
Family Time
The most special moments, and sometimes the easiest to forget, are the quiet ones as a family. Feeding the baby, rocking them to sleep, and playing peek-a-boo are daily moments that capture peaceful togetherness and how great it is to be a family. Be sure to include some of your favorite family recipes that you ate at the time so yo can pass them along when your little one grows up.
A book of family life is a beautiful way to keep the moments of new parenthood alive. Photos of your family interacting are more intimate and meaningful than baby posing, and it’s a great way to track the way your family grows and changes with time. It’s very likely these are the photos you’ll cherish the most.
Book Of Firsts
There are lots of firsts we don’t plan for until they happen — like their first visit to the park, first tummy time, first time seeing bubbles, and first time waving. They’re all simple things that will bring a smile to your face and your baby will continue to do hundreds of times in their life.
These moments fill you with pride and excitement, and you notice just how much your baby is learning and growing. Track the big and little firsts with photos and make a note of the date and details to be included. You’ll want to always remember these special milestones because the little light in their eyes when they see bubbles is too cute to miss.
First Birthday
The first birthday is a big one, and regardless of how big or small the party is, everyone will want to see how much your baby has grown and will love revisiting these photos for years. It’s an emotional time as you reflect on how much you’ve all accomplished this year. You’re probably already revisiting all of the photo books you’ve made so far and realizing just how big your baby has gotten.
You’ll have plenty of photos to choose from, including a one-year photoshoot and the party. Of course you have a photo shots list of baby with grandparents, the cake smash, baby with presents, etc. It’s also a great idea to list your baby’s favorite things and accomplishments including their first best friend, favorite snack, favorite book, first words, height, weight, and more. Friends and family can share their favorite memories of baby’s first year to include in the photo book, too! This is a great way to ensure you’re not the only one taking pictures as well — be sure everyone has their cameras at the ready so you have plenty of snaps to choose from.
First Trip
Baby’s first trip is a huge undertaking, and you’ve likely spent a long time planning and worrying over it. It will all be worth it as you explore a new city and enjoy the view with your little family. It’s a beautiful memory for you and your partner, but your baby likely won’t remember all of the sites seen, foods tried, and experiences had.
That means photos are a must, and you’re sharing tons of photos to social media to keep your friends and family updated anyway. So choose your favorites and organize a photo book decorated with themes from your destination. This is another great time to keep a journal so you don’t forget any important moments and include them in your book.
Closing Thoughts
Your first year with baby will fly by and you don’t want to miss a thing. Babies are learning and growing so quickly, reaching huge development milestones you’ll want to remember. Beyond that, you’ll want to re-experience all of the beautiful moments your family has had together and the way you felt at those times.
In addition to baby, you have grown enormously as a parent and individual, and your little family fills you with love and joy. This is an amazing year of experiences you’ll want to preserve and share with those closest to you.
Build albums as gifts and keepsakes and your family will cherish their personalized photo books, plus you’ll always be able to return to your favorite moments. Trust Shutterfly to help you design your family memories with beautiful, customizable options and creative photo book ideas, whether you’re looking to showcase your family history or create a cherished memento.
