make a year in review photo book with shutterfly custom photo books

Make A Year In Review Photo Book For The Whole Family

Share your best memories, milestones, and highlights in a year in review photo book.

Recap and look back on each year with a year in review photo book, made to highlight your favorite experiences and meaningful connections. From births to weddings, milestone birthdays, year books, graduations and so much more, it’s easy to tell the whole story when you create a custom photo book album with Shutterfly. A year in review photo book can pull all your favorite photos into one place, so you can celebrate your family’s accomplishments, milestones, and highlights, while creating a treasured time-capsule of sorts that can be passed down to your kids and their families and in the future. Not sure what photos to use or how to create your family photo year book? We’ve got you covered with these tips below to make the perfect year in review photo book.

Make Photo Books Fast With Instant Books

In some families, it’s a tradition to send one to update loved ones of the year’s events. For example, did someone get married? Is there a new family member or did someone celebrate their retirement? Or maybe you simply have too many memorable photos from the last year you’d like to share. All of these amazing life moments are worth sharing.

Consider a year in review Instant Photo Book as a keepsake, a gift to grandparents, or for long-distance friends. Instant Books is a fast and easy way to make a photo book for all your friends and family, highlighting pictures from special occasions and everyday moments.

Stack of Shutterlfy instant books with photos of kids milestones

Tips to Create a Year In Review Photo Book

What better way to relive the year anytime you want than to create a stunning year in review photo book? It may seem like a big task but creating a photo book is really easy. The most important part is the visuals, so it’s best to have a variety to keep the book colorful and fun. Tell your story with photos of the places you went, the people that you met and the memories that you created. If you’re wondering how to make a custom photo book, keep these tips in mind when creating one:

  • Gather many pictures to choose from: The more photos you have, the easier it is to create your layouts. Having a few different types of photos will really help you add context to the year, especially if you have little ones right now who might not remember a lot of it.
  • Include fun and clever quotes or captions: A picture is worth a thousand words, but lucky for you, you can add a great caption to really hit it home. Write about your year and make sure to include all the hilarious, emotional and beautiful details.
  • Come up with a creative theme: Try to dedicate a full spread for each topic or theme for an airy feel and chance to add personal details.
  • Organize your photos into the right order: Decide on how you want to group your pictures. You can go chronologically, or by activities and events, or even by color! This is where you get to be creative and set up an album that really tells the story of your family’s year. Use social media to remember dates and events!
  • Add a collaborator: Did you know you can collaborate on Shutterfly photo books? Get your friends and family in on the love! This will make for a great group gift, and everyone will love to be a part of the creation process. Ask people to send a mixture of selfies, and group shots so that you have a nice array of photos to choose from.

Year In Review Photo Book Ideas

Whether you’ve been capturing a everyday moments at home full of love or documenting major life milestones, don’t let your photos stay in digital folders forever. Instead, turn them into personalized photo books for your year in review album. Sometimes it’s hard to organize our memories in a way that makes sense and looks great. Use our photo book ideas below to easily comb through your photos and start organizing them into year in review photo books. These ideas will all look great to display around the home or be given as gifts to loved ones.

1. Wedding Photo Album

Weddings are always a reason to celebrate. The best way to reminisce is by creating personalized wedding photo books and that capture all of your favorite moments. If you or someone in your family got married or reached a milestone anniversary, put those memorable photos in a year in review photo book. Those who couldn’t attend would love to be part of your joy and send you well wishes. When creating a wedding photo album, recall the details of your wedding day as they unfolded – wedding party preparations, organizing the final touches, exchanging rings and vows and of course, the elegant party that followed. Flipping through the photo album should help you and your loved ones relive the journey of the big day.

A wedding photo book on top of a table.

2. New Home Photo Book

A home is where you’ll relax and regroup at the end of every day, where you’ll celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, and where you’ll navigate many of life’s blessings and challenges. Moving into a new house marks an exciting milestone and leaves you full of wonder about what the future holds. What special moments will those walls witness? Mark the occasion with a beautiful photo book to remember where it all began. A new space is always fun, especially if you’re exploring a new city or town. Invite your loved ones into your home with a series of interior photos and pictures of the surrounding areas and shops.

A small photo album surrounded by succulents and a photo coffee mug.

3. Baby Photo Book

Families grow by the minute. If you’ve recently brought a new baby into the world or even a new puppy, share the love with others. Create a baby photo book and include photos of their first day in your home, playtime and feeding time. Showcase all of your little one’s most memorable moments in a photo book documenting their first years. To make a custom baby album, organize your pictures by month to make sure to include snapshots that chronicle important milestones. The adorable, cuddly photos will make everyone smile.

A baby photo book on a table.

4. Families Helping Families Photo Book

Did your family recently take part in a charity event, donation drive or volunteer at a shelter? Whether you’re part of a volunteer organization or just like to commit random acts of kindness, sharing these moments with others may inspire them to do the same. Share these special moments in a custom photo book with florals, watercolors, and geometrics, or stick with traditional styles like a mix of greyscale and full-color shots – you are sure to fall in love with your year in review photo albums.

Someone flipping through a volunteering photo book.

5. Everyday Photo Books

Make a custom photo book that celebrates these day-to-day, quiet and special moments, in print. It’s the ordinary memories you’ll want to record and remember because those are the ones that are often overlooked, yet in the long run, are the most important. You can choose an everyday photo book template to start with or build your very own from scratch. Years from now when the kids are grown, you’ve moved houses or have a completely different routine, those photos of everyday moments will be among your favorites, and making a photo book that highlights all the inside jokes and special times spent together is a great way to keep them alive.

Photos laying next to a photo book.

6. Proud Accomplishments Photo Book

Sometimes a little “bragging” is okay, especially when you’re a proud parent or family member. A graduation, award, promotion or even overcoming a difficult challenge are all positive things you can share with others and we guarantee they’ll be proud too. Consider a custom photo book as a truly unique personalized graduation gift that your child will treasure, whether they are just entering the first grade or graduating from high school, college, or even kindergarten!

A graduation book on a table.

Additional Year In Review Photo Book Ideas

Photo books provide a fun way to organize all the photos you’ve taken throughout the year. They are also an impressive way to relive memories with your friends and family. When you create a year in review photo book, make sure to add unique touches to your photo book to make it extra personal. No matter what photo book idea you choose, have fun creating it. The time and effort you put into it will be all worth it in the end and you’ll have a keepsake you can have in your home for generations to come. If you still need more ideas, choose from some of these instead:

  • How they’ve grown: Gather images of your kids, nieces, and nephews to show everyone how big they’ve gotten.
  • Remembering loved ones: While it’s a difficult moment, it’s also a beautiful thing to remind everyone of the wonderful moments spent with your loved one.
  • Include your Christmas card: Leave space in your photo book to include your annual family Christmas card.
  • Trip of a lifetime: Did you recently take a trip of your dreams? Or visit a meaningful place? Share the highlights with friends and family.
  • A year in recipes: Get creative! Sometimes the best recipes turn into family favorites. Compile all the recipes you’ve made throughout the year and make a fun cookbook.
  • Favorite photos of the year: If you’re a photographer or simply enjoy taking photos, go through and pick your favorites for a portfolio or a coffee table book.

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