Family photo traditions: making memories last

Every individual lives their own story, but families have stories too. Families often start small—just a couple—then baby makes three. Next comes the puppy, then other siblings, maybe a cat or two, and extended family members and in-laws.

Group photos taken over time—celebrating holidays, vacations, and even graduations—are a classy and classic way to memorialize your family’s story.

Many families have started their own family photo traditions that they look forward to repeating over and over as a way to showcase their personalities and how the family has grown.

Embracing family photo traditions is a great way to bond as a family, not just with your immediate household, but with the wider family with whom you share your treasured memories.

What are family photo traditions?

We all know what a family photo involves: mom and dad and kids and pets gathered together and smiling for the camera. But what is a family photo tradition?

A family photo tradition is a decision by family members to pose for the camera in the same place, wearing the same colors, or on the same occasion year after year. It could be gathering in front of the Christmas tree, standing knee-deep in the ocean in summer, or all in costume for Halloween. While a single family photo captures the group at one moment in time, a family photo tradition tells the evolving family story.

Why start a family photo tradition?

So why should you start a family photo tradition? The desire for connection is at the heart of all traditions. Even the common family tradition of eating at the dinner table together connects you as a family. So does going over to Grandma’s house for the 4th of July, taking a family camping trip every Labor Day weekend, or walking on the beach after Thanksgiving dinner.

These are all magical moments of connection, and if they become an annual tradition, they are built into your family schedule like comforting clockwork. And when they become part of a family photo tradition, remembering is easy since—with the photos—the visuals take you back, letting you return to the moment at any point in the future.

In our increasingly digital world, it is reassuring to have physical things in our lives that remind us of our connection to the people we love.

How to start a family photo tradition?

Ready to start some family photo traditions? Here are some suggestions about how to begin.

Look through your favorite existing family photos

Many of us scroll through existing photos from time to time just to remember where we’ve been and what we’ve done. That can be the first step in starting a new family photo tradition. Find your favorite family photos, then copy the format of the picture or people's poses and turn them into an annual photo tradition.

Schedule a family photo at every family vacation

Whether you head to the beach every July or look forward to hitting the slopes in winter, family vacations are perfect for family photo traditions. Remember that the poses don’t have to be the same year after year. The first beach photo might be helping the kids build a sandcastle, and then graduate to flying kites or waxing surfboards. There is always something interesting to snap on vacation—just be sure that the whole family is in it.

Holiday traditions can become family photo traditions

Holidays roll around year after year and you don’t even have to schedule them. So use these festivities as a hook for a family photo tradition. All dressed up in red on Valentine’s Day? Watching the clock tick down to midnight on New Year’s? Hanging stockings on Christmas? Gathered around a birthday cake on the kid’s birthday? All are great family photo traditions.

Anything you do regularly as a family is perfect for photos

What sorts of activities do you enjoy as a family? It can be anything, from volunteering at the homeless shelter on Thanksgiving Day to roller blading in the park—those are all great places and spaces for a family photo tradition.

Embrace the weird!

Your family is unique, and if that means your photos are a bit “out there,” that’s great! Embracing your kids’ wacky habits or your spouse’s interesting dress sense means your family photo traditions will be totally different from anyone else’s. So use the weird as a starting point for a family photo tradition.

Is the same person always looking away from the camera? That’s funny! Does Joey always put two fingers up behind Dad’s head in a photo? That’s family for you! Is the dog climbing on someone’s shoulders? Magical.

Pets keep our lives together

Nothing is better to include in a family photo tradition than pets. Pets are part of the family, whether a great dane dog as big as grandma or an angry kitty. The pets will grow too, enough to show the passing of the years. Include your pets in every family photo! You can never have enough photos of your furry companions.

Family photo traditions: how to share them

Think of photos as a kind of wonderful glue that keeps your extended family connected. And that’s even more true these days since it’s easy to share your snaps via social media and email. With just a little tech savvy, you can even create your own video slideshow complete with thematic music.

But, frankly, no way of sharing family photos is better than making your favorite memories into gorgeous photo books. It’s easy to create a hands-on photo book with Mixbook. You just select a photo book theme, then upload and arrange your photos. All photo book designs are fully customizable too, so change out the text fonts or the colors or any element to suit your fancy. You can order extra copies too; they make fabulous and unforgettable family gifts.

According to Dr. Christie Chung, Cognitive Psychologist and Provost at Palo Alto University, “With storybooks, with picture books, you … can actually refer back to that one story, or that one party, or that one excursion that you took together as a starting point of a certain story. To me, it's a really powerful way for us to continue to create the family story, even though you might not have thought of it that way initially.”

There are many Mixbook photo book themes perfect for a family photo collection. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Everyday Modern Family: With its crisp, minimalist, all-white color scheme, this classic design offers ample full-page photo spots for showcasing your most striking family photographs.
• Bold Squiggle Year in Review: Family fun is in focus in this year-in-review style photo book featuring a squiggle motif that guides the eye through the visual story of the past year. The vibe is bouncy and joyful and the fonts are funky retro.
• Sweet Memories: This serene photo book theme is perfect to preserve sweet memories of special times with your family. Its gentle color scheme features shades of sage, chartreuse, pinks, and soft grays, with artistic backgrounds created around leaf prints, flower patterns, and delicate polka dots.

A family photo book is a real joy, since it safeguards all the precious memories that brightened the family’s year. By reviewing the photos, the family relives its own story and decides how it will honor the past.

Get your family photo book started today

Before those family photos get misplaced or deleted, get over to Mixbook and put them into something tangible, and wonderful. Thinking about it is the first step, but it’s so easy and fun to start creating a photo book that you’ll be sorry you didn’t start earlier.