Summer’s Here: 5 Creative Photo Book Ideas for Your June Adventures
The delights of early summer are unrivaled. Sun-drenched, fun-filled days stretching into balmy evenings. Nature all a-bloom with landscapes practically begging to be photographed. Families embracing a break from the usual routines of school and work. And, ideally, the chance to travel and explore, whether it’s a local weekend getaway or an epic international adventure.
Summer is also prime time for taking photographs that capture memories of the season. Showcasing summer’s best moments in a custom photo book is always a rewarding project. During the darkier, chillier seasons you can revisit these brighter days with a smile, remembering all the fun you had back in June. You can also get inspiration and ideas for future summer fun by looking back on this year’s adventures. Here are five creative photo book ideas (and recommended book themes) to inspire such a pleasing project.
Related: How to Make a Summer Memory Book in 7 Simple Steps
An Epic Road Trip Photo Book
Road trips are a classic summertime adventure for all ages. Whether you pack the kids in the back with a cooler full of sandwiches, pick up your BFFs and hit play on your favorite summer tunes, or hit the road with your sweetheart in the passenger seat, an unforgettable journey awaits.
Your road trip might include multiple destinations in a loop, or one faraway spot you can’t wait to see. Capture photos of roadside attractions, snoozing passengers, and scenic pull-outs during the “road” parts of your trip. Arrange them in your photo book between pages of activity photos at your destinations to document your itinerary.
Mixbook’s interactive and versatile Maps tool is ideal for road trip photo books. Start your book with a full itinerary map, and add other maps for local regions you explored along the way.
Mixbooker Jordan B., who created a whole series of matching travel books, always includes a scrapbook-style spread with scanned memorabilia. To do the same, save scannable items from your road trip like tickets, paper maps, coasters, and perhaps your own little notes and sketches.
Here are just a few recommended photo book themes for a road trip book:
Kids’ Summer Camp Memory Book
For many kids, summer means it’s time for camp. It could be a day camp where they do sports, arts and crafts, swimming, and games while making new friends, or a sleepaway camp for day-and-night fun with no parents in sight. Make sure your kids have the opportunity to take photos during their camp adventures, then help them create their own photo book to preserve the memories.
This is a great opportunity to get the kids talking about their camp experience. Encourage them to add captions and choose stickers that reflect their favorite memories. These kinds of photo books will become time capsules that they’ll treasure as teens and adults.
The following photo book themes are excellent choices for summer camp memory albums:
Beautiful Summer Beach Days Book
Whether you spend the day by the ocean or a lake, close to home or during a far-flung vacation, beach days are an iconic summertime experience. You and your family might love to be active on the beach, swimming or surfing in the waves, playing ball games and frisbee on the sand, and scouring for shells and tide-pool creatures. Or, you might prefer to lounge on the soft sand, soaking up the sun with a book in hand. Why not both?
Whatever your beach days look like, be sure to take tons of photos and turn them into a photo book with sublime summertime vibes. Mixbook’s best beach day photo book themes embrace a few different aesthetic styles. You might go for bold, colorful, and cartoonish, or dreamy, luxe, and serene. Mixbooker Chloe Roberts’s travel coffee table books embrace bright hues and sunny aesthetics—perfect for summer memories. Consider these other themes for your own beach day book:
A Book of Awesome Adventures in Nature
June’s longer daylight hours and pleasant weather make the great outdoors more enticing than ever. If you intend to spend as much of these early summer days as possible outside, your photo collection will reflect the beauty of nature and the joys of soaking it all in. Hiking, fishing, camping, mountain biking, and even just strolling around the most scenic spots in your neighborhood are all great subjects for photography. Showcase those nature-filled photos in a book that documents your love of the outdoors.
Check out these great nature photography tips from a Mixbooker who filled a photo book with beautiful landscape shots taken all over Northern California. Another top tip is to use one of these nature-focused themes:
A Photo Book of Summer Staycation Fun
If you and your family are staying home this summer, remember to take just as many photos as you would if you were vacationing further afield. No matter where in the world you live, there are almost certainly plenty of fun places to visit, scenic landscapes to explore, and family and friends eager to share your summer days. Take photos of BBQs in your own backyard, weekend brunch dates with your BFF, bike rides around the neighborhood, and day trips to local points of interest that you’ve always meant to check out, and finally did!
A photo book documenting the miscellaneous fun times of a summer staycation doesn’t need a specific theme or aesthetic style, so simply choose one that you love. If you live in a big city like NYC, choose an urban travel theme; if you’re in a rural spot, nature-loving themes might fit your photo collection. And if you happen to live in a popular vacation spot like Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, or Alaska, Mixbook has perfect themes just for you.
Also consider any versatile themes that suit your personal style, such as these:
Remember Those Summer Days and Nights with a Photo Book
Summer has just begun, but it’s never too early to start gathering together your favorite photos from the season. By the time you get unpacked from vacations, shake the sand out of your shoes, and send the kids back to school, you’ll have a whole amazing collection of memories to embrace.
Preserve the delights of summer in a custom photo book you’ll treasure forever. Head to Mixbook Studio™ and get started.
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