How to Create a Successful Year in Review Photo Book
By Lisa Bearnson
If you’re family is busy like mine, you probably have many memorable moments you want to record each year—and hundreds (if not more) photos to go along with those memories. The Year in Review book allows you to compile those photos along with journaling into a neat book that highlights the greatest moments while also including the special day-to-day stuff in between. The best part is the fun, yet simple design that allows you to decide just what occasions, activities, and people you want to make the focus. So whether your favorite holiday is Christmas or Halloween or you spend a lot of time with Grandma or your best friend, the Year in Review Book is perfect for documenting your life over the course of a year.
Finding & Gathering the Information
Choose your four favorite pictures from the year (if you can!) or use photos that will appear again later in the book.
Month to Month Highlights
Select photos based on the months and seasons, or photos from the biggest events/activities you experienced during the year. There are several of these kinds of pages for you to customize throughout the book. Be sure to give specific details (i.e. who, what, when, where, etc.) in the captions and journaling but also include your (and your family’s) thoughts and feelings about these events and activities.
Family
Include group photos as well as individual photos of your immediate and extended family. Be sure to include names, ages, and relationships of the family members. What were your favorite things to do as a family during the year? Where did you like to go as a family? Were any new family members added during the year? Be sure to include these kinds of details here.
Everyday Moments Throughout the Year
Include photos of and journaling about projects you completed, your kids and their friends gathered in your home, your new furniture, or anything else that represents your day-to-day life.
Extra Pages
Choose from holiday, travel/vacation, school, traditions, and special memories pages to customize the book based on the events during your year.
Journaling the Information
- Invite your family members and friends to help write the journaling for the book.
- Create a list of special days or events from the year.
- Document the achievements as well as the challenges from the year. Share in the book the obstacles you or your family overcame during the year.
Collaborate with Others
Want to gather more photos to add into the Year in Review book? Here are some ideas for additional photo resources.
- Ask your extended family members and friends for photos taken at reunions, weddings, outings, etc. that perhaps you were unable to capture.
- Go around the house and take pictures of things that represent your family as a whole or individually. For example: Dad’s golf clubs, the family DVD collection, or your dog and his favorite toy.
- Get the kids behind the camera to capture more photos of mom and dad together!
You may want to also check out the following articles for ideas:
Journaling Your Everyday Life >
List of Everyday Photos >
