How to craft a family vacation photo book

Relive your most-loved vacation memories with a family photo album

Family vacations are more than just a break from routine—they're opportunities to create lasting memories and strengthen bonds. Capturing these family milestone moments in a photo album allows you to relive those special times and share them with loved ones. In this guide, we'll tell you how to craft a stunning family vacation photo album with printed memories that will become a treasured keepsake. From selecting the best photos to choosing the perfect layout, our expert tips will help you create an album that beautifully preserves your adventures for years to come.

1. Selecting your format

The first step in crafting your family vacation photo album is to select the format that best suits your needs. Consider the size, format, and type of photo book or album that will showcase your photos most effectively. We offer a variety of formats, from collectable softcover photo books to premium leather-bound albums. Think about how you want your album to be used and displayed. A larger coffee table book might be perfect for sharing with guests, while a smaller, more portable keepsake could be ideal for personal reminiscing and beginning a collection. If you have lots of photos from your trip and want to include them all, we’d recommend a photo book. Our Photo Books have high quality paper pages which allow for a higher page count to accommodate your wide array of images. For creating a collection of travel photo books, we love our Softcover Photo Books or our Travel Magazines. If you have fewer photos or only want to showcase a curated selection, then a photo album with its thicker board-like pages would be better suited.

2. Spotlighting the best bits

Once you've chosen your format, it's time to sift through your photos and choose your most-loved memories you want to spotlight in your family vacation photo album. We are big fans of our full-bleed image layouts to feature favorite moments, so when designing your keepsake make sure you don’t look past the variety of layouts that have full-bleed photo options. Complement your best memories with a mix of candid shots, scenic landscapes, and posed family portraits. Don't forget to include any special events or activities that were significant to your trip. A family vacation photo album is more than just a collection of pictures; it's a treasure trove of memories. Enhance your album by incorporating mementos such as ticket stubs, postcards, and maps. You can also include a section for reflections or a journal entry about your trip. These additions will give your photo book a scrapbook feel and create a narrative that tells the story of your vacation from start to finish.

3. Layouts and anecdotes

The layout of your photo book plays a crucial role in how your memories are presented. Our inhouse designers have crafted a range of Designer Layout Templates that allow for up to 24 photos per double-page spread. Borders and white space are your friends; allowing room for your photos to breathe allows them to stand out and have their own moment. A combination of full-bleed images, white spacing and borders will help each page of your family vacation photo album be a work of art. Consider leaving space for anecdotes and captions that provide context and add a personal touch. These little stories and notes will bring your photos to life, making your album more engaging and meaningful. Our customizable page layouts allow you to choose between solely photo displays or photos with text boxes to accompany them. Our free-transform tool also enables you to add text boxes where you see fit, and even play around with the images on each spread, so you can tailor each page to your liking.

4. Creating a collection of memories

A family vacation photo album is more than just a collection of pictures; it's a treasure trove of memories. And if you’ve been or plan to go on many family vacations, why stop at just one photo book or album? Create a collection of MILK Photo Books or Albums for each of your family travel adventures. This way, you'll have a beautiful, cohesive series that adorns your bookshelf, buffet or coffee table, each volume capturing a different chapter of your family's journey. As the years go by, your children can look back on these albums and remember the fun memories, seeing how they've grown and all the places they've explored. Our Softcover Photo Books or our Travel Magazines are the perfect collectable format to showcase vibrant family vacation moments and look eye-catching stacked on a bookshelf. Or if you’re after a beautiful coffee table collection you can’t go past our Premium Photo Books with their beautiful fabric hardcovers. With MILK Books' high quality printing and traditional book binding methods, each photo book or album will be a timeless keepsake, perfectly preserving your family's cherished moments and adventures.

Crafting a family vacation photo album with MILK Books allows you to relive your most-loved memories together. By following these expert tips, you'll create an album that not only showcases your photos beautifully but also tells the story of your adventure in a way that you and your family will cherish for years to come.