How to Make a Family Reunion Photo Book Your Relatives Will Love

If you're hosting a family reunion - or if you're the family historian and it's your job to capture important moments in your family's journey - you'll need a special family photo book to commemorate the event. When you're creating family reunion photobooks, you'll have to plan ahead. That way, you can capture all the important moments, get photos of all your relatives, and write down quotes from everyone who wants to participate.

You'll definitely want to bring previous books along with you to each future reunion, too. They'll help spark conversation and get people busy reminiscing (and that's an extra perk for the family historian).

So where do you start? The key is in planning.

How to Create a Family Reunion Photo Book

First things first: It's totally fine if you've just decided to create a family reunion photo book - even if the reunion has already happened. Your job is to gather as many photos and videos as you can, so start contacting all your family members who attended the event. (Naturally, you won't include the videos in your book... but you will be able to capture conversations and gather more information about what was most important to the attendees.)

Pro tip: Create a family group on social media where your entire family can upload photos and comments with just a few clicks. You can sort through the photos your family posts and choose the ones you want to include - and then you can ask them to email you high-resolution copies. (Most social media sites don't publish photos in high-resolution.)

If you do have time to plan, you'll need:

• A camera that takes high-resolution photos (or a professional photographer).
• A notebook or digital recorder so you can ask people to contribute to the text in the book. Consider asking the eldest family members to recall memories about those who aren't there, to recount details of the family's history, or dedicate special messages to future generations.
• A dry-erase board that you can write on to identify family members you don't see that often. After you take a photo of someone you don't know well, scrawl his or her name on the dry erase board and take a digital photo of it - and nobody ever needs to know.
• A large sheet of paper or digital document people can sign and use to share messages.
• A "photo booth" where your family members can stop and have their pictures taken. For most reunions, the best place to put a photo booth is right next to the sign-in area - that way, nobody escapes the camera.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Throwing a Family Reunion

What to Do With Your Family Reunion Photos and Stories

Your family reunion photos and stories are priceless, so you want to organize them in a way that will capture future readers. Consider setting up your family reunion picture book like a yearbook, with a mix of portraits of people who attended, candid shots and group photos. Or, if it's easier - and if it suits your family's style - populate your book with all candid photos.

You can choose a customizable family reunion photo book template, or you can build one from scratch. If you're starting with a blank family reunion photo book to create your own layouts, create a few page templates with grids and collages that you can reuse several times; that way, you keep the book's design continuous and streamlined.

Have You Created a Family Reunion Photo Book With Mixbook?

We'd love to gather inspiration from your own family reunion photo books, so please share a link to your completed work in the comments below! You can also share your favorite images on social media (we're @Mixbook) to inspire others.

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