Photo albums – they are pretty self explanatory, right? Think again! We’re well past the days when all of our photos were physical, and everything that made it from film to print was thrown into endless albums and kept in the loft. Nowadays, with so many of our memories being kept digitally, photo albums have become so much more than what they once were. Now, there are so many ways to use a photo album to show off your favourite pictures and memories, to keep in pride of place and look at far more than just once a year.

With that being said, photo albums have become so much more than just a book full of pictures. You can really get creative with how you use them – and we’ve collated our 7 favourite ways to use a photo album to inspire you next time you print off your favourites. Whether a gift for someone you love or a way of collating your own favourite moments, we think you’re going to love the ideas on this list!

7 inspiring ways to use a photo album 

Create an Album for every trip you go on

First on our list of ways to use a photo album is for the travellers amongst you, if you love to travel, or are trying to travel more! You don’t have to be jetting off to far away places to try this one either. Keep track of any day trips you take to lovely nearby towns and keep all of your travel memories in one place in a beautiful personalised photo album.

How-to:

• Use a page (or a two-page spread) per trip. Pop the name of the place you went to at the top of the page.
• Include some prompts that are the same on every page, such as favourite place you visited, best meal you ate, favourite memory.
• Collect photos and souvenirs from your trip, such as tickets and postcards, to include on the page – and decorate it as you wish!

Commemorate each month of your child’s first year of life

This is one of our favourite ways to use a photo album – super sentimental and something you and your little one will hold onto forever. Definitely something you can do retrospectively once you’re out of the throes of newborn life, but it is just a lovely way to organise the hundreds (or thousands) of photos you take during baby’s first year. 

How-to:

• Pick a favourite photo of your little one each month (we know, it’s so hard to choose just one!!)
• Create a ‘cover page’ for each month with their milestone photo, as well as any memories or milestones from the month.
• Fill the pages following with any other favourite photos from that month, until you reach the following month. At the end of their first year you’ll have a whole book of memories!

Use it as a junk journal to collect special keepsakes and memories

Junk journaling is one of our favourite trends right now and we couldn’t help but jump on it! A personalised photo album makes a great junk journal – lots of space for seeing where your creativity takes you! This is one of the more inventive ways to use a photo album, but we love how creative the results can be!

How-to:

• Collect anything and everything, such as photos, receipts, stickers on coffee cups, pretty leaflets, quotes from magazines and more.
• Create journal pages on whatever you like – whether using your mood as a guide, picking a theme or just going with the flow.
• Enhance your junk journal with other elements such as stickers, washi tape, or whatever else you like!

Craft a unique wedding gift with a picture and memory from every person in the wedding party

This way to use a photo album takes a little bit of forward planning, but is so worth it in the end when you see the bride or groom’s face! You fill a photo album with photos and memories of the bride, groom or couple from everyone in their wedding party. A great idea for a hen party gift, or to give to the couple on their wedding day! 

How-to:

• Well in advance, get in touch with the wedding party and ask everyone to send you a photo (or photos) of them with the bride or groom.
• Along with the photos, have them send over something to write alongside the photos. This could be a letter to them or their favourite memory together.
• Fill a photo album with these pictures and messages, and give to the bride or groom on the big day – or maybe before, as there will probably be tears!

Create a birthday album with an entry every year as your child grows

This one is a little similar to the ‘baby’s first year’ idea above, but instead of every month, you have a section of the photo album for every year as your child grows. If you have lots and lots of photos, you could even do a photo album per year! Take a read to find out how to set one up.

How-to: 

• On your child’s birthday, take a photo and stick it into an album.
• Ask them some questions – it’s great to keep these the same every year so you can see how their answers change e.g. what’s your favourite book, what do you want to be when you grow up.
• As the year goes on, fill the following pages with your favourite photos of them, until the next birthday rolls around!

Make a gift for a friend with all of your memories together

This one is pretty simple, but simple is often the most impactful. Fill a photo album with all of the beautiful memories you have with you and your bestie. Personalised photo albums really do make the most heartfelt gifts!

How-to:

• Collect all of your favourite photos of you and your friend together.
• You can arrange this any way you like, but a good structure is to go in chronological order, or to pick a theme for each page (e.g. meals out, trips away, funny moments).
• Fill the pages with your photos, write your memories and messages alongside them, and watch as your friend gets to reminisce on your wonderful times together. 

Use it as a living Vision Board to keep you on track to your goals

As big forward planners and goal-setters, this idea just speaks directly to us. Why settle for one vision board when you can have a whole book full of pages to help you achieve your dreams? You can keep adding to it as work towards your end goals, too!

How-to:

• On each double page of your photo album, write down one goal.
• Fill one side of the page with inspiration that drives you to your goal, from quotes to pictures (Pinterest is a great place to find inspo pics!). 
• As you work towards (or achieve) your goals, fill the opposite page with photos of your journey to getting there. Eventually you’ll have an album of your achievements!

And there you go! 7 inventive ways to use a photo album – next time you have a special occasion coming up or want a creative way to save your memories, why not try one of these ideas? Let us know in the comments below if you do!

P.S. We’ve got a whole host of personalised photo albums that work perfectly for any of the ideas on this list. Take a look here.