Family photos are a time-honored way to snap precious memories of special occasions. You can immortalize vacations, holidays, and even graduations with a carefully crafted family pic. Many families have started their own family photo traditions that they look forward to repeating over and over as a way to showcase their personalities and even how the family has grown.

Embracing family photo traditions is a great way to bond as a family, not just with your immediate household, but with the wider family you share your treasured memories with.

Family Photo Traditions: How To Start Them

Why should you start a family photo tradition? Ultimately, because it gives you a simple, fun way to capture more memories of your family — something you can never have enough of. As well as this, your family photo traditions:

Bring nostalgia for when the kids were little or older family members were around more often.
Create a simple way to share updates about your family — e.g., pregnancy news or a birth announcement, or even the arrival of a new pet!
Mean everyone knows what to do when it’s family photo time.
Give family members something to look forward to on special occasions.

You could start your new family photo tradition by looking back through your existing photos. Which do you like best? Consider copying the format of the picture or people's poses. You could also decide to take a picture at every family vacation. For example, everyone waiting outside the hotel or other accommodation pointing up at the sign is a great way to commemorate arriving at the start of an adventure.

Family Photo Traditions: How To Share Them

Photos are a wonderful way to connect with your family, especially now that it’s so easy to share your snaps via social media and email. Plus, of course, it’s also easy to make your favorite memories into gorgeous photo books that make great gifts.

Other ways to share photos with your family include getting together and sharing them in person while enjoying food or a few drinks together. You can use a flash USB drive or wireless options like Airplay to stream photos to a TV screen. Alternatively, use a projector and watch a slideshow of your favorite family photos on a big screen — family cinema time!

Another option is to create your own video slideshow. Some smartphones will support you in doing this, so take a look at your phone’s settings and see if you have the option. Many will add thematic music and fade photos into one another, adding a professional element to the slideshow. You can normally send these slideshows by email, making them another simple way to keep in touch and share family moments with those you might not see all the time.

Some of Our Favorite Family Photo Traditions

Which family photo traditions do we like best? There are so many to choose from, but here are three tried-and-tested traditions and tips that we love.

Watching the Kids Grow

Pose your child with a favorite teddy bear or another soft toy, and take the same pic every year. It’s a great way to see how much they’ve grown! Alternatively, create a family scene where you’re all in exactly the same positions but do it once a season and see how the little ones grow and change. You can use seasonal props and decorations to make this one really special.

Together in Front of the Tree

If you celebrate Christmas or the Solstice, a great family photo tradition is to gather in front of the tree. This looks even better if you have all the gifts in place and your household decorations up. This photo is a great one for those winter holiday cards! Adjust this to match your own holiday celebrations and traditions.

Embracing the Weird

Remember, your family is unique, and if that means your photos are a bit “out there,” that’s great! Embracing your kids’ wacky habits or your spouse’s interesting dress sense means your family photo traditions will be totally different from anyone else’s. Is the same person always looking away from the camera? That’s funny. Is the dog climbing on someone’s shoulders? Magical. On that last note, include your pets if you can. You can never have enough photos of your furry companions.

Come and share your own family photo traditions with us on Facebook or Instagram. For even more inspiration, check out our wonderful quotes about family — perfect to add text to your photo projects.