WHAT TO DO WITH OLD FAMILY PHOTOS: 7 IDEAS FOR YOUR FAMILY:

Taking pictures is a wonderful way of preserving the good times, but organizing multiple photos can be overwhelming if you’ve never done it before.

This is especially true when your pile spans generations! But before you consider tossing photos into a box and throwing them out, consider how each old photo represents a moment in your family’s history – and how much of a shame it would be to get rid of them. 

But what are the alternatives to storing or throwing them out? Read on to find out about eight of our favorite ideas for bringing your family photos back to life in a very special way. 

7. Make A Photo Book For Future Generations

Photo books are an excellent way to preserve old photos for the next generation! They’re completely customizable and can contain everything from documents to your favorite photos of family members living and long gone. 

Unlike regular family photo albums that grow as time goes by, people create photo books with a specific purpose in mind. You can compile paper photos of your parents throughout the years for an anniversary or even cobble together a digital collection for reprinting and sharing with friends and family! Either way, they’re a great way to document your memories before they’re lost to time.

6. Add Stories And Captions To Your Photo Albums

A picture can be worth a thousand words, but adding stories and captions next to a printed photograph can make them so much more special. Imagine this: interested kids can find out more about their great-grandparents than they ever would’ve known otherwise. But in the same way, older relatives can use this opportunity to pass down tips and wisdom they’ve learned over the years.

It doesn’t matter if it’s just one sentence or an entire paragraph – every detail helps paint a clearer picture of daily living during each point in history!

5. Give Your Old Photos To Family Members

Many folks have boxes of old photos that they store in their attic and forget about, but what happens to these hard copies if they’re left to sit in the dark until some unknown date? The short answer: they usually fade and crumble with time. But if you’re not too jazzed about the idea of putting old photos on display in your family room, we recommend giving them away to trusted relatives for safe keeping. 

This way, you won’t have to worry about family photos being lost forever, and they can double as an excellent present.

4. Design a Photo Wall

The easiest way to organize your images is by pulling them out of their boxes and hanging them up. But that doesn’t mean every photo has to be framed and sitting on your mantle – you’d just run out of space! Craftier folks can make a family tree out of their photos or even a vast mosaic art piece to sit in their foyer; the possibilities are endless. 

Hanging them up is one of the easiest ways to share photos with your guests, and they may even serve as inspiration for a deep conversation or two.

3. Digitize Your Photographs

Turning your old photos into digital images can be one of the best ways to preserve your memories, but only if it’s done right. While the internet has a wealth of tips and tricks about converting your print images into scanned photos, you only need two things: a flatbed scanner and time. 

From this point onward, you’ll have to ensure that every one of your print images is well-lit and adequately aligned when converting them to digital photos, and you’re good to go! You can even create tags and folders to keep them properly stored away on an external hard drive or in a cloud-based service like Google Photos!

2. Make DIY Gifts

There are so many gifts you can make with photos! YouTube has tons of DIY projects that incorporate family pictures into art projects. There’s really no end to what you can do and family and friends will definitely appreciate gifts with photos of treasured memories.

• Photo clock
• Ornaments
• Collage prints
• Photo books

Add a quote to the picture and create an inspirational wall hanging or a coffee table book. Use resin to create beautiful gifts like paperweights, trays, and displays or even a unique photo frame.

1. Have Your Favorite Old Photographs Restored in Digital Painting

Like human relationships, sometimes all your old photos need is a little bit of love and attention. Finding faded and torn images can feel like the end of an era, but some professional services can easily bring them back to life! Some folks may even want to try to DIY the process, but particularly damaged photographs might need professional help.

After all, you can’t put your old photos into your book or turn them into a cute image-themed gift if they’re all torn and faded – so consider having them restored in digital painting is a great idea!