How to Preserve Family Memories for Grandkids

One day, Miss T and Little N will be grown up. And one day, Steve and I will be gone. So, I’m thinking ahead, trying to capture and save family memories of these precious years.

Take Lots of Photos on your Phone!

Thanks to smartphones, I can document even the most mundane moments of each grandchild’s life. And I do.

For example, when I used to walk Miss T home after school, I would take a photo of her at the same spot–not every day, but consistently–to mark her growth, from ages three to five.

I have 4,314 photos of Miss T in my phone; fewer of Little N because he’s younger. Yes, I need to edit them.

As you take pictures of the grandkids, don’t forget to include yourself. After grandparents have passed, one of the regrets loved ones often express is the lack of photos to document the grandparent-grandchild relationship.

While we are in lockdown, I am still shooting photos of the grandkids. I snap pictures from the FaceTime app when we have our distanced chats. (Miss T taught me how.)

I also ensure that we document special holidays. For instance, without fail, we take family photos every Christmas. In the old days, Steve was our family photographer. Now Dave brings his camera and tripod to do the honors.

This year, for the first time ever, we skipped a family photo session with everyone together, due to the pandemic. However, Steve and I and our son who is part of our pod took one set of photos (I used my iPhone on a tripod) and Dave and his family took the other set to maintain the family tradition.

Saving Photos for Family Memories

My photos are stored in the cloud automatically with both iCloud and Google Photos. I’ve designated Dave as my Google sharing partner to ensure he’ll be able to access all my photos of his children at any time. I also store my photos on an external hard drive for additional backup.

While digital photos take no physical space, are searchable, portable, and can be viewed on demand, it’s good to have some prints, too, so the whole family can enjoy them together.

Printing Photos: The Best Printer

Dave says the best printer is simply, the one you will use. I have an Epson dedicated photo printer, but the ink is getting more expensive and difficult to find, and these days, it always needs color correction, which is not my skill. It’s no longer the printer I will use.

So, my best printer is the Selphy CP1300 compact photo printer that Dave and his family bought me one Christmas (there is a newer model). It requires just a single ink cartridge and it comes with a set of photo papers to make 180 prints; Canon claims prints will last 100 years.

The printer can only makes postcard-size prints. The photo needs to pass through the printer for each color–cyan, magenta, yellow, and black–until the print is complete (this is how it can do with just one ink cartridge). But the quality is excellent and its simplicity makes it a winner.

About those Old Photo Albums

I don’t think we want to go back to the scads of photo albums that take up so much space. Remember “magnetic” albums? Are your photos stuck on the pages for all time? Or have they lost their stickiness and fallen out?

I need to clean out my cabinet and toss photos that aren’t relevant for posterity; otherwise, my kids will have to spend hours sorting through them one day.

I plan to scan the best photos with my photo scanner. If you don’t have a scanner, use the free Google Photo Scan app. The beauty of this phone app is you can scan photos right from the photo album.

I’m anxious to digitize the photos to get them in the cloud. If we suffer a catastrophe that destroys our house (thinking earthquake), all the photo albums–and all the family memories–will be lost.

What to do with your Photos

Photo Books: There are many good vendors, but Dave uses Google Photo books to create an annual for each child. While they start at an affordable $10 and $20, the price can rise astronomically as you add more pages.

Dave likes the convenience of pulling photos from his Google Photo account and dropping them into his layout. The results are certainly beautiful, and unlike a bulky photo album, these books are very compact and easy to store.

Scrapbooks: I made a scrapbook for Miss T when she was born. It was meant to cover her first year of life, but I never completed it. Recently, it occurred to me that Little N didn’t have one, so now I am making a baby scrapbook for him and I’ll finish Miss T’s, too.

Scrapbooks allow you to add little tangible mementos–a Christmas gift tag from baby’s first Christmas, a handful of confetti from a baby shower–that bring the child’s story to life.

My scrapbooks won’t win any prizes. They’re simple, with a few cut-out images to decorate the pages. But Miss T still loves to look at hers (even unfinished) and I am hoping Little N will like his, too.

Binder Books: You can also use ring binders and plastic sleeves to make themed books inexpensively. Years ago, I made one for each of my children featuring our favorite Christmas recipes and including Christmas photos of each child.

Other Ways to Preserve Family Memories

I’m experimenting with making more movies using iMovie. I created one when our whole family went on vacation to Hawaii a few years ago. It combines still photos and videos with Hawaiian music.

I made a Christmas video when Miss T was a few years old. I’m working on another Christmas video that will span the children’s Christmases from when Miss T was born, to last year’s pandemic event. The videos are time-consuming and sometimes frustrating for a novice like me, but the opportunity for creatively is satisfying, too.

There are so many ways to actively work on preserving family memories for posterity. It’s a labor of love. It’s a good thing to do.

What are ways you preserve family memories?

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