A fun fact about me is that I LOVE photo albums. If you come to my house, you will see them all over the place. After any big event or big trip, you can find me searching for the perfect album and getting photos printed for it. Sometimes I will also create a photobook online just to mix things up. Every so often I will choose an album to look through and reminisce on all of the special memories. There’s just something different about having photos in a tangible album versus only on your phone.
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This year, I will be going into my 4th year of teaching. Before I started teaching, someone once told me to keep a box of memories to look back on when I’m having a rough day. I decided to put my own personal spin on that piece of advice. At the end of each school year, I take all of the pictures from my phone and create a photobook of memories. These photobooks are SO special to me! They hold everything from spirit week and field trips to students holding up the first book they read completely by themselves! I keep them in my classroom during the school year and students love looking back on them too. This upcoming school year may be the most unique out of all of them, but I know I will find a way to capture some photobook worthy memories. I am sharing below the top 3 places I love ordering photobooks or other photo related products from.
FreePrints Photobooks
All of the photobooks in the above picture are from the Photobooks app by FreePrints. With this app, you receive a 20 page softcover photobook free each month. You pay for additional pages, as well as a flat rate shipping charge of $7.99. I like this app because it’s very user friendly and I always know up front what I have to pay. What I love most about these photobooks is that they have several super cute themes to choose from. The themes not only customize the front cover, but also the backgrounds of all of the pages in the book. I also use the FreePrints app when I make photo albums, which is based on the same premise. You receive 85 printed photos a month for free, and only pay for shipping. If you want to try it out, you can use my referral code RTODD53 for an additional 5 free prints each month.
Chatbooks
Chatbooks is another app that I recently started using. I like that you can also work on your photobook on the computer and not just in the app. They have several sizes, as well as hardcover and softcover options. They also allow you to make different collages so you can put more than 1 picture on each page. The neatest thing about Chatbooks is their Ongoing Photobook Series. You can link your Instagram account to Chatbooks and it will automatically create a photobook for you after every 60 pictures! This is the perfect way to get your most memorable moments in print form without having to put in the work. I just created a hardcover Chatbooks for my sister’s birthday. The quality was great and she loved it! Chatbooks currently has a sale going on so now would be the perfect time to try it out – get 20% off with code GIMME20 through 7/31. You can also click HERE for $10 off your first book.
Shutterfly
I think Shutterfly is the photo company that has definitely been around the longest. I remember using them for everything in high school! But they still to this day have so many great quality products, including photobooks. The most unique one is their Make My Book Service. Upload your pictures and the Shutterfly designers will make your photobook for you and have it ready for your review in 3 days. You can also design your own photobook and choose from many themes by occasion (wedding, vacation, family, etc.) They definitely have the largest variety of designs and customization options. The great thing about Shutterfly is that they are always running promotions. You can currently save 30% off everything with code MERRY and receive free shipping on orders over $39 with code SHIP39. Click HERE to start browsing Shutterfly’s photobooks!
Whether it’s wedding photos, vacation photos, or just every day life photos, make sure you get some of them off your device and into an album or photobook! You will thank yourself one day when you or your kids are looking through them and reminiscing on precious memories. And don’t forget to share this tip with a teacher who may like to preserve classroom memories like I did!
