How to use a baby’s milestone pictures (8 fun ideas)

Your baby is here, time to take those monthly milestone photos!  You set up your baby, get the cutest backgrounds and props, and start snapping.  The year flies by and now you have a great set of 12 pictures of your baby’s first year.  Now that you have taken them, you may be asking yourself what should I do with my baby’s milestone pictures?

If you would like some tips on how to take your baby’s milestone photos, please check out my article here.

You spent a lot of time and effort on these photos, so you don’t want them to just sit on a hard drive somewhere never being looked at.  I complied 8 different ways you can use your baby’s milestone photos:

1. Put them in a baby book
2. Create an album
3. Put them in a baby box
4. Make a slideshow on a digital frame
5. Buy a milestone frame
6. Create a collage print
7. Create a banner for the baby’s first birthday
8. Make a calendar

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

Put them in a baby book

This one may seem obvious, but a lot of baby books don’t have a specific spot for you to display monthly milestone photos of your baby.  Thus, you may not even think about including them in your album!  If there is not a specific spot for the photos, try making a collage of the images and including it in your album.  A lot of albums have generic photo pages, so you could put a collage on one of those pages.

If you really like full sized 4×6 photos, you can try and find a baby book that has special pages for each of the first 12 months.  These are the albums I prefer.  I have looked around, and the only ones I have found with a separate page for the months are the albums from Hallmark (not a sponsor or affiliate).  I really like to have the individual pages, because you can also write down all the milestones your child has achieved over the month as well as displaying their picture. 

Create an album

Nowadays there are so many album options, from traditional to digital.  A popular album choice is creating an album online and then getting a physical copy printed.  Pro Tip: This works as a great present for the grandparents!

The advantage to creating an album is that you can use other photos besides the monthly milestones.  You can create pages for the first smile, the first Mother’s Day, etc.  A lot of digital services for creating online albums have cute layouts and embellishments you can choose as well.

There are a lot of services out there to choose from.  I personally use Shutterfly (not a sponsor or affiliate).  Their system is very easy to use, and they have a lot of fun design choices.  I have created several albums through their company, and even used Shutterfly to create my wedding guestbook!  However, there are many different companies out there that will help you create an album, so be sure to do some research

Put them in a baby box

Baby boxes are a popular item among sentimental parents (myself included).  A baby box is where you store sentimental items from your child’s early years in a special box or container.  These items can include baby clothes (especially ones worn home from the hospital or for baptism), favorite toys, early artwork, preserved footprints, and more.  Adding printed milestone photos is a great addition to a baby box.

To organize the photos, buy a small photo album.  You can find small, flimsy albums at many different stores (including the dollar store).  If you can, buy one where you can take out the front cover and customize it.  Create a cover that has your baby’s name on it, then it will feel really special. 

Make a slideshow on a digital frame

Digital frames are a great way to display multiple digital photos in one place.  With digital frames, you can upload a variety of digital pictures and the frame will “scroll” through the options.  Depending on what kind of frame you get, you can have a variety of viewing options. 

Digital frames are a great way to display any type of photos when you are low on space.  With monthly photos, you have 12 pictures to display (13 if you include the newborn one).  Digital frames can scroll through all of those images and more while taking up limited space.

Buy a milestone frame

Believe it or not, you can actually get special frames to display your baby’s monthly photos.  You can find them in craft and home stores, also online.  They usually have a large space for the “newborn” picture and 12 smaller slots for each of the months. 

If you choose to use a special frame, be sure to pay attention to the dimensions.  Usually the 1 – 12 month slots are an unusual size.  This may mean you need to shoot your photos with a lot of white space around the edge (so you can crop easier).  Also pay attention to the orientation of the frame slots (horizontal or vertical).  I recommend taking both horizontal and vertical milestone photos so you are ready no matter how you end up using them.

Create a collage print

Collage prints are a fun way to display multiple photos on one page.  You can utilize a variety of printing places to create the collage.  I personally use Walgreens (not a sponsor) and create collages online.

Once you have printed your collage you can use it in a variety of ways: put it in a frame, display it in a baby book, even use it as the cover to a binder.  Or, you can leave it in a digital form and use it as a wallpaper for your computer and phone.

Create a Banner for the baby’s first birthday

Baby’s first birthday arrives so fast!  One minute you have a tiny newborn baby, and the next you have a toddler destroying their own cake!  Their birthday party is a great time to display those monthly photos and show everyone how big they have gotten over the year.

To make a simple banner, print the milestone photos (vertical works best).  Take thick string and small clothespins and pin the photos to the string.  Then, hang the banner on the wall or over a doorway.  This is just a very simple way to make a banner.  You can look up other tutorials or add embellishments to make the banner your own!

Make a calendar

If you ask the grandparents what should I do with my baby’s milestone pictures, they will probably say make a gift for them. Consider creating a calendar for them using the baby’s milestone photos. 

Depending on when your baby was born, you won’t have a full year’s worth of photos for the calendar.  You can wait until the next year, when you have all 12.  You can also use just the ones you have an fill in the others with your maternity photos. 

Besides just the milestone photos, you could create a collage each month and use a variety of photos.  If you plan ahead, you can get seasonal photos for each month and include them in your calendar.  It will be the hit gift at the family gathering!  It is also a great way to admire your little one through the whole year. 😊

Conclusion

So what should I do with my baby’s milestone pictures?  There are so many options!  These are just a few of the ways you can use your monthly baby photos.

Just a recap of what was covered:

1. Put them in a baby book
2. Create an album
3. Put them in a baby box
4. Make a slideshow on a digital frame
5. Buy a milestone frame
6. Create a collage print
7. Create a banner for the baby’s first birthday
8. Make a calendar

What ideas do you have that are not on this list?  Comment below!

If you liked this post, please look at some of my other articles:

How to take Weekly Pregnancy Photos (5 simple steps)

How to take monthly milestone photos (12 tips that work)

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