Sometimes family photos get a bad rap. It’s stressful to prepare, you have to convince some family members to participate and then getting everyone dressed on top of that!

But what if family photos were something to look forward to every year? What if we changed our mindset and made family photos a special tradition that everyone looked FORWARD to? Family photos could be a part of your own ‘Family Day’ which includes a fun activity, family photos, dinner out, walking for ice cream. Whatever your family loves to do could be included on this special day. A day to INVEST in the most important thing in your life – your FAMILY.

Here are some ideas to make your family photos not just fun and unique but to create memories that you and your children will look back on fondly.

• Bake with the kids! Make cookies, pudding, muffins. Keep it simple!
• Painting! What if everyone in the family painted a portrait of another member? This could get a lot of laughs!
• Family dance party. Put on your toddlers favourite tunes and let them loose!
• Street hockey game. Do you have a hockey player or two in your family. Bring the nets out onto the street and let me capture them in their element.
• Board games! My family loves board games. Pick your favourite and play as part of your session.
• Kids get to do Mom and Dad’s makeup. I think this would be hilarious. Probably we would save it until the end of the session so we’ve got some ‘normal’ looking photos first.
• Family basketball game. Shoot some hoops with your teens. They’ll be happy to have something to do while taking photos.
• Grab a kite and walk over to the neighbourhood park. My absolute favourite family photos I’ve had taken are with a little green kite that made all the difference.
• Make a special family recipe together. Do you all love Grandma’s cabbage rolls? Pick something that has meaning to you as a family.

There are so many things you could do during family photos that could take them from just being photos to being an ingrained memory in your kids’ heads. Make family photo day the BEST day of the year that everyone looks forward to.

Do you have ideas on what you’d like to do as a family activity for photos? Send me an email virginia@sweetgingerphotography.com and I’d love to make your ideas a reality!