Making a photo book of your baby takes more work than it seems. Which photos do you pick from the thousands on your phone? Which service do you use? What does it cost? And how do you make sure you actually finish it?
Below you'll find the best-known services, an approach that works, and why more and more parents keep track of the year digitally first. That makes the photo book a lot less work afterwards.
Photos on your phone are not a memory book
Phones break, get stolen or fill up. iCloud and Google Photos catch that, but they remain storage without a story.
A photo book is something your child can later take off the shelf themselves. Many parents make one a year: a photo book of the first year, of the toddler years, of primary school.
The downside: making a photo book takes time. On average parents spend 3 to 8 hours on it, split between choosing photos, writing captions and designing the layout.
The best-known baby photo book services in the Netherlands
There are plenty of providers. These are the ones Dutch parents use most:
Albelli. The best known in the Netherlands. Good quality, regular discounts (up to 50%). Delivery in 5–10 working days. Price: from €14.99 for a small format.
Photobox. A little more expensive, but high quality. A good app for designing on your phone. Price: from €19.99.
HEMA Fotografie. The photo service of the Dutch high-street chain HEMA. Affordable, reliable and quick to collect in store. Price: from €9.99. Good for simple books.
Cheerz. Popular for Instagram-style layouts. Small format (15x15 cm), cheerful design. Price: from €12.99.
Cewe Fotoboek. Extensive software, lots of customisation options, professional quality. Price: from €9.99.
How many photos you need
A standard 20-page photo book (A4 landscape) typically holds 40–80 photos, depending on the layout. A book about your baby's first year usually runs to 40–60 pages, or around 100–150 photos.
That's exactly where it gets stuck. Most parents have thousands of photos on their phone without any structure at all. If you create a separate folder for each month during the year itself, you save yourself an enormous amount of searching afterwards.
Step by step: making a baby photo book
- Gather your photos by period. First week, first month, first smile, milestones. Sort them in chronological order.
- Choose your best 10–15 photos per period. Go for variety: close-ups, wider shots, atmosphere, funny moments.
- Pick a template from your service. Albelli, Photobox and HEMA all have baby themes, which saves a lot of time.
- Add short captions or dates. Birth weight, first step, first word. Small details make the book personal.
- Check the photo quality. Make sure your photos are at least 300 dpi at print size. Photos that are too small come out blurry.
- Order and wait. Most services deliver within a week.
Keeping track all year makes the photo book much easier afterwards
Parents who start on a photo book often get stuck on the same question: when was what? When exactly was that first smile? How old were they in that photo in the garden?
If you keep a digital diary through the year, you can simply look it up. Adding photos with a date and a note at the moment itself gives you, by the end of the year, a chronological overview that's ready to work with.
An app like Ouderliefde works exactly like that: you build a private timeline of photos, milestones and notes. You can export photos for a photo book service. That way you combine the ease of keeping track day to day with the lovely end result of a printed photo book.
The timeline in the app keeps growing as your child grows. So the years after that first photo book are already sorted by date and ready to go.
Read more about how other parents keep memories in our article on digital vs. paper baby books, or see our comparison of the best baby diary apps.
Common mistakes when making a photo book
Waiting too long. Many parents plan to make a photo book "when the baby turns one" and only start sorting then. By that point you have 10,000 photos to search through. Start selecting as early as you can.
Trying to use too many photos. A 200-page photo book becomes unreadable and extremely expensive. Be strict: quality over quantity.
Not adding any text. A photo of your baby at three months says little without context. Add dates and short notes. In 10 years those details will be priceless.
Using low-quality photos. Screenshots from WhatsApp or Instagram are often too low-resolution for print. Always use the original photos straight from your camera or phone.
How much does a baby photo book cost?
Expect to pay:
- Small format (15×15 cm, 20 pages): €10–€20
- Standard format (A4, 40 pages): €25–€50
- Large format (A3, 60 pages): €50–€100
With discount codes (Albelli and Photobox regularly offer 40–50% off) you can order a nice 40-page A4 book for €15–€25.
Try Ouderliefde for free
Want to keep track all year without effort, so your photo book almost makes itself at the end of the year? Every new Ouderliefde account starts with 7 days of free Premium (normally €5.49/month), with no payment details needed.
Sign up here: Create a free account →.