Top 10 sites to get your baby photo book printed

Technology has done tremendous things in the way of automating and simplifying our lives. Though times are hectic and busier than seemingly any other time in history, we also have the convenience of websites and apps to do our bidding for us, ultimately saving us time. If you're a parent, you'll find that one of the greatest technological advancements in the past 10 years is the ease of taking, storing, and printing photos.

There are numerous websites devoted entirely to the creation of photo books, making it easier than ever before to preserve your perfect memories nearly effortlessly.  While most of these websites also have an app as well, typically the sites are easier to use and have more options for creating and ordering your baby photo book.

This photo storage, sharing, and printing site has been around for a long while and is one of the first of its kind.  There are loads of templates and ideas for baby photo books on the website. There is also an app for both Apple and Android phones so you can upload photos directly from your device. Another plus is that often they have specials, so you can create a book and save some money with the right promo code or coupon.

Another neat thing about this site is that you can use Shutterfly to store your pictures and send them to a Target, Walgreens, or CVS store to pick up prints and avoid shipping costs. This is a nice feature if you need photos same-day and prefer the templates on Shutterfly's website over the others.

Target has a partnership with Shutterfly for same-day prints, but they also offer photo books and other personalized photo gifts through target.com. You can use the Target website or app to see if there is a store near your location where you can pick up photos and books, often same day, or they will ship directly to your home.

My personal favorite as the owner of a Google phone and Pixelbook is Google Photo Books. One of the cool things you can do is create photo books directly from your cloud of photos, either on your Google desktop or the app. The Google Assistant will even pre-select photos for you and compile a book for you automatically! The automatic books are editable, so you can swap out or add photos if you want to. Once you're happy with the final arrangement, you can order a 12x12 book up to 100 pages that are simple and easily stored with other books of its size.  You can even add text to the book cover, spine, or any of the pages.

Walgreens offers both a website and app where you can upload photos and create your own baby photo books. Like Target, you can order and pick up in the store, or have your photo book shipped to your home for a fee. Often, there are specials for reduced prices on photo books and free shipping. Available sizes vary with books as small as 4x6 inches, and as large as 11x14 inches, and many sizes and page numbers in between.

Tiny Beans is a website where you can upload digital photos, share them with family and friends privately through an invite-only site, and purchase prints, photo books, and other keepsakes. This is a preferred way to store and share photos securely for parents who do not have other social media accounts or do not trust the security or privacy of social media sites. There are numerous design templates for books, canvas prints, even gifts for grandparents such as photo Christmas ornaments. It is free to upload and store photos, the only thing that costs is the physical products you buy. 

This site's claim to fame is that you can create a personalized photo book in one minute. This is done by setting up a “series” on the website or app, which is lingo that describes how the program grabs every 60 photos posted to social media or on your phone camera roll and creates a book automatically. The site works similar to Google’s Photo Books with the automatic population of photos and is editable like Google Photo Books. Chatbooks come in either softcover or hardcover books. Each book can have up to 366 pages.

Similar to Tiny Beans, Moment Garden is a website that allows users to "Create a garden", meaning upload photos for storage and sharing in a private and secure site separate from major social media sites. Photos can be arranged and printed into coffee table books from the website. The app version is available on both Apple and Android devices.

An affiliate of Pottery Barn, this site offers high-end and unique mixed media photo books. Mixed media simply means a combination of all photos and of the other mediums such as handwritten text, envelopes for keepsakes, etc. Perhaps your stylistic preference is for the photos to be in a digital book but you’d like to handwrite personal messages or information. If that is the case, then a mixed media book is a great choice for you. Mixed media is truly the perfect compromise between traditional and modern. There is virtually no limit to the creative combinations you could come up with as well. Want to do a digital book with blank pages upon which you can glue an envelope with some sort of document or keepsake? Done!

Many parents use social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, to share their baby's photos and milestones with family and friends (and the world!). There are some apps out there that take your social media posts and turn them into a physical book. My Social Book is the most popular of these apps.

Similar to My Social Book, Social Print Studio is a site that takes Instagram photos, mobile, and desktop photos and turns them into books and other keepsakes like magnets, etc. One very popular product is their "Lil stickers", which are sticker books of your social media photos.

Most of the apps and websites for creating photo books and other keepsakes have numerous templates and photo editing tools. There are, however, even more, free options out there should you want to create a more custom look and feel to your book.

Adobe Photoshop isn't free, but it is widely available for a nominal annual fee and well worth its cost. You can edit every aspect of a photo with this program, and it comes with endless photo book templates that can be easily exported to some of the aforementioned websites for printing. Most professional photographers use this program to deliver professional and perfect photos to their clients.

If you have Photoshop, you can use CreativePro as a supplement site with additional templates for free. This site offers free software that includes photo finishing tools, tutorials, and more.

Canva is a website that offers thousands of templates for photo book creation.  It also features comprehensive photo editing tools similar to those available through Photo shop. Photo books created on this site must be purchased on the site, as they do not offer export options.

Elephants, foxes, whales, birds, and even llamas adorn the covers and pages or modern baby photo books. If you're looking for something more simple, there are options for that too. Virtually all aspects of digital photo books are customizable down to the patterns and shapes on every page.

What better way to preserve the memory of your baby’s birth than to print the stats on the cover of your photo book? This will come in handy when you’re sleepy and trying to remember how big your baby was at birth. These stats get harder to recall from memory alone the more babies you have too!

This cute photo book page has space for newborn pictures as well as a text box that allows for the birth story to be told in Mom and Dad’s words.

If you’re more interested in your baby being the focal point of the book, rather than whimsical designs, vibrant pinks, blues, or woodland animals, then this simple but elegant look might be for you.

These cute designs arrange the baby photos in relation to milestones, which are described in the provided text boxes.

You can also arrange baby photos in your book by months of age, like in this adorable example.

Most photo printing websites have app support for either Apple, Android, or both types of phones. Visiting the app store on your device is the best way to find out which sites are supported on your device.

There are many options for creating a unique and customized baby photo book with little effort. There are numerous apps and websites with designs and templates dedicated to creating a perfect keepsake and record of this special time in your baby's life.  Having programs such as Adobe Photoshop are helpful for unlimited capabilities in photo editing and book templates, but many of the features are built into other popular photo book websites as well.