Our 8 Best-selling Mother’s Day Photo Book Themes

If you’ve already made the decision to make your mom a personalized photo book for Mother’s Day this year, then congratulations! It’s an excellent choice that checks every box. A custom photo book is thoughtful, sentimental, personal, and unique. It also counts as a homemade gift, one that’s of the highest quality and sure to be treasured by every type of mom.

You still have quite a few decisions to make before clicking “order” on a finished Mother’s Day photo book. Luckily, all the choices about photos, captions, and design details add up to a fun, meaningful project you’ll enjoy. The first key decision – and one that makes every other step much easier – is picking a theme from Mixbook’s comprehensive Mother’s Day photo book collection.

To help you create a photo book that’s perfect for your amazing mom, take a look at these best-selling Mother’s Day photo book themes.

Year in Review Coffee Table Book

The Year in Review Coffee Table Book theme is one of our most popular choices for a Mother’s Day book. A major benefit of the year-in-review format is that it gives you a straightforward structure for filling the pages of the book. Instead of picking from a whole lifetime’s worth of photos, limit yourself to memories captured between last year’s Mother’s Day and this one. Sort your photos by date and fill the pages of the photo book chronologically by month or season.

The theme offers a clean, minimalist design, perfect for moms who prefer a sophisticated, unfussy style. Its photo compositions emphasize full-page placements and edge-to-edge framing between crisp white lines, letting every photo shine without any distractions.

Faux Linen Family Photo Album

With its elegant black and cream cover and chic family name title text, the Faux Linen Family Photo Album makes an excellent choice for a Mother’s Day gift book. Likewise, the simple photo spreads with wide white frames are perfectly suited to moms with refined tastes. This book is fancy enough to be a home decor item she can display on the coffee table, or give pride of place on the bookshelf.

While the design of this theme skips any embellishments, its varying photo layouts offer plenty of visual interest. Compositions range from single square photos to diverse grid arrangements that can fit portrait, landscape, and square formats of all different sizes. Fill it with an entire photo collection comprising images of people and places your mom loves the most.

Softly Painted

Sun-bleached shades of coral and blue-grays in painterly swashes characterize the lovely design of the Softly Painted photo book theme. If this sounds like your mom’s style, then fill this theme with photos you know she’ll love, and your Mother’s Day gift is sure to be one she’ll adore.

The photo spread layouts vary from full-page showcases for the most stunning of images, to neat grids of square shots that can tell a unique story about Mom’s life and memories. Select spreads feature brief caption blocks in a blocky, modern typeface, which are fully customizable. Use them to wish your mom Happy Mother’s Day and tell her how much she means to you.

Hand Lettered Phrases Family

A Mother’s Day photo book gift expresses your love for your mom through the power of images. But, there’s no reason not to express that with well-chosen words as well! The Hand Lettered Phrases Family photo book theme composes its fun, creative image spreads around special phrases in a playful, handwriting-inspired text.

You can choose to keep or customize the suggested examples like “enjoy the little things,” “you are one of a kind,” and “life is an adventure.” Match your photo choices to each phrase and create a book that communicates meaningful Mother’s Day wishes in both words and pictures.

Simple Modern Book

Does “simple and modern” describe your mom’s style? If so, the Simple Modern Book theme is an ideal choice for a Mother’s Day photo book gift. It’s a mostly minimalist theme, with tidy but diverse photo compositions on white pages. However, the design is brightened by the elegant embellishments of geometric patterns in fine gold lines, and delicate gold frames around select images.

Some of the theme’s spreads are also enhanced by eye-catching page headers and captions in a contemporary typeface. Simple words and phrases like “good times,” “joy” and “family time” might be perfect for your Mother’s Day book, but remember that every element of the design is fully customizable.

Hand Drawn Patterns

With a summery color scheme of turquoise and yellows, plus dots of black and gray neutrals, the Hand Drawn Patterns photo book theme is great for moms who love everything cheerful. The patterned backgrounds and borders that adorn the book are simple yet artistic, brightening the overall aesthetic to complement your chosen images.

The theme also features customizable text in a casual script font. Use these elements to write loving notes to your mom, or add details about the memories captured in the accompanying images. The theme also includes a full page for a longer block of text, which you can use to compose a personal message for Mother’s Day.

Simple Watercolor

The backgrounds and borders of the Simple Watercolor photo book theme are all composed of washy watercolor gradients, creating a beautiful ombre effect. A color scheme of turquoise, coral, and sunshine yellow gives the book a sweet, serene aesthetic that your mom will love.

Other design details include page headers in a bold brush script, plus ample full-page, edge-to-edge photo spots that let your favorite images shine. Lots of square-format photo spots give the photo layouts a modern feel, but there are plenty of portrait and landscape spaces as well.

My Life Stories

Does your mom constantly surprise you with never-before-heard stories from her life? Does she have a lifetime of amazing experiences that make people say “you should write a book”? Then go ahead and turn her stories into a personalized book using the My Life Stories theme.

Follow the prompts in the theme to document her childhood memories, greatest achievements, and what matters most to her, among other suggestions. There are meaningful questions printed throughout the book, which you can customize with your mom’s personal responses and place next to fitting photographs. The completed book makes a deeply meaningful Mother’s Day gift and an heirloom-worthy treasure for the whole family.

Ready for Mother’s Day?

Mother’s Day is coming soon, so head over to Mixbook and get started on your photo book gift today!

Looking for more Mother’s Day inspiration? We have more gift guides and tips here:

Mother’s Day Quotes: Loving, Inspirational, and Funny Quotes for Every Mom

2025 Mother's Day Gift Guide: Survey Reveals 30+ Ideas Moms Actually Want

Unique and Personalized Mother’s Day Photo Book Ideas