How to Collect Old Photos From Everyone for a 70th Birthday Slideshow

Somebody in the family always ends up making the slideshow. Usually it is a daughter or a son, the party is a surprise, and the job is bigger than it looks, because the photos of seven decades are not in one place. They are in your phone, in a sibling's phone across the country, in the albums at the house, in a cousin's shoebox, and in the memory of an old friend who has the one from 1974 that nobody else does.

This guide is about getting all of them into one place, quietly, with time left over to build something good. It works the same for a 60th, a 70th or an 80th, and for a party that is a surprise or one that is not.

Three weeks is comfortable, a week is enough

If the party is next weekend, start tonight: the slideshow plays as soon as there are photos in it, and most relatives send theirs within a day or two of getting the link. With more time, this is the plan:

• Three weeks out: ask. Message the siblings, the cousins, the old friends, the neighbors from the street they grew up on. Say what it is for, when you need photos by, and give them one place to put them.
• Two weeks out: gather your own. Go through your phone by year, then photograph the albums at the house. This is the week other people's photos start to arrive.
• One week out: build and check. Put it together, choose the music, and watch it on a television rather than a phone. Then leave it alone; the last week is for the party.

Relatives send photos later than they say they will. The third week is what absorbs that.

Where seven decades of photos actually are

Make a list before you ask anyone, because a specific ask gets a photo and a vague one gets "I'll look." For most families the photos are in six places:

1. The albums at the house. The childhood, the wedding, the first house. Nobody has digitized these and they hold the best decade. If the party is a surprise, this is the one visit you have to plan around.
2. Their siblings. A brother or sister has the photos from before you existed, and they are the ones the room has never seen.
3. Your own siblings and cousins. Everyone has a different slice of the same years: one has the Christmases, one has the beach, one has the graduation.
4. The old friends. The college roommate, the neighbor from the first street, the friend from work. One photo from each of them is worth more than twenty of your own, because it is a version of your parent the family does not have.
5. Your own phone, by year. Recent is easy. Scroll to each year and pull the ones with a face you can see.
6. The grandchildren's phones. They have the last five years, and they are the photos that get the biggest reaction.

For anything that is a print, photograph it with your phone in daylight, flat, filling the frame. Our guide to photographing old photos with your phone covers glare and angle in a minute, and the result is more than good enough for a screen.

One link, not forty texts

The reason birthday slideshow photos get lost is that they arrive twelve different ways: a text of three, an email of one, a screenshot of a photo, a Facebook message you did not see. By the second week you are scrolling through group chats trying to remember who sent the wedding one.

Send one link instead. On Embrance you make a family link for the slideshow and text it to everyone at once. Anyone who opens it can add photos straight from their phone. They do not need an account or an app, and nothing is posted anywhere the birthday person would see. The photos land in the slideshow as they come in, so you watch it fill up instead of chasing it.

The message that works gives a date and a reason: "Making a slideshow for Dad's 70th. If you have any photos of him from any year, add them here by the 20th. He does not know, so please keep it quiet." People answer a link and a deadline. They do not answer "send me whatever you have."

How many, and in what order

For a slideshow that plays once at the party, 40 to 80 photos runs three to five minutes at a few seconds each, which is the length a room with drinks in hand will watch all the way through. If it is going to loop on a screen through the evening instead, longer is fine, and the loop means the people who missed the start catch it later.

Order by decade, oldest first, and open with the baby photo beside a recent one. Then let each decade run: childhood, the wedding years, the kids small, the kids grown, the grandchildren. End on the photo that looks most like them today, so when the lights come up the room is looking at the person in it.

Music

One or two songs for three to five minutes; three if it loops all evening. The song from their era, the one they sing in the car, the first dance from the wedding. Our list of birthday slideshow songs by decade is a starting point, and on Embrance you can bring the actual recording as an MP3 or M4A and it plays under the photos.

One practical note: if you plan to post the finished video afterward for the relatives who could not come, a popular song can be muted on Facebook or Instagram. That does not affect the party, only the online copy.

Playing it at the party

A shareable link opens the slideshow on any smart TV's browser or on a phone held up to the room. If the venue has a screen, download the finished MP4 and play it from a laptop over HDMI or a USB stick. Test it on the actual television the day before, with the sound on, and decide who is going to press play.

Common questions

How many photos should a 70th birthday slideshow have?

40 to 80 photos, which runs three to five minutes at a few seconds each. That is enough to cover seven decades and short enough that a room with drinks in hand watches the whole thing. If it is going to loop on a screen during the party rather than play once, longer is fine.

How do I get photos from my siblings without my mom finding out?

Send everyone one private link and a date. On Embrance you make a family link for the slideshow and text it to your siblings, cousins and her old friends; anyone who opens it adds photos from their phone, with no account and nothing posted anywhere she would see. The photos land in the slideshow as they arrive.

When should I start collecting photos for a birthday slideshow?

A week is enough if that is what you have: the slideshow plays as soon as there are photos in it, and most relatives send theirs within a day or two of getting the link. Three weeks is comfortable: ask in the first, gather your own and photograph the albums in the second, build and check in the third.

What about the photos that are only prints?

Photograph them with your phone. Lay the print flat in daylight away from a window, fill the frame, and hold the phone level so nothing skews. It takes a few seconds a photo and the result is good enough for a screen. The album on the shelf is often where the best decade lives.

How should I order the photos in a milestone birthday slideshow?

By decade, oldest first, and open with a baby photo next to a recent one. Then let each decade run: childhood, the wedding years, the kids small, the kids grown, the grandchildren. End on the photo that looks most like them today, so the room is looking at the person in it.

How do I play the slideshow at the party?

On the TV. A shareable link opens the slideshow on any smart TV's browser or a phone, and a downloaded MP4 plays from a laptop over HDMI or a USB stick if the venue has a screen. Test on the actual TV the day before.

If you would rather hand the photos over and have it made, someone can make it for you.