Photo dumps are cool, but there’s a better way to track your year. Because you have a lot planned, so documenting it as you go will pay off in the long run. Oftentimes, we’re too distracted by looking perfect, manufacturing the right moment with the right pose and the right shot, that we forget to savor the memory in real time. Luckily, we’re here to help. Allow us to introduce you to our 12 Months of 2026 Photo Challenge — 12 prompts crafted to make sure the next year is your most memorable yet, all of which can be captured using the instax mini 12™ instant camera. The foolproof camera isn’t just fast, but it also automatically adjusts its shutter speed and flash brightness so you can take good photos at any time, any place. The five fun colors, compact size, and easy-to-use features, including a selfie mirror, make this a no-brainer companion. There’s no room for overthinking — point and shoot. The goal? To help you build the most printable memories, one month at a time.
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January: Make the Resolutions Last
In honor of the new year, this month is all about capturing your resolutions brought to life. Sure, some goals are less photogenic than others, but there are plenty of new experiences you’re going to be trying out this month that are worth printing — and may even help you track progress. For example, perhaps you challenged yourself to read 2 books a week: snap an instant photo of the first and pin them to your wall as you go. Seeing how far you’re getting into your TBR list will be so satisfying.
February: Share the Love
Valentine’s Day has never only been for people in relationships. At its core, the love you celebrate on the 14th can be for anyone and anything. Too many people you love to count? Host a dinner party for the group chat, and take printable selfies with all your closest friends. One for you, one for them? This is one prompt that can make lasting memories for more than just one person.
March: A Stroke of Luck
Statistically, this is most people’s least favorite month of the year. It’s too gloomy for those of us ready for spring, which is where your next challenge comes in. With spring on the horizon, spend this month capturing moments where the season is slowly appearing, like the first day you can go outside in just a light jacket or the first time you can actually enjoy happy hour with the sun still out (sort of). Hang up the pictures next to your bed or stick them to your mirror as a daily reminder that warm weather is coming.
April: A New Kind of Spring Cleaning
Your mother might tell you that spring cleaning requires powerwashing windows and changing out drapes (yes, drapes). But your favorite kind of spring cleaning doesn’t include any of that. What does it include? Rearranging your entire bedroom at 2 a.m., alone, after a stroke of inspiration. Suddenly your bed against the east wall doesn’t make sense. It’s time for the before and after photos — if not to admire your tenacity for moving furniture like it’s your job in the middle of the night but for having a physical record of what your room used to look like. Years from now, you’ll forget all the tiny quirks of your space, including the clutter, so why not capture it in perpetuity?
May: Earn Your Green Thumb
April showers bring May flowers, right? In other words, this is the perfect time for you to develop a green thumb — trust us, it’ll be worth it. Whether you have a backyard with a garden you can help tend to or just one potted plant in your studio apartment, there are plenty of ways to enjoy some of the best days of spring alongside the greenery that tends to come alive with it. Watch whatever you plant grow and blossom with pride, tangibly cataloging the process over the next few months. Once you become a plant parent, you never look back.
June: Summer Snapshots
Welcome the summer solstice with something big to start the season. Volleyball on the beach? Tubing on the lake? Eating as many hot dogs as physically possible? Whatever your plans are, record them! Summer only lasts so long, and if there’s one thing you’ll want to remember is how you spent those early, hazy days. First tan lines, sand between your toes, the first sour lemonade of the season? It’s all fair game. And whenever you start to feel the side effects of SAD next winter, you can refer to these.
July: Find Your Chill
Right about now, it’s so hot outside you could cook an egg on the sidewalk. And while you can totally take an instant photo of that, we suggest making the heatwave a little more bearable with something that chills you out — literally. From the soft serve ice cream cone you’re desperate enough to chase down a truck for to the bag of ice in your cooler on the beach, it’s all worth a photo. One day you’ll be sitting around a table with your friends, passing around these tangible memories, and saying, “Remember that one brutally hot summer?”
August: The Final Days
Every year there’s that one person who reminds you that today is the last day the sun will set after 8:30 p.m. — well, shoot as many of those last sunsets as you can. Mostly because they’re beautiful and you’d be doing it on your phone anyway, but also because it’ll help you count down until back-to-school season officially begins. Typically, you may feel inclined to mourn the end of summer, but hopefully this prompt (and these printable moments) will inspire you to celebrate it.
September: First Day Mementos
Remember those kindergarten photos of you, bright-eyed and eager in front of a yellow school bus? You had no idea what homework or “hot lunch” meant. Those were the days — and we mean, specifically, the days your parents most likely stopped documenting around the time they no longer had to walk you to the bus stop anymore. Now, it’s up to you. Maybe you won’t treasure those first-day-of-school photos now, but you will, come June. You never notice yourself growing up and evolving when you look in the mirror every day, so let these printed photos serve as your own kind of yearbook, the kind you may feel very wistful about in another 10 years.
October: Spooky to the Max
If you assume this prompt will be all about taking photos of your and your friends’ Halloween costume, you’ll be wrong. The older you get, the faster the Halloween season tends to move, so we’re encouraging you to embrace the spooky spirit as often as possible this year. Spine-chilling adventures, like visiting a haunted house (the fake kind) or touring a graveyard (the real kind), will keep the uncanny undertone of the month alive, so to speak. You might be surprised at how photogenic some of the eeriest places can be. But be careful — the instax mini 12™ ($83) works best in natural light. This warning may help make things a little less hair-raising, don’t you think?
November: Potluck Presentation
In February, you held a Valentine’s Day party. Now, you’ll be hosting a potluck. Is there a cornbread casserole your friend is really proud of? Take a photo of her holding it up with pride. Baked your first pumpkin pie — successfully? Capture a shot (also with pride) of everyone devouring it. One day, you’ll be able to look back at these prints and practically hear how much fun you were all having.
December: The Coziest, Laziest Day
You don’t just want to remember the big holiday traditions, like decorating the tree or opening gifts. Sometimes the best moments to remember are the quiet ones, the cozy afternoons in front of the TV with cups of hot chocolate in hand. Some may say they’re inconsequential, but even the simple memories, the ones when you’re literally doing nothing, deserve to last forever. It’s in moments like these that everything just clicks.
