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40 Family Pictures That Were Clearly A Mistake, Yet Everyone Looks Weirdly Happy About It
Out of everything we pass down to our descendants, photographs are one, if not the most sought-out artifacts. They capture the clothes we wear, the homes we live in, and, of course, the moments we experience with each other—some of which can be quite... iconic.
The blog Awkward Family Photos has been running since 2009, collecting and exhibiting cringey—yet, still incredibly heartwarming—snapshots families have dared to take and submit to unsuspecting strangers on the internet. I guess if there's one thing that unites us all, it's nostalgia.
(By the way, in case you didn’t know, we teamed up with one of the co-founders of Awkward Family Photos, Mike Bender, and released a picture book titled Bored Panda! To learn more about how that happened, check out this article.)
More info: awkwardfamilyphotos.com | Facebook | Instagram
This post may include affiliate links.
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Daniel Atkins 5 months ago
That look says "I stuck my head in the cut out like you asked now can we do something fun?"
LooseSeal's $10 Banana 5 months ago
That's almost an exact recreation of your very first birthday.
"One of the great things about awkwardness is that it is both universal and timeless," Mike Bender told Bored Panda.
He began the blog with his childhood friend Doug more than a decade ago, after he saw an awkward vacation photo hung in his parents' house.
The buddies understood there had to be plenty of other people who also had similar silly photographs and decided to create a friendly place where everyone could come together and share their images.
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Daniel Atkins 5 months ago
The goat that is be held is thinking "Let me go there is food over there."
Crystalwitch60 5 months ago
People control your kids ffs (the human ones obviously lol ) the goats can carry on as they were hehehe
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LizzieBoredom 5 months ago
And she unleased unto the land a rubberth duckth.
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karen snyder 5 months ago
I'm pretty sure these are the children of multiple families. Like, a cousins picture. If they are all brothers and sisters, then yeah, this woman has had twins and been pregnant for six years straight.
Load More Replies... Crystalwitch60 5 months ago (edited)
You just know that pic came out at the kid on the horses wedding don’t you lmao , and likely the one with the questionable kinda mullet hair do 😂
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sbj 5 months ago
I feel sorry for the kid in the middle, they've got their eyes closed hoping that when they open them this is all just a dream/nightmare
Leg less In Minneapolis 5 months ago
What’s worse is I am pretty sure that is a boy in the middle
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Daniel Atkins 5 months ago
of all the themes for family photos this is the first i have seen of toga party.
Mike and Doug kicked off the project by posting a few of their own childhood photos and those provided by friends, and the site quickly took off and became an instant internet classic.
However, after all this time working on it, Bender said, "I don't think the definition of awkward has changed. To me, it will always be defined by anything that makes the viewer uncomfortable in some way."
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G A 5 months ago
It looks like the set up for a bad sitcom where the other gay Dad dresses as a woman to avoid upsetting the neighbours....
Crystalwitch60 5 months ago
She be like n this is what I think of THIS !! 😂😂😂atta girl , I totally agree lmao
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Irish Lassie 5 months ago
Did anyone else notice that mom has no upper lip and dad has no lower lip? Sorry, that was unkind but she’ll never get a job at a kissing booth. 💋
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Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
A baby CPR mannequin I used in a babysitting course, one of them had a loose head that fell off every time we practised burping
Load More Replies... Sam 5 months ago
I will take this head. I will experiment with this head. This head will be mine. All mine. I have plans.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
Yes... The girl is clearly a Sith lord in the making.
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Crystalwitch60 5 months ago
That girl grew up to be a freaking psychopath!, it’s in her eyes lol
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Rachel Pelz 5 months ago
The good old days, when you couldn't check and take some more pics...
Crystalwitch60 5 months ago
Mum be like , that f kin c****m breaking again I’m so over this lol
Krystine Batcho, Ph.D., who is a professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and studies nostalgia, says, "Viewing a childhood photo, someone might realize how very young they had been when they experienced a transformative event. They might suddenly understand how vulnerable and innocent they had been.”
"The recognition of who they were then can impact their current self-esteem or change their understanding of how their past contributed to who they had become."
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LooseSeal's $10 Banana 5 months ago
Just wait for the halftime show, Pete.
Load More Replies... LizzieBoredom 5 months ago
Telebarrow comes with rabbit ears antenna, and 500ft extension cord.
Daniel Atkins 5 months ago
My wife said go outside, so I did. Didn't say anything about not taking the tv with me.
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StretcherBearer 5 months ago
The voice in head that mock every single decision I make! Like " haha your gonna f**k this up aren't ya!"
LizzieBoredom 5 months ago
"Dress up for your picture" she said. "You'll look so handsome" she said.
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Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
She doesn't give a dang about a bad family photo
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L Norton 5 months ago
Ahh, yes mom and dad get a peaceful meal. We can clean him up when we clean up dinner table after we finish
Nawry 5 months ago
Cheers little guy. The one time it happened to me, I was 12 and the food hadn't been served yet. The waitress spent a full minute looking at me like I was some big ugly insect- not sure which one of us was the rudest that day. At 18, I was nodding off against the cushioned seat at 6am when a new waitress accidentally dropped milk/cream cups on my head....took me a good 30 secs to realize what had happened, I was SO tired lmao. We all had one hell of a good laugh that day.
Cindy Brick 5 months ago
Brother did this as a kid, which was funny enough. But then the waitress tripped, and accidentally poured salad dressing down his neck, as well. He never woke up.
According to Batcho, whether positive or negative, old photos often make us nostalgic for meaningful portions of our lives.
"Research has found that personal photographs decreased induced negative affect more effectively than did generic images and suggested that greater emotional benefit was due to the ability of personal photos to elicit personally relevant memories and nostalgia," she explains. "Bittersweet nostalgia has been associated with a heightened sense of coherence and self-continuity, as the connection between past and present is strengthened."
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Michael Largey 5 months ago (edited)
Blood that dripped down from the bandage on his forehead?
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Sam 5 months ago
Billy’s Dreams of Being a Ninja Utterly Shattered by the Cold Hard Reality that Billy is a Wussy.
StretcherBearer 5 months ago
Poor kid. That's one depressing yard and color scheme. No wonder everyone is pissed off!
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GalPalAl 5 months ago
why? As a kid I always wanted a Dorothy Hamill style haircut, but this looks more inspired by mushrooms from Super Mario.
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Personal photos trigger more vivid memories that contain richer perceptual-sensory information, allowing us to re-experience the past in a deeper way.
"The sense of being in the past can help to distance someone from current problems, sadness, or feelings of hopelessness or despair. The reverie facilitated by the perusal of personal photos can yield insights into the meaning and purpose of one's life," Batcho continues.
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Crystalwitch60 5 months ago
Or me 🤮imagine being married to that , n worse having a kid with him NOPE !
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Keith Handly (Ike) 5 months ago
They are not meant for swimming, so that is a good fit for a posing bikini.
Load More Replies... Bell-icose 5 months ago
My dad was an 80’s bodybuilder and I have shots like this too. It’s less creepy if you frame it as dad being proud of his hard work (as well as his “hard” work).
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago (edited)
Creepy? Come on, that's just a proud dad with his child. Look at the expression on his face!
Load More Replies... Michael Largey 5 months ago
"Sir, having a baby is indeed a proud accomplishment, but you've mistaken what we mean by a 'flex' these days."
Destiny Love 5 months ago
My family, I left a bunch of photo books in storage back in the 90s. I'm hoping someday I start seeing my family's pictures. Because that means whoever posts them has them
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Leg less In Minneapolis 5 months ago
Can you imagine getting your kids school pictures and they like this?
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
My brother used to do this, or flip the top eyelids up all the time. At first I was creeped out, then just annoyed.
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Mike Bender, the co-founder of the blog, said his favorite family photos are the genuine ones.
"I am definitely more self-aware than most people when taking family photos since I've catalogued thousands in my brain."
"I would say I'm aiming more for natural and authentic, but sometimes awkward is authentic, so I don't avoid it," Mike added.
For more from AFF, check out our earlier publication, People Are Sharing The Most Awkward Photos From Their Family Albums.
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LooseSeal's $10 Banana 5 months ago
Trouble you for a ride, miss? You see, my boy here is late for football practice and they're playing the Packers next week.
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Crystalwitch60 5 months ago
And putting on the girls glasses UPSIDE DOWN ! 😂
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Dolly_of TheCowboy 5 months ago
Dad in back looks like he auditioned for the understudy part of the prawn guy in District 9
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Rachel Pelz 5 months ago
Kinda ahead of their time, welcoming the computer as the family member around which their lives are centered.
Katrina Anderson 5 months ago
Wow, I’ve personally never a seen a greater resemblance of a “mini-me” ever, before this picture. That little girl is so cute, and I do not have to wonder who her mom is.
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Michael Largey 5 months ago (edited)
At last. Someone who is actually entitled to think the world revolves around him.
Sue 5 months ago
Her, I think. I don't remember boys wearing saddle oxfords like that.
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Huddo's sister 5 months ago
Reminds me of this one of my sister and youngest brother. The only time she has ever held a baby. She is now 25 and so excited for my brother's baby that is due this week, but also scared she is not going to know how to hold it. 1-6852a140...d-jpeg.jpg 
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Bewarethere@gmail.com 5 months ago
They think the snake is cute. Until it eats one of them!!!!!!
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
When I went to Central Australia for school camp, we went to an animal sanctuary and we were all told to stand shoulder to shoulder and a python slithered all the way around the circle.
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Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Ronald had a hard time in the 70's after he tested positive for coke.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
We had a clown dress up day at my nursery/childcare and mum took photos before we went. My older brother and I were quite happy in the photos, my younger brother was not. He's crying in all the photos and running away in one.
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B Jones 5 months ago
They're cosplaying the Adams Family and enjoying every moment!
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Lene 5 months ago
My 6yo said "I think they look like thieves. Because thieves are often very angry. And this family look very angry"
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Panda McPandaface 5 months ago
When Eric finished growing his p0rn 'stache he left for San Francisco and we only got a card at Christmas.
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Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
Or it could be a baptism. The kid looks too young for some of the other sacraments.
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karen snyder 5 months ago
Ya know that every girl in her sixth grade class was jealous, even though that haircut was meant for a standard poodle.
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Papa 5 months ago
I will answer anyway. Yes, the goat IS the maid of honor.
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Fire Singer 5 months ago
Maybe it's because I'm not a parent and never had a desire to be pregnant, but maternity photos like this are just weird to me. Taking one every few months to have a comparison as you progress, I get that, but full on costumes and backgrounds and stuff, always turn out weird I think.
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Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Mom is totally DONE. She's looking forward to her valium when she gets home.
TTorrest Author 5 months ago
I'm loving Mom's hat barely fitting on her huge Dorothy Hamill hair!!!
Panda McPandaface 5 months ago
The kids are having a great time though! Mum can get drunk after.
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Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
Well, either way, the US flag isn't something to be proud of in the way it used to be, considering flying it makes you look like a neo-n@zi (no offense, it's just the fact that MAGA is all that pops up on the news for USA on CBC)
Load More Replies... #52
Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
"Oh Canada, our home and native land, true patriot love, in all of us command! With glowing hearts, we see thee rise, the True North strong and free, from far and wide, Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee! God, keep our land glorious and free, Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee; Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee!" 🇨🇦
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Panda McPandaface 5 months ago (edited)
I bet he grew up to be handsome - it's only the hair that's awful really. Some people grow into their faces.
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Austzn 5 months ago
Actually kinda dangerous. Kids should never keep their shoes on in the dryer.
Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
Kids should never sleep or sit in the dryer. ANd judging by the (visible) face, the kid is maybe a toddler.
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Daniel Atkins 5 months ago (edited)
I know those are candles but it looks like the hockey player was attacked and killed by archers.
Evelyn Fox 5 months ago
I just embarrassed myself at work snorting in laughter at this lololol
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LookASquirrel 5 months ago
When mom curls your hair for pictures and she has no clue how to use a curling Iron. My elementary school pics were bad.
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Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Dianne loved the photo so much, after she divorced from Dave, she wasn't about to take the picture down. This was a good choice.
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Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Leatherface found married life difficult... but at least his wife kept buying him new toys.
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Sam Trudeau 5 months ago
Makes me think of the Wicked Witch of the East from the Wizard of Oz, ngl. I've seen people use strollers as suitcase carriers (like in hotels) but never with kids in them
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Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Disney World in the 80's. Can't say I blame him.
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Fire Singer 5 months ago
I have a great photo of my, my mom, and my sis, in matching denim outfits from the late 80's with our big hair and everything. LOVE that photo.
TTorrest Author 5 months ago
On Christmas, it's proper etiquette to get decked out in one's finest Canadian tuxedo.
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Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Remember, it's only fun and games until someone gets hurt, and then it's freaking hilarious.
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