At the end of a holiday or party, several people usually end up with photos of their own from the same event — wouldn't it be great to combine them all easily? If you're a Picasa user, you can do it!

In Picasa, go to Settings and scroll down to "Allow me to upload photos by email." Check this box, and a field will appear, prompting you to enter a secret word. I choose words relevant to the holiday, such as "thanksgiving" — and Picasa will populate a new email address that appends to your Gmail address. For instance, if your Gmail address is "jane.doe@gmail.com", your unique Picasa address would be "jane.doe.thanksgiving@picasaweb.com."

This is the address you give out to your family, instructing them to simply email their photos to this address. Once they start emailing, everyone's photos will appear in your Drop Box on your Picasa page, and from there, you can combine them all in one special album!