Hi there BRL,
For hurling snaps around the family you're getting plenty of good advice but I'm popping my head up to collective groans to poke my usual finger in the eye of accepted opinion.
Inkjet prints fade - read the small print for the facts. Take Epson's '70 year' claims. Delve into the detail and you will find they clearly state two conditions. Either the print is in a dark, humidity controlled drawer or it has to be behind glass with no significant air gap and out of direct light. This is standard stuff in the literature of all the manufacturers but apparently unknown amongst their users.
Fading in the form of colour shifts will occur within within days. It's very simple to test for yourself. Put a fresh print near a window and place a coin covering part of a flesh tone area.
Is the ink getting better? In many cases yes but the but is a huge one if you want photos that last.
After many years of annual warnings from me users in the UK can check out some comparative testing at last. Unfazed by their advertisers PC Pro magazine has asked all the difficult questions in their most recent issue. The inkjet companies will be very uncomfortable at the results for cost and fading compared to traditional photo processing. Significantly they found colour shifts occuring even in a dark drawer over a span of just days or weeks.
As I said at the outset enjoy producing your own prints - it's great fun but unless printing above standard snap sizes it is more expensive by between 2 and 4 times just in paper and ink. For your down to earth and realistic purpose the only point I'd ask you to consider though is that inkjet prints are just not 'handling friendly yet. You're paying a lot more for snaps that really struggle when passed around - especially if kids are involved.
Regards
Curmudeonly Rob