Toys are fun and clothes are useful but those things lose their value over time. Photo scrapbooks are the opposite. They gain value and kids only grow into them.
Maybe you’re a mum who feels their kid who has absolutely everything? Do you struggle with the endless internal battle between feeling your responsibility to the planet, plastic-free shopping but also your child asking for yet another <insert annoying toy name here>?! And do you have an abundance of family members happy to strip the shelves at Hamley’s every birthday and Christmas?
It can start to feel like Christmas shopping is just an exercise in looking through the Argos catalogue (yeah, I know, I’m showing my age there!)
Consider a low cost, high impact alternative
Firstly, please don’t think that this is me selling a service, although I can obviously help you with this if you need it. I do help families with design for their high street albums and I obviously make albums from scratch from my chosen suppliers. But…
Everyone knows how big I am on printing your photos and why I’m so passionate about your kids’ self esteem being linked to photos but this is a great DIY Christmas idea that everyone can get on board with, irrelevant of budget.
Here are two thoughtful, low-cost ideas that will only gain meaning over time.
They’ll need a little time and thought on your part, but all the best things do! Am I right?
A year in review: photo scrapbooks
You can do a scrapbook in any way you please. Do a traditional scrapbook in a paper album with handwritten notes and Legoland ticket stubs stuck in. Or go digital and opt for a Photobox album, Snapfish book or similar. It’s totally your call.
But get all the camera phone photos and professional shoot photos (if you didn’t have them made into in a separate album or just include a few highlights which is what I do) into an album and tell the story of their year for them.
We have been doing this for my son since he was born and there isn’t a week that goes by where he doesn’t look through his photo books so see the little stories of his life.
And they will only appreciate these books more as time ticks by.
(Plus, here’s an easy present cheat – we order identical copies for both sets of grandparents!)
A year in review: art scrapbooks
I think this is relevant whatever ages your kids are. If they are bringing piles of artwork home from school then gather things up and scan them for a book. Alternatively put their art into plastic sleeves in a ring binder for the year. It costs barely anything but is great to flick back through.
As your kid gets older and you inevitably get less “art”work you could copy bits of work they worked hard on or very super proud of. Write down and include conversations you that you had together. Alternatively, you can ask your kids the same questions every year as a marker. I do this on Father’s Day where I ask Grayson the same things about Dave to see how his answers evolve 🙂
They’ll love looking back on these things, doubly so if they can share them with their own kids in the fullness of time.
If you do need any tips or help then get in touch. But otherwise, I’d love to hear if you tried to make some photo scrapbooks for your kids and how they turned out. Drop a picture on my Facebook page!
Happy scrapbooking!
