12 Days of Homemade Holiday Gifts Day 10 – Memory Book

I wasn’t blogging when I created these books so I don’t have any photos, but I felt it was worthy of a post even without them. 

A couple years ago I compiled a memory book for my grandparents. I asked my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws to give me 5-10 of their favorite memories of my grandparents, and to include a photo with it, if they had it. 

I sent them the letter explaining the project in October and gave them a deadline of Thanksgiving so I had to time to compile (I was also due with my second child so I wanted to wrap it up before I delivered). I included cards for them to write their memories and a self-addressed stamped envelope to return the cards and photos. It was a little time-consuming at the post office because we had to guess the weight with the photos included, but postal employees are pros at that. 

I only needed a few supplies: 

-Scrapbook

-5 to 10 3×5 or 4×6 card stock (I used plain, scalloped and rick rack edges to give it some variety) for each person

-Double-sided tape (that you use for scrapbooking) to secure the cards and photos

-Shipping materials

I couldn’t start placing until they all arrived because I wanted to create a variety and I needed to see the orientation of the cards and how many photos were included to make sure it all fit right. Of course, there were some relatives who worked right up until the deadline or didn’t do it at all. That’s just the way it goes. I got 100% participation on one side, and about 80% on the other – pretty good. 

By the way, if you’re really organized you could create the layouts before you send the cards and write on the back of the card if they should write it in horizontal or vertical orientation. I didn’t think about that and they came back all different directions. It was good for variety, but I was nervous I would need a vertical and would be left with a horizontal space.  

I included a family tree at the beginning of the book. Not totally necessary, but I liked how it added some reference. And I also included a personal note on the first page. 

What a fun and special project this was. I loved reading all the memories and learned a lot about my grandparents. Seeing the pictures were great, too! Some I had never seen before. Not all the memory cards had photos, of course, but my family was able to dig up quite a few.

My grandparents loved the book, too, and said it was the best gift they’ve ever received. Now, who knows if that’s really true, but we’ll take it. 

It would have been smart to take a few photos of the book, right? I will get some eventually. 

Family is special, and it’s important for them to know why and how they are special. The book accomplished that, and became a bit of a history book for us as well. 

Thanks for stopping by Day 10 of the 12 Days of Homemade Holiday Gifts series!