There are lots of books on the market that allow you to add pictures of your family and baby. Little Lion loves looking at human faces, and what better way to capture his attention than with the faces of those who love him!
Rather than purchase an expensive premade book like this one, I thought I would make one of my own.
Materials:
- Inexpensive Photo Album – I got mine from Target for $2.
- Pictures – We use Shutterfly to host our pictures for family, but because I was feeling impatient I ordered them online and picked them up at Target. The price per picture is technically higher this way, but I didn’t have to pay shipping so the price was about the same. I spent about $5 for 30 pictures.
- Stickers and Cardstock (optional) – I used some that I had at home already to make the label for the front.
My goal for this book was to include pictures of LL with family (and friends), so that when we read it together, I can point out their faces and say their names.
Creating the final book was really simple. Once I had the pictures, I grouped them based on how they were related. For example, I put pictures of my mom, dad, and brother together. I left blank pages after each group so that I can add pictures later. The cover already had a chevron pattern, so all I had to do was stick some stickers on a smaller piece of cardstock, glue that to the cardboard, and slide the it back inside the plastic cover.
I considered using Shutterfly to make a photo book that would look a little nicer, but decided against it. Since the pictures in this album are not secured in any way, it will be very easy to move them around or change the pictures out. Some of the pictures I have included are not the best, since they were not taken intentionally for this project. This is something I plan to fix over time, adding better pictures as I take them. I would like the pictures to be zoomed in a little more so that the faces are more clear. Sorry friends and family… I’m coming for you! I also like that I can continue adding new people to the book without having to start completely over.
I considered adding captions with names but decided against this as well because of the time involved to print them out and add them. If LL were older and starting to make connections between print and picture this would be something I would take the time to do. But he is 9 months old, and I doubt he would even notice the weird black squiggles at the bottom of the page. 
I will say that I do not intend for this to be a keepsake book. This one will be chewed, ripped, and hopefully looked at over and over by a squirmy infant/toddler. I fully expect to need to purchase a new $2 album every once in a while when this one starts falling apart.
A note about safety: I am not sure how “child safe” photos are, and I would prefer that LL not ingest them. This book will be used/chewed with parent supervision.
Have you made family photobooks for your little one?
cherry / 175 posts
We received a little photo album for our LO at her baby shower. We put a few photos of the family in there and she’s enjoyed looking at it since she was a few months old. (She’s 15 months now.) I was thinking of doing a bigger one with extended family, much in the way you’ve done here.
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
I love how realistic you are about this – not everything needs to be keepsake worthy or fancy. Simple, pictures of family = priceless
blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts
@Mrs. Confetti: Yes! I think we get so caught up sometimes in thinking that things have to be perfect looking that we forget how meaningful the simple things can be
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
Great idea! Gemma has always enjoyed looking at pics of herself… I might make one for both girls.
squash / 13208 posts
We did this too! Used a little cheapy photo album – I saved the photo Christmas cards of from our family members and cut them to fit – so now we have all the cousins and aunts and uncles and they are updated each year!