The gorgeous personalized children’s book above is by Sarah of Party Perfect. She used objects familiar to her baby to help teach first words. Ever since I saw it, I’ve been thinking about how nice it would be to make a photo book specifically for Hank.
I wanted an idea that would have the maximum impact if it was personalized. Because Hank seems intrigued by feelings lately, I decided to go with that. I’d really like him to learn early on how to identify his emotions and then do something constructive with them, and he already loves to talk about how his toys are “so happy” or “really cross” (thanks Thomas the Tank Engine).
I love the end result. Here are some examples of what I put together:
Shutterfly bought some ads on Mighty Girl, and they let me try their photobook service to lay out my book and print it. It actually ended up taking more time to choose the photos than to make the book. If you’d like to try it yourself, Shutterfly is offering codes to twelve Mighty Girl readers to let them print books for free. You can enter the drawing by leaving a comment about what you’d like to make.
The contest will run through August 24, and I’ll announce winners here. One entry per person please, I’ll have to delete duplicates for fairness. Good luck!
Mighty Girl 
I’d make a album of our recent 10yr anniversary. It was more wonderful than our first ceremony this time with our children included. Gosh I never comment but read faithfully and inspired regularly. THanks maggie!
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My boyfriend and are building a house this year (with our own two (four?) hands!) — I’d love to make a book of the experience from beginning to end…
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I would LOVE to try and make a similar book for my daughter 😀 What a great idea!
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I love the end result too.
Your son is marvelously cute. Almost as cute as my 2 sons…
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I adore that first word book and your book of feelings is adorable. I made an ABC book of my oldest son’s favourite things last year and I would love to do the same for my baby.
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What a fabulous idea. I think I would make a book of my various hiking trips. Either that or it would be full of pictures of my recently departed beloved dog.
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I’ve been interning at the Oakland Zoo this summer and I was already thinking about making a book for them with the pictures I’ve taken of the animals I work with. This would certainly help!
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I would make a book for my best friend’s baby in the vein of the “first words” book you mentioned.
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Eva is 2 1/2, and I know part of the ‘terrible two’ frustration is not being able to express her feelings. This is a great idea!
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I would love to redeem myself as a mother and finally make that baby book.
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I would create a book to showcase all the really cool places we went to on the Central European Road Trip we did with my parents this summer!
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I would like to FINALLY gather all the photos my mom took on the first day of school. I have two siblings, so that means three kids, times twelve years of school…. not a project she’s organized into book form yet, and I know she’s wanted something like this since the oldest started kindergarten.
At the end, I’d like to put a picture of a pregnancy test or an ultrasound to tell her she’s going to be a grandmother for the first time and gets to relive all those first days of school again 🙂 Surprise!
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I made a First Year book for each of my 2 biological children documenting highlights of their first year of life. We now have a 13 yr old foster child (with plans to adopt) and I would like to make a First Year book for him as well with fun times from his first year as part of our family.
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I’d like to make a book about family for my 2 little boys (2 1/2 and 10 months). They have 2 half-sister (11 and 13) that they don’t see very often and it’s very confusing for them. They love and miss their “sissies!”
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My three-and-a-half year old boy has no concept of time. Things that happened a week ago, five minutes ago, two days ago, four months ago… they all happened “last week” to him. No matter what it is, he will say, “Mummy remember last week when…”
I would like to make a book that will help him learn more about time frames. I don’t know how… But gee that would be a great challenge I would love to take on!
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I just spent two months in Southeast Asia with a French man I met in Madrid two years ago. We met randomly at a hostel and keep in loose touch for two years until he visited me in Tokyo this February. It would have been impossible to imagine that after two years we’d meet up again, travel together and fall in love, but we did. With the Shutterfly photo book I would print the photos from that trip to have as a memory. Although it was magical to be with him and magical to have that time together, he lives in France and I’ll be heading to the US to find a job (Ha. Ha.).
It’d be great to have an album of memories in case that trip was the first, and possibly last, trip we had together.
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I’d make a book about my pregnancy for my unborn child – Due December 9, 2009.
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I would like to make a book of my 1 year old daughter at mealtime. She relishes all kinds of food and I’ve got some great shots of everything from a blueberry-glazed child to her hair spiked with cheerios.
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i would love to finally have a wedding album. our photographer provided us with proofs and then promptly folded the business, leaving us with an album unfinished – heck, not really even started. anyway, we’re approaching our 13th anniversary and i figure it’s about time to put an album together.
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I would make a book for my 3 year old daughter Erica, who has been insulin dependent since 20 months old, and now is off needles and wears an insulin pump. It would be for her daycare to show workers and the kids that some things affect Erica and action has to be taken..but she can do all the same things anyone else can do. It would be a decision-style book where the child/adult would see the picture and shout out what action needs to be taken. Erica eating cupcakes? Insulin! Erica feeling tired and laying down? Check blood and Juice! And pictures of her getting her blood taken so not to make it scary, etc.
I think this would not only be a non-scary resource for the daycare and temporary staff, but a special way to normalize a difficult situation for her and her caregivers, not to mention a snapshot of her time as a young child with this condition. If it turned out really awesome I’d also donate a copy to the pediatric diabetes unit for other young children who are diagnosed.
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there is nothing my son loves more than lining up his animals in a “parade”…so I’d love to capture that and make a story about it!
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I would like to make a book for my 1 year old son that has all his relatives in it. We live so far away that I want to make sure he reognizes each and everyone of them and feels connected in some way to our extended (large) family.
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Cool! I’ve been thinking I should make a book of my trip to Swaziland this summer. I’ve been comparing options and am frozen by indecisiveness.
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I got married in May, and was planning on doing a “story of our wedding” book for my flower girl & ring bearer. This would be perfect!
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I’d love to make a book for my baby charting her journey here – photos of her parents, my pregnancy, her first days, etc.
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Oh, I’d love one for my baby boy. His older sister has one, now he needs one too!
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I will make a book of my 3.5 year old twin boys, and the most amazing summer we have had this year doing fun, free things close to home.
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My son absolutely loves books. He knows his ABC’s and is now trying to learn to read words. I would make a word book using the words and pictures from some of his favorite books (of which he has a ton!)
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My son just started K5 (sniff, sniff.) I would love to make a book about his first day/week of school!
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I’d love to make a book for my daughter’s grandparents that depicts the many memories they’ve already shared together in her 18 months as part of our family. Shutterfly would make out on this deal b/c I’m sure I’d be buying copies for me, her other grandparents, her aunts…
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I don’t scrapbook and I’m not very good about updating my family blog. I want to start making one book every year for the family. Then if grandparents want to order a copy it’s like instant Christmas present. 🙂
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I love the feelings book! What a perfect learning tool. Awesome idea.
I’d love to make a baby book using the photos that we’ve taken this year, creating a story of the things she’s done and accomplished. I’d also include the items that she began using and the signs that she’s using next to the object!
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I would like to make a book for the family. I know that my step-sons (who are with us only part-time) would love to be included in something like that. They’re adjusting to having a 4-mont-old half-brother around the house and I know it would please them!
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My boyfriend is really getting kick by life – I would love to do a fun book for him with some happy times just to remind him to hang in there!
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My husband and I had a great first date – a trip to South Africa. We took a million photos that are now sitting on a hard drive doing no one any good. I’d like to make a book about this trip as an anniversary present for him.
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I’d like to make a book about my son growing. He’s 27 months old.
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I’d love to make a book about the trip I just took to Germany to meet my husband’s family.
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I think I’d make a clever ABC book.
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I would love to make my sister a book of photographs Ifrom our trip to New Zealand – she lost all of hers!
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I would love to make a book for my son who is on the autism spectrum. He has difficulty identifying and naming emotions for himself and other people so this would be just the ticket for him. I think I’ll make one even if I don’t win one for free 🙂 Thanks for the idea.
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Now that both of my husband’s paternal grandparents have died I would love to make a photobook of them for my kids to use to remember them. We inherited many pictures of them when they were younger, and I would like to be able to include those with some pictures of them with the kids.
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I’d either make a book of my nature photography or a book commemorating this past summer with my husband and two little girls. We’ve had so much fun!
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we live in denver surrounded by mountains but no water. every summer we venture to the coasts and soak up the sea. i would make a photo book with images of the sea, sea shells, boats, my boys lounging in the surf, running on the beach…so they could keep the sea with them all year in denver.
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I’d love to make a book for my fiance’s birthday, showing off my new photo editing skills thanks to the software he bought me for *my* birthday. It’d also be a fun keepsake as we head into the insanity of wedding planning.
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I would like to make a “See Spot Run” type book, except with my Boston Terrier, Lola, as the star.
(See my blog, queenofsmalladventures.com for pics of Lola; Adventures at the Dog Park entry).
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this idea is amazing! My daughter, Aurora -3.5 y/o- is a mighty girl, too! She is incredibly independent and dramatic. I’d love to put together a book of all of our fun costumes (from our crocheted mermaid tails to zombies – she does an amazing green and red zombie makeup) to remind her as she grows that all we need for a little adventure is a scarf and our imagination.
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PS : Kelly (#270) this is an amazing idea! I think pediatricians would really appreciate it, not to mention all the other parents coping with similar issues! Hope your might idea makes it!
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Such a great idea! I would love to make a book for my 14-month-old of all of her family members. She is obsessed with books lately, and especially loves books with photos in them.
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I’d like to make a book of colors for my daughter using things in our yard- finding all the colors in nature.
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The story book is a great idea. I’d make a couple of copies – one to read to my son, and one for my mom to enjoy.
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