How do you preserve your family’s memories? No really, that’s not just a “How do I open this post?” question! I really want to know. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about this as the calendar gets ready to turn from 2017 to 2018. Because honestly, it flew by faster than I ever thought time could fly. And I haven’t opened Arlo’s baby book once to write things down. #fail
Something my sister-in-law did every year when her kids were young was put together a photo book. It documented the year for their family, and then she’d print extra copies to send to all the grandparents, because want to know one of the best parts about having kids? You pretty much automatically have all future grandparent and great grandparent gifts laid out for you…. GRANDKID PHOTOS!!! Don’t tell me your grandma isn’t still walking around showing off photos of you to her friends at their 4pm dinner? So why not help her out for the next gen, huh!?
So I turned to Chatbooks to follow in my sister-in-law’s footsteps. Here’s the quick rundown for why this worked for me: They basically make the book for you. You can connect your Instagram or Facebook and BAM, all your photos are right there for you. No digging through your desktop or downloads folder. One click and they’re all there. This is my kind of memory-keeping, folks!!
I ended up making two Chatbooks, both of which I plan on making an annual tradition. First, I made an “Arlo Book” for both of our parents and my grandma and great aunt. I connected my Instagram and then filtered it by our #minimindells hashtag (Yep, you can do that!) and selected all the photos I wanted to include. Then I invited Jeff to collaborate (Yep, you can do that too!) and he connected his and filled in with photos he had that I didn’t. They all populated in chronological order and then I used Arlo’s monthly photos as markers for the start of each new month.
Now, my Grandma has a whole book full of photos to show her pals! We live really far away, she doesn’t have a computer and Arlo has only met her once, so it makes me really happy that she’ll now have all his memories right there with her to flip through and brag about! 😉
Next, I made a book for Jeff and I. Again, we both connected our Instagrams, but this time I included other moments from 2017 that we wanted to remember, too. A couple of great shots that Jeff took, some memories with friends and then the other 90% is Arlo again. Ha! I didn’t tell him I was doing it so when it arrived he was so excited to have our whole year documented! What is it about seeing everything in book-form that feels so much more special than just scrolling through an app?
I’m really excited now to keep up this tradition for us and for our extended family! One of my favorite things to do is look through my grandparents old photo albums and I hope Arlo feels the same about these some day!
Do you all do anything similar?? Photo books or collages? Scrapbooks? Videos?? I’m really curious how all of you keep your family’s memories alive and documented nowadays!
The last day to order from Chatbooks and guarantee a Christmas delivery is December 16th! Hop on it, girl!
Thank you Chatbooks for partnering on this post.
Mia says
I have been looking into different book options to collect our engagement photos and wedding photos (once we receive those back)! I think my parents would love these (and wouldn’t mind them being a late birthday and Christmas gift!)
Kelly says
Yes!! These are perfect for that. We gifted our parents wedding albums as well and they loveddd them!
Kristina B says
I scrapbook. Well. I DID. As the years go on I have less and less time to do it and it really bums me out because I love to do it and was so proud of myself for getting into it and being consistent, but if you look at the shelf where I keep them it’s like 4 12×12 books, 2 9×12, and this year’s is a 6×8. Damn. Maybe I’ll try this instead!
Kelly says
I used to be SO into scrapbooking and hope to get back into it but… ya know, that time thing! Haha! You should definitely try these, it was crazyyyyyy easy and you still feel so accomplished! 😉 Win win!
Kylie says
I use a blog, actually! bonjourkylie.blogspot.com It’s really tedious ongoing project, but I have 4 step-kids and I always tell myself, “This is my gift to them when they are older!” (TBH, I can go weeks/months without posting, and then will do alot all at once – it’s imperfect for sure, but that’s what tags are for!) I have an external hard-drive and save everything that way (one folder for “fancy copies for print” and another folder for “smaller blog images”… there’s probably a better way to categorize them on my hard-drive but it’s been working for me!) I take alot of video throughout the year (some are small enough to load on the blog, others are large files)… in my dream world I have a DVD burner and make DVDs of the previous year for family as Christmas gifts but… no there yet, haha! 🙂 I love the idea of photobooks, but blogging is a little more “evergreen” my large family… but I’m sure the last thing you want to do is blog in your spare time, haha!
Kelly says
Haha! That’s so amazing!!! They will treasure that some day, for sure. I love looking through all the albums, videos and scrapbooks my parents made for me!
instagram video downloader says
I have been looking into different book options to collect our engagement photos and wedding photos (once we receive those back)! I think my parents would love these (and wouldn’t mind them being a late birthday and Christmas gift!)
Gmail QA says
I love this idea. I don’t have many real photos, everything is saved in computer and phone, and grandparents are not really good at tech. Gonna try it.
http://gmailqa.com/