? for Scrapbookers

Do you make just one family album? Or are you making a family album and an album for each child? I want to do an album for each boy, but it seems like double the effort to do two pages of each event that involves the kids. Any suggestions?

[Blue Aurora]

We have a family ablum and then I do a small baby book. After that once a year I look back over the year and pick enough to make 2 or 3 pages in their own personal book so they'll end up having one book of them growing up. I knew a woman who did a scrapbook for each of her kids plus the family ones. Her daughter was 4 and she'd already done 4 full books. I can't imagine any child actually wanting and "encyclopedia of their life" to carry around with them.... not to offend anyone doing that...

[Mother of Sons]

We do the "encyclopedia" It's not for them. It's for me. Not that I'm any good at keeping up with them but the "plan" is that each kid will have 1 book for each of their first 5 years. After that I just work on the books until they are full and then start a new one. We'll have a family album too but it will be maybe 1 book for every 3 or 4 years? Not sure because I've never started the family album.

[Blue Aurora]

I dont' think that is the "encylopedia" I mean literally by the time her daughter graduates highschool she's going to have 20+ scrapbooks to carry around with her....

Well, at the rate I'm going, the boys will be graduating before theirs is done!!

Jen, you make a good point. I'm sure their wives will appreciate them, but they might not want a whole shelf full. Maybe a good compromise would be to only highlight certain activities likes holidays and birthdays in the kids albums. Well, at least I have a little to think on now, which is what I asked for. Thanks!

Well maybe I'm an oddball, but I'd love to have lots of albums of my childhood. I have one scrapbook, and I wish I had more.

Anyway, for my kids I am doing individual albums, but to accomplish this more easily I'm doing digital scrapping. This way I can do one "family" page and print one for each child, slip it in their book, and I'm done. Sometimes I will do an individual page to highlight an accomplishment or milestone or birthday, but the majority of their pages will be the same. I will change text to fit the child, but that's a quick and easy change.

And BTW, I agree with MOS--I'm doing scrapbooking for me, not just for my kids. These are my memories of the happiest time of my life, and I want to preserve them.

[Mother of Sons]

Well maybe I'm an oddball, but I'd love to have lots of albums of my childhood. I have one scrapbook, and I wish I had more.

I'd love to have anything at all! The earliest picture I have ever seen of myself is at age 2. The next one is around age 4. Both are studio pictures.

Well, I never thought about that. I'm a first child, so there are soooo many pictures of me. And, I am blessed that my mom and aunt are both doing an album of my childhood now, so I will have 2 scrapbooks of my childhood one day. Ok, off to thank God for His sweet little blessings that I take for granted

[Close2MyHeart]

I make 1 for each child for their first year... then I make a family album

I'm working on one for my FIL right now... to remember his 30+ years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard

I do a family album and I also have a "baby" album for my son and plan on doing that for all our children. So basically it'll be the first couple years of their life and everything after that will go in the family album.

I will probably end up doing a special album when they get married (for them to keep) like a tribute to their life up until that point, something like that.

When they become teenagers I can see myself doing small scrapbooks for them for big events like special trips or graduation.

I guess it kinda depends on how many children we have though!

I only have one child right now, but I'm making him an album for every year of his life, up to the age of five, and then highlight more specific events in his life later on. If I had more children, I would make them each their own album and a family one. You can always copy the pages you make and have the copies be part of the family album. That way you're not having to duplicate more pages, just copy them and they're still great! I'm not into digitalizing my photos, cause it takes the "realness" out of them, but I've heard sometimes its easier. My albums are for my ds's wife, I figure she'll appreciate them more than my son. Plus I LOVE doing it!!

[chelsea]

I have wondered this too. I started a "baby book" for my son, but with all the pics I am wondering how I'm even going to get a few months into it! I don't want to leave out stuff, but maybe I should just highlight HIM and leave out most pics of everyone else. I just don't know. It's interesting to hear how everyone else manages this!