For a baby Christmas Day is just another day, but when they have older siblings you can’t leave them out. Why wouldn’t Father Christmas leave a filled stocking for the little sister? So what do you put in a Christmas stocking for a baby? One idea I’ve had is a family photo book.
I don’t know how often babies need to see someone to recognise them. Little definitely recognises me, her Daddy and her big sister because she gets excited and gives a big smile when she sees us. The people she sees less often she has started to be initially wary of when they visit.
I remember reading about family photo books years ago and I can’t remember where the original suggestion came from, but the idea is that if you show a baby photographs of people regularly it helps them recognise people. Add in the benefits you get from sharing a book with babies and how much they love looking at faces and I think this is a really great thing to do.
I created my family photo book with Pop Book which no longer exists, but most photo websites have some style of photobook. This book is lovely and small so it is great to pop in a Christmas stocking or changing bag. I had originally planned to make the book myself using a plain hardback book and photographs, but more than 4 years after buying the book for my eldest I hadn't managed to put it together so I appreciated the motivation to do it an easy way.
How to make a family photo book:
- Decide how many photograph’s you want. For this photobook I needed 21 photographs so I counted up the list of who I wanted to feature. I had a couple of spaces so I included a family portrait and one of the two sisters.
- Find all the photographs. This was the hard part for me. I’m always taking photo’s, but I still didn’t have up to date snaps of everyone I wanted to include. I created an album on my phone to keep them all together while I collected them. If the file size is too big for the website you are using you can easily resize image with Adobe Express.
- Add text. I think it makes the book more interesting to have the name of the person on each page. There are a huge number of apps which will let you edit pictures and add text or the the photo website will normally gives you the option as part of the upload process.
- Format the book. If you have chosen to order a photobook you will need to choose the order of the pictures.
- Get it printed. If you are ordering a photo book it will pop through your door ready made, if you are sticking the pages in a book yourself you have a bit more work to do.
Then you just need to sit down with your baby and show them the book while the giggle with excitement.
Even years later as my daughter has gotten older she loves to go through the photobook and it is a lovely memory of how people used to look and loved ones we have lost.
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