Many families put out a book that open house attendees can
sign when they come to a graduate’s open house, but I wanted family members to
have a bit the opportunity to give a bit more time and thought to what memories
and advice they’d like to share with our recent graduate. I made a list of family
members I wanted to include in the book, and I sent them all an email 1 month ahead of my
intended deadline with the following request:
Dear _____,In honor of Margaret’s graduation, I am planning on making her a little book with notes from those who love her.
I would like to invite each of you to write something for Margaret.
Here are some ideas:
-- a special memory you have of Margaret
- the most important thing(s) you ever learned
- some things you wished that someone had told you when you were 18
- a favorite quote or poem, and why it is special to you
- things you love and appreciate in life and why
- advice or tips on college and careers
These are only suggestions - anything will work- it doesn’t have to be profound. It can be as long or as short as you want.
Please send your notes to me via email by April 25.
I’m going to assemble everyone’s notes, along with some pictures, into a little book and give it to her for graduation.
Thanks a bunch,
It was so much fun to read everyone’s notes as they came in! I had to remind a few people, but everyone
got something to me. Next, I went
through our entire photo collection (this took time, but was a great trip down memory lane) and curated
photos of Margaret with each of the family members that wrote a note. I made folders to organize my photos.
There are many companies that make personalized books, I opted to go
with Shutterfly. I ordered an 8 X 11
hardcover book with 29 pages for $38 (look for discount coupons online- I found a $10
one just before ordering). It took time to design each page
with text and photos, similar to a scrapbooking process. The process was pretty intuitive to figure out, although I wish the text box features were a bit more flexible- I had to stack text boxes together for longer pieces of writing, but it printed very nicely. The company delivered it in 1 week, so I had
plenty of time before graduation.
The book has been so meaningful for our daughter, and family members told me they really enjoyed writing their notes for her.
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| The book cover |
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| A page with all pictures |
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| A page with pictures and text |
I did the same thing for our son
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| Back cover, featuring the three dogs we've owned, Duchess, Sadie and Chester |
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