Photo Albums

Although it takes up a lot more space, I have the "family album," with all the photos, and then have albums for each of my 2 kids. Some photos overlap, some don't. All the photos are in my album, the family album. Photos of my son at baseball or soccer or at a school event or with his friends...copies of those go just into his album. The same type of thing for my daughter. Family vacations...if I have 10 nice photos of the 4 of us, or the 2 kids, in front of...let's say, Niagara Falls...then I might copy 1 or 2 of them for the kids' albums, so they have something, but they don't need every nice photo. My kids are older now...9 and 12...but they still love taking out their own albums and looking through them.

I have 3 daughters and I have albums for each of them. I make 3 copies of all my pics and put them in their albums. I wanted them all to have memories without any bickering later on. :)

I make scrapbooks that include all members of the family and then make photo copies at Kinkos on laser paper to fill up a separate album. Unless you touch it, you can't tell which one is the original!! This way everyone has their own copy of the "family memories". The only thing that I have scrapbooks for each individual child is for scouts. You can also do family albums and then do individual albums for each child as they go through school/sports. Which ever way you decide, I think your kids will appreciate your efforts of keeping pictures organized and together!

Jessica,
I work with a company that specializes in working with photos. Are most of your photos digital? If so, we offer a digital product that you can make scrapbooks into where you can combine the photos and if you are thinking of later in life, you can simply print out 2 copies. If you would be interested, please let me know and I can help you and walk you through the very simple process.

If they are from film there are also very easy ways to do this and I would be glad to discuss those with you if you would be interested.

S.

Hi Jessica, Sure it does make sense. I have three girls, the first has two full albums dedicated to her first two years...then #2 came along and she has one album just of herself....then #3 came along and I started an album...then I gave up and bought photo boxes. (Each a different design or color of course.) I put their individual pictures in each box and (since I usually get doubles and cute pictures always get taken twice) then I try to give them pictures with each other (aka family pics). I also have a box just for "friends" pics (all those great pic's you get at Holidays), a box for family, and a box for vacation pics. Now that my girls are older they really like to help organize their own boxes as well as the group boxes and have even started their own scrap books with the pic's. I also keep "keepsake boxes" for each of the girls for school. Using a sterilite plastic bin that holds hanging file folders with a lid (about $4 each at WalMart.) I put in a file folder for every year color coded for grade school, middle school & high school. I put their final grade cards in, class pictures, awards (the certificate style or ribbons) and any programs from any events they partisapate in (like orchestra, dance recitals etc.). I also put their school yearbooks and a couple of "special" pictures or projects that they did and want to keep in the boxes as well. My own Mother never kept anything...so I guess that's why I want to keep all these memories for my girls to have and enjoy someday. Best wishes!!

P.S. Each of my girls do have their own baby books as well. :-)

One tip that has helped me: wait until the end of the year to organize and choose pics. I am always more discriminating after time has gone by. Initially, I want to put EVERY SINGLE picture in the album!

There's different ways to do it. You can have your regular family photo albums and then have special albums just for them that are filled with their birth, birthdays and things focused just on them, school plays, etc. But Christmas, Halloween, holidays, trips, etc, keep in your family albums. You'll be looking at those albums for many years and believe me, you'll not want to give up those photos for many years after they leave the house and get married. So keep most stuff in family albums and only special individual times in their own albums. Your kids will pick through the family albums here and there for years, little by little.

K. B
mom of 5 including triplets

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrisburgpachat

I did it the "family album" way and, even though that is all I had time for, I know I will regret having done it that way because who is going to get the albums when they are older? Will they say "You get 2009, I'll take 2010.." etc. Although I have done traditional Creative Memories style scrapbooking for 12 years, I am going to experiment with making one online digital album per year through CM software and then order two copies of it, one for each child.

I have 4 children (ages 14,8,4,4) and I started scrapbooking about 4 years ago. I am very far behind right now, but that is beside the point. I also was undecided how to do my albums. I then decided to do a book for each child from birth to 2 years of age, then after that I put them all into a family album. My problem was when I took a picture that had all 4 of my child, which book should I put it in? So that is why I decided to do the family album. Hopefully that helps.

I like the "making doubles" idea that the prev poster had. I think making a baby book of each child is a good idea, then you have something to give them later on. but definitely make books with both of them too. I would think that you would want a family book too.

If you have digital, I use Shutterfly too...you can make beautiful albums for any occasion simply by dragging your picture into a pre-designed layout. It's very easy and the quality is excellent. It's great for gifts too! I like scrapbooking too, though so most of my pictures are in albums as well as gift books from Shutterfly. I only have one boy, though so I'm not sure what I'll do when I have another one...probably do a separate baby book for the new one and just family ones for the rest. Good luck...sounds like there's a lot of ideas for you!

Jessica,

I had a similar problem when my twin girls were born. The one thing I did do was to keep my photos in some kind of order. I kept my negatives together by date and photos in a box by the same. When we went digital, I kept the photos on my computer in folders by the date they were downloaded and if I had prints made to keep, I would keep them in a simple acid-free container with dividers I made myself which had the same dates as the files on my computer.

When my preemie twin daughters were 2 1/2, I got to go to my first scrapbooking event in 3 1/2 years. It was awesome, and I could pick a subject I liked out of the several years of pictures I had and go with it.

My kids are now 10, 7, and 7 and yet to have their own baby books, although my twin daughters do have special albums of their NICU stay. I'll probably never be caught up, but any time I go to organize anything it is a snap because the photos are all arranged.

***Another note*** if you have pictures you really love, keep a notebook with special quips, quotes and stories. This doesn't have to be detailed. I did mine on the kids' sticker calendars when they were babies and then on a blank calendar later. I wrote down when they got teeth, said funny words, or wrote other funny things they did. You might not get back to these pictures until later to put them in an album, but it will be neat to have a story or quick note ready to go with them.

If you plan on giving them albums later on in life, I suggest you start making separate ones now. What I do is i have my "family" albums... just regular photo albums (three to a page) and write in the memos on the side. For that one i print out all my photos and they go in there... in order and i just keep continuing the albums in order. Everything is dated and ages are written in. For my kids (2 & 4), i do scrapbooking albums. I just got a digital camera about 13 months ago so this is much easier for me! when i get my pictures printed, i pick a few for each event or whatever and get copies made for them (not all of them, just a few from each... and that is hard! picking them!). I am very far behind on scrapping BUT i do have my photos organized for them in those photo boxes in order. My family regular albums are updated as i print.

I sign up for places like cvs.com or kodakgallery and stuff like that... every so often they run 10 cent print specials! Now the pictures that i have from my regular film camera, it was easy when i had one kid b/c i always got doubles, but since the second one came I have them in a box w/ the negatives so i can get reprints! lol. lots of work! anyway, on the computer my digital pictures are kept in several folders. I start with the main folder "family photos 2008" then i have subfolders for every month. also, when i save my photos for the file name i always start with the month "april 2008, kids party" something like that. i also put their ages 2y4y so i know for me. Before they go in these subfolders they go into a "to put online" (in my online albums to send to family) and then moved to "to print" once they are printed they get moved into their specific months. Then i save on a cd by month and put in the fire safe. I am ocd and am way too organized but it makes for easy find of photos!!!

i also label the back of every picture I have printed. names, dates, ages, etc. that way you know who it is and the year, etc. i learned b/c my mom had these very old photos of her family and some of them we didn't know who was who b/c her parents passed away and we were stuck! then my mom unexpectedly died (age 44) when i just turned 24 and a lot of her photos (tons of them!!!) have no ages or dates and my dad only remembers so much as far as the specifics go (moms are so much better at this!)

good luck! it will be worth it in the end! i LOVE pictures and am always looking back. my kids both love going through the albums and even my pics as a kid, and that gives them a chance to get to "know" the grandmother who died before they had a chance to get to know her (my oldest was only 3 months old) through the stories in the photos.

good luck!! sorry about writing a book!

Hi Jessica! I have dedicated an album separately to each of my children, currently 3 & 5, but include pictures of them together when appropriate, like vacations and day trips. I plan to do my own family album someday that will include all of us. I haven't decided on when to give them to them at this point. It will have to be a time when I know they will appreciate it, so that may be the day they get married or have their own child. They are too young for me to know just yet.

Good luck!

I do my albums as family albums but then have scanned in pics from film cameras or from friends. I'm mostly digital now. I have put together a photo album for each of my kids with favorite pics of each from the first few years (still working on the younger two due to their ages, 3 years and 8 months). Lately, I've been working on putting together a cd/digital photo album for each kid. This way I can include videos. This also takes a lot less space in the house.

Additionally, my oldest is in 2nd grade. Instead of saving all of her schoolwork, I've been scanning them into the computer and saving only a few of the more special ones. This way, she can have them but I don't have to store mountains of paper. After scanning in art and special projects, we mail them to Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Ruth or Uncle Scott (my husband's family who live out of state).

While the decision is ultimately up to you, I would probably go digital. It is easier to store. When they are older, they can print what they want to print. You can use one of many different photo services to create custom projects or do it yourself with different software available. And finally, you get to keep your family albums to enjoy yourself and later in life with your grandchildren.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

Hi Jessica- I'll offer some advice that has worked for me...My company, Once Upon a family, has a line of "tradition books" where the thought is for different holidays or events, (like Christmas or birthdays, halloween, etc.) you only put one picture per year of you child or your family engaged in a tradition on that holiday. I am doing books for both my kids and its so easy- one picture a year...you can watch them grow through the album and it's a great keepsake for them when they start their own families. I have totally ditched my scrapbooking efforts after getting these books :) My website is www.onceuponafamily.com/joydunn and the products are the Silk tradition books. You can email directly at ____@____.com if you want more information, but you can also just order online. Good luck!!!

I would make an album for each, not exactly the same .. and different pictures for the most part .. but if you have a great pic of both .. duplicate it and put it in both albums. My gf is a CM consultant and she does the digital albums - she has a15yo and a 5 yo .. so their albums have vastly different pictures! She also does 'hobby/activity' albums. I do a Christmas album and a family album. Each girl has an album. My girls do a Father's Day page each year, each year he takes last year's pages out of the frames and puts them in the album they gave him a few years back. Hope this is helpful.

Ok, I have 11 albums, each holding 200 photos already filled and my girls are 2!!! I have seperate ones dedicated to each child. I have specific pics & stories in each one. Example, birthday invites that we custom made, their baptism, easter pics. Its difficult to keep up as they grow but at least for now I've captured some really great memories. When they get older they can have the albums that are mixed & they can decide then what they want to do with them, but they can see how happy they were growing up together!!

Have fun!

Why not get doubles and make two so that each of them have the same pictures?

You can always make double prints, except for there birthdays, or special days. I didn't think of doing this for my kids when they were born. I'm making eat of them a album for there graduations. I'm scanning and sending the pictures to be processed. This wasy I get a copy to.
T.

Growing up my Mom did the albums combined as family albums. After she retired, she went thru all the pictures and sorted them and gave us individual albums with mainly our pictures with a mixture of family scattered throughout. She enjoyed this process tremendously looking back through the years.

Good luck.

Have Fun,
B.

I have 2 boys as well and I have one album for each. Since we have a digital camera some of the pictures are similar so I split them between the albums. The way I figure it they won't care later in life if they have pics of the others birthday party.

Awesome project!
If I were you I would be sure to take a lot of solo shots of #2 as well, and include several of the best shots with both of them in both albums, so that both albums include "their own" solo photos AND some of both of them. Good Luck!

I had the same concern. I am a mother of 2 boys, 5 years and 18 months. With my oldest I have 2 albums of just him, birth till around 2. Then I started putting them in the regular photo album. With my youngest I started him an album and now am on the second one also, but now I have pictures of the oldest with his brother in one album, but not in the other so what I did was to make each one a scrapbook plus their regular picture albums. That way each still have their own, but yet they have each other in them also. It is very time consuming now that there are two, but definitely worth it. I don't know what I'll do when hopefully I have another child. There isn't enough time in each day.

Hi, Jessica. I help people organize their pictures and I run across this concern a lot. I have people that do solely family albums, similar to what you did with one boy and then your holding onto them until you want to pass them along. Most people seem to do family albums for most of their pictures and then specific albums for each boy (birthdays, school, first year, etc.). Does that make sense?

I can help you out with any concerns, just let me know. Thanks.

Pesronally I think you should make album including both kids. If you want to make them as keepsakes for them later in life, have you considered photobooks?
Especially if you are using a digital camera, it makes sense to save them or organize them in an online album throughout the year and then buy 3 copies at the end of the year. (one for each child and on for yourself)
Often they have discounted rates for multiple books and even around special events like Christmas they do BOGO specials, so you save a ton.

I have used multiple photobook companies before, I can't say anything bad about any of them.
The cost of a book really mirrors (or is even cheaper) the cost of printing each image, buying a photo album and then sorting them into it. Some of these books offer special backgrounds and come very close to a scrap book.

The hardest part is picking only the best shots. I have millions of pictures of my son, and I have a hard time dropping pix from the books.