Progam to Create a Slideshow

Updated on February 21, 2009
L.S. asks from Roanoke, TX
18 answers

My daughter will be two years old in a few weeks and I want to make a slideshow of pictures from the past two years to show at her birthday party. I used google and there are a ton of websites with programs to create slideshows so I figured I would ask fellow mommies before investing time and money into one. I want to be able to use an mp3 from my computer and not only a few selected song choices the site gives.
Thank for your help!

3 moms found this helpful

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So What Happened?

I tried Power Point, Smilebox, and Slideroll. Then I found Windows Movie Maker and thought it was the easiet to use by far!! Power Point was fine but having to import pictures individually for each slide can take a long time. Smilebox wasn't what I was looking for; it's certainly user friendly but I wanted a little more control over my creation. Slideroll didn't let me use my own music and that was frustrating.
I am surprised at how easy it is to use Windows Movie Maker. I can use my own music, add pictures, videos, play with different transitions, and timing of the photos. I definitely suggest it to anyone wanting to make a slideshow or edit videos.

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M.T.

answers from Austin on

We did a slideshow for my wedding and I believe we just used Powerpoint. We were able to add color around it along with different sayings for each slide.

2 moms found this helpful

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W.C.

answers from San Antonio on

Picasa and PowerPoint are probably already on your computer. Picasa is a free download if you don't already have it, I think. Both have this capability. Picasa is still pretty new, so I don't really know my way around it yet.

PowerPoint will allow you to add captions and miltiple pic on one page, like a scrapbook too. There are a ton of free templates available for backgrounds. You could give it a scrapbook type of feel with the different templates. I prefer PowerPoint because it is so easy and already on there. There are a lot of artistic things that are available on PowerPoint that are not good for the boardroom, but great for applications such as this.

Here is the website to MS's template website. They have a bunch of new V-Day templates that would be adorable for a 2nd b-day too.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx?...

Hope that helps.

2 moms found this helpful
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L.H.

answers from Houston on

Use Microsoft PhotoStory. It's a free download and creates a "movie". You can add their music or music of your own, zoom and pan as much or as little as you want, and it's VERY easy to use. We use this in our elementary schools (teachers and students) and it gives professional results.

2 moms found this helpful
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A.D.

answers from Beaumont on

Hi L.! My daughter just turned 1 last weekend and I made her a slideshow on onetruemedia.com. It was so easy! I had 125 pictures of her to two different songs. Try that website out...you can make them for free or you can join for I think about $3.99 a month or $30 a year and if you join, you get your first dvd of your montage for free! When you join, you can have any song you want! My dvd I ordered was $25 because I didn't join and I just used the songs they had on their website because I really like both of them. It was great quality and everyone was very impressed with it at her birthday party. Try it out! Hope that helps you!

2 moms found this helpful
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S.A.

answers from Houston on

I have not used this yet but Parenting magazine recommended www.Animoto.com you upload 12-20 photos, pick a track from the sites library and in 5 minutes you'll get a 30 second video emailed back to you... I also read that you can pay $30 for a full year of access and get longer videos. The only reason I would recommend this site first is that it is free and you can see what you get and then decide if you want to pick another site or something... Also, many newer computers come with video making ability - my new MacProBook came with iVideo (again, I haven't really used it yet)... Good luck and please report back!

blessings,
stacy

2 moms found this helpful
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J.T.

answers from Victoria on

Why spend money? Go to your start menu and select control panel then select display. You should get another window where you need to select screen saver. then where you select which type of screen saver you want click my picture slideshow. You can save your pictures to a CD and leave the ones you want to display. http://www.slide.com/ is also another slide show that would be cute with boarders and such. I am sure there is a way to do the slide show for free and perhaps eaiser than how I know what to do. Good luck.

2 moms found this helpful
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L.M.

answers from Houston on

You don't need to use any special website. Microsoft Office Powerpoint works great. You can put in the pictures you want, add caption or things like date or age of child. You can add music to it, clip art. That is definitely the program I would use.

2 moms found this helpful
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L.J.

answers from Austin on

I have sonic on my computer which I think does something with roxeo and also a windows movie maker, these were both hiding out in my computer, it allows you to make a dvd with movie clips or a slideshow and gives you lots of ways to "produce it" it's my newest favorite thing!Also allows you to put music files on it! Hope you find something good, but you don't have to spend much if any money for it!

1 mom found this helpful
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D.D.

answers from San Antonio on

I use Pinnacle Studio and absolutely love it! You can make slide shows and videos to personalize your own show and it'll look like you paid a professional to make it. It's EASY too.

1 mom found this helpful
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L.M.

answers from Odessa on

I did this very same thing. I used Microsoft Movie Maker. It came with our Windows Vista so I'm not sure how much the program is on its own. It is really easy to use and you can change the way slides come in and out and add whatever songs you want. Worth looking into. Go to Best Buy or a store like that to price. Good luck. I had so much fun making it.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.T.

answers from Houston on

I am pretty sure you can use Microsoft Powerpoint.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.H.

answers from Houston on

Check out onetruemedia.com (One True Meida)

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/public_home?origin=m...

I used it for a presentation for my daughters wedding and my father in law who was in the movie theatre business couldnt believe I did it myself.

Easy to use and presentation is great.

1 mom found this helpful
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D.M.

answers from Houston on

I'll admit I didn't read the other responses, so this may be a duplicate... You should be able to use Powerpoint. if you've got the Microsoft Office Suite, it is included, so you've already paid for it! =o)

Happy Birthday to your little girl!

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H.P.

answers from Corpus Christi on

Power point is great and user friendly. If you have a newer computer it should already be on there.

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D.R.

answers from Austin on

There are already several great suggestions here for you so I would definitely suggest Powerpoint or iMovie if you are a MAC user. I have done several movies over the years and I really like iMovie, but Powerpoint is great too. I have tried Animoto and that was really easy to use and they do everything for you!

Good luck!
D.
http://www.4myhappyhealthyfamily.com

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P.B.

answers from Houston on

Have you looked into Windows Movie maker?

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L.C.

answers from Houston on

I use Smilebox and I love it! Lots of choices to pick from including lots of music! I think it was $40.00 for the year. My parents live out of town so each month I put together a Smilebox and send it to them and all of my friends.
Good Luck!

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J.G.

answers from Houston on

take a look at proshow gold - it's not super cheap - but it's really easy to use and you'll love what you can do with it.

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