Create a photo diary souvenir of your family vacation
Taking photos has never been easier than it is today. Sadly, most of our photos end up in a scramble and we can’t find the ones we want when we want them.
With a little effort, your family vacation pictures can be turned into a printable book and you can make enough copies for everyone to keep a copy. The easiest way to do this is at one of the many stores that print out pictures and keepsake books from the picture files you bring in. But pictures need the stories to go with them.
I encourage you to create a written record of each day of your trip and write about the events of the day. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to capture your activities in pictures as the day progresses. Use a laptop or tablet to write your story/entries while you are riding in your car from one place to another if you are taking a trip with several stops, or if you are spending your vacation at a single destination pick a regular time each day to discuss and write up all that has happened.
There are several options for printing out your book. A service I have used many times to make personal books is Lulu.com. You need to be able to create your layout using MS Word and then upload it to Lulu.com and create a cover. There are several new companies that have popped up that also provide similar services and more. I can’t endorse any of them since I haven’t tried them, but I’ll list a few that came up with a simple Google search.
These are only a few of what I found online today. Some offer templates to help you create your layouts. I looked for websites that appeared to offer more opportunities to write about the pictures, rather than ways to create a simple photo album. As you browse through these you may discover other book ideas you might pursue with your family as well.
If you are willing to settle for B&W pictures instead of color, you can create a much longer book for your dollar. These books are published as print-on-demand books. You may order as few or many copies as you like. Every page is created with the same technology – either in color or B&W – so your book price is based on the number of pages and whether the pictures are color or B&W. By making your own souvenir of your vacation, your pictures will not be lost or the dates and locations confused over time. Order the number of copies you want fairly soon after you complete and upload your file. Otherwise the company that provides the service may delete your book files. When I checked on the book in the picture above I discovered that it is no longer available.
Enjoy your vacation and preserve the memories for your family for many years.
by Janice D. Green