When Shutterfly offers me a free photo book, I never pass up. Wait, let me be honest. There was a coupon expiring once and we had just had our second daughter and we were in the hospital. I had my husband bring my computer to the hospital so I could finish the book and I fell asleep. It never happened! So I HAVE passed up a free coupon but just once! But, I do drop everything to make a free book when I can because they are pretty awesome.
The Shutterfly 8×8 book is normally $29.99 for 20 pages and a hard cover plus around $8 in shipping. With the coupon, I pay for shipping and that’s it. We LOVE browsing our photobooks that are displayed in our family room. They remind us of stories to tell our children and prompt fun conversations.
Here are some ideas for books that I’ve either gotten from the Shutterfly site or ideas I’ve come up with along the way:
- Building our new house
- All About Grandpa Dan (my husband’s father who passed away. This book is a sweet way to keep his memory alive for our children)
- ABC Book. Each of my girls have one. A is for Auntie Angela, B is for Busia—I make up the alphabet with things in their life accompanied by pictures of course!
- Maria and Dave baby pictures. This one is fun to look back on to see who our kids look like while my husband and I were little.
- Celebrate Everyday. This was an idea book from Shutterfly. It was before we had kids—I took pictures that depicted what we did on a daily basis. It looks VERY different now!
- Instagram pictures—I love IG for taking pictures to document our day to day. I put all our pictures in a book over the course of a year.
- Pregnancy Books-I made one with each pregnancy. Pictures of my belly growing, cravings, gifts, visitors at the hospital, etc.
- The I Love You Book. I mimicked a favorite book of mine, The I Love You Book by Todd Parr. I love you when you are sad, I love you when you are happy, etc. Along with photos!
- Summer Fun-For the past two years I have made a book of our summer activities.
- Special Trips-I made a book when my oldest and I went to New York for a trip.
- A Vocabulary Book-I made a book with beginning words and pictures to match when my daughter was learning to talk.