I think we received a record number of holiday cards this year, and yeah! because I love them. I really like getting the ones with photos in them, probably because I’m not on Facebook, so if I don’t see photos on blogs or in emails then it’s always fun to see how much the kids (and dogs – lots of dogs) have grown since last December.
One of my favorite photo cards was from a friend here in town – her kids are in school with F. She took the photos herself, and the cards were done by Pinhole Press. I love their stuff, but hadn’t looked at their site in awhile. Now that I have revisited it, I’ve got several good ideas to run with.
First up – E and I are going to tackle this memory game for F. Last night we started our list of F’s favorite objects to photograph, and I’m going to help E set up the shots and let her take them. We still have half a year to go until her birthday, but maybe we can hold out on giving it to her until then. There’s always Easter, and Valentine’s Day, and Mardi Gras if we get impatient… right?
The possibilities are really endless though – you could easily pick a theme and run with it. Or do two sets to combine and make a more challenging game. I also love the idea of photographing friends and family that attend a birthday party or similar event, and then making this game out those photos. Super cute.
When E was little we had a small book that held photographs of all of her relatives, and we wrote their names on the various pages. She loved that book and read it constantly. I think it really helped with familiarity when she was little because our family lives far away and we don’t see them that often. Pinhole Press also carries a similar type book – in several forms, including a durable board book. I think it would make an awesome gift for a one- or two-year-old, or you could photograph those family members who attend the birthday party and make the book with those photos.
Or these super cute letter magnets for the fridge. I’m thinking these might be fun for the girls’ magnetic wall.
And you better believe there will be some alphabet cards too, for my happy little letter learner. E and I have our work cut out for us! I’m thinking we can start finding things in our favorite places around the city to represent each letter – what a cool way to document our spring and summer, and create a cool gift at the same time.
A memory game of family members was something I had always thought of trying to make for cousins’ kids, maybe now with the new cousin on the way this would be fun for the older brother. But a board book with photos from Christmas might be just as good…
RK
I know – I thought of that too – what if you photographed the things that mean a certain holiday, the traditions, and then made a game of them or a book of them? A photograph of the famous holiday pie, or the mantel of stockings, or a picture of a sleeping uncle. Whatever makes you think of that holiday with your family. It’s kind of like a memory game made up of memories. And then, when you get tired of playing the game, it might look sweet to hang up a grid of nine of them, or sixteen, sort of Polaroid style.
Too many ideas for this one…