Making a family year book is a great way to document activities and reflect on the past in a collective and creative setting. Games, trips, recitals, parties, milestones passed, and challenges met over the last year are all worthy to be put in print, and after a few afternoons of work on the project, you'll have preserved these memories for generations to come!
What You Need:
- Two 8” x 11” sheets of poster board (or one 16” x 22” sheet)
- Blank sheets of computer or laid paper
- Scissors
- Scotch tape or glue
- Black sharpie
- Colored markers (in lieu of markers, you can type text on your word processor and cut and paste onto pages)
What You Do:
- Pre-production: Discuss what “categories” to include, such as activities, holidays, and travel.
- Delegate who will write the text, who will hunt through boxes (or computers!) for photos, and who will design each page. Or, agree to take turns and share the tasks.
- Decide on a theme (such as a color) and a title, for example, “The Johnson Yearbook 2013” or “The Sheldons: Up Close and Personal.” If your family is big on sports or beach excursions, and will devote many pages to these activities, it might be fun to use titles like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” or “Down by the Water.”
- Now it's time to write a Table of Contents. Start by organizing the entire book into sections or categories, and then make a list in the order in which you would like them to appear.
- Get a family photo: snap a group photo for your introductory page, similar to a grade school homeroom picture. Surrounding captions should state the basics: your names, ages, and location, for instance.
- Design your personal pages: each person should design their own “about me” page. Include a main photo, and add other pictures, images, or awards to personalize each section.
- Year-in-review: devote a page to the year’s major trends, as well as local and national news. Gather snippets of newspaper and magazine articles, or search online for headlines and print stories and photos.
- Celebrate the year's activities: assemble photos, anecdotes, quotes and souvenirs from adventures to beaches, parks, zoos, games, and museums.
- Other Categories: sort through memorabilia and create content for sections like “Pets,” “School Life,” and “Birthdays.”
- Surveys: remember high school polls with questions like “Best Hair,” “Most Likely to Succeed,” and others? Create a survey that polls interests and favorites, and transfer answers onto the pages. Kids and teens enjoy making and answering surveys, so let them create it.
This project requires a little work, a ton of creativity and plenty of laughs. It will be the perfect book for reminiscing about shared family experiences, and provides a wonderful excuse to reflect upon these times together.
By Cheri Lucas
Cheri Lucas has her Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction. She was a writing aid at Corte Madera Middle School for six years. She is currently working as a freelance writer in San Francisco.
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