Anniversary memory book for parents, from the family
Collect old photos, letters and video messages from the whole family through one invitation link, then put each by its year. The clips play online, and the printed book has a code beside each.
Start with 40 pages free. No card needed.
Start about six weeks before the day. The old photos and letters take longest, because they sit in other people's drawers.
One person owns the book and chooses what goes in. Everyone else sends what they have from their phone, with no account.
See also: How to preserve old letters, Making a scrapbook together.
Make the memory book together
Invite people to send photos and their own words, then choose what goes in the book. Make your parents' anniversary book.
| What | How it gets in | Online | In the printed book |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old photos | Scanned at 600 dpi, or photographed flat in daylight | The photo, with the year and names | Printed on the page |
| Letters and cards | Each page and the envelope photographed flat | Beside a photo from the same year | Printed on the page |
| Video messages | Recorded on a phone and sent through the invitation link | Plays on the page | A still and a code that opens the clip |
| Voice notes | Sent through the same link, under thirty seconds | Plays on the page | A code that opens the recording |
Old photos and letters
Ask each household for five photos and one letter or card, with the year and who is in them.
Scan small prints at 600 dpi, or photograph them flat by a window with the flash off.
Photograph every page of a letter, and its envelope too. The postmark dates it.
Video messages from the whole family
Send one invitation link to brothers, sisters, grandchildren and old friends, and keep your parents off the list.
Ask for a clip under thirty seconds that answers one question, such as which day with them they would live again.
Each clip waits for you to accept it, so nothing reaches the book you have not seen.
Put it in order and print it as a book
Go year by year: the wedding, the first home, the children, the years since, then today.
Put each letter beside a photo from the same year, and each clip on the page it belongs to.
The printed book is bound in softcover, hardback or lay-flat, in A4 or a 21 cm square.
Online the clips play on the page. In the printed book each one is a still with a code that opens it.
Pages to make
Six weeks before: send the link
Say what to send, the one question for the clip and the closing date.
Four weeks before: chase the old ones
Ring the relative with the albums and your parents' oldest friend.
Two weeks before: build the pages
Year by year, each letter by its photo, each clip on its page.
Ten days before: check the proof
Read it page by page and scan two of the codes with your phone, then order the book.
Questions
How do I get video messages from family who live far away?
Send them the invitation link. They record on their phone and send the clip through it with no account, and you accept each one before it goes in.
Can a printed book hold video messages?
Not the video itself. In the bound book each clip is a still with a code beside it, and the code opens the clip on a phone.
What if there are few photos from the early years?
Ask relatives and old friends, who often have the wedding and the first home. A letter or card from that year can stand where a photo would.