My DMIL had 7, so no time for baby books until they were grown! She made one for each. Started all with pictures of her and DFIL marriage, an image of their emigration ship, their first home, and a baby pic of every child (because, of course, the whole family shapes each child). From there each book was child-specific.

I'd say, birth to current.

oh carp, somebody please tell me i can do something shorter? I don't know if I can get birth to current done in time (pout)

Well, do the first installment, maybe birth to junior high/middle school, then next year do middle/high school to present?

How about grouping things? Although the birth and coming home is one page. Then birthdays, first day of school, holidays, graduations etc.

IMHO kids like to see how they have grown and changed, so side by sides are fun to look at and compare.

I think you could do birth-first day of school. Then start now working on "school days"...K-HS graduation (you will be late for one I know!) to be presented at the time of graduation.

The irony is that your kids could probably whip off this kind of project in 30 minutes. Whenever I need a photo book done I have my daughter do it.

I would just do a photo book of favorite pictures for each kid. Just a sprinkling of all the ones you love. You can mix and match between years and leave off years entirely . They won’t care. They just love pictures of themselves.

Great idea to put together books for your kids. Is there a site with a template?

I had actual Baby Books for my 2. For the first child I stopped entering info at about age 3. ( Most every move was documented. Ex: Today Jane spit up! Exciting stuff.) Her book stopped when the second child was born.

The second child also has a beautiful book. The first page was filled out. His name, weight and date of birth.

I am a bad mother. But I do have tons of photographs, most without dates.

My SIL does books like that for all our special events and it is super appreciated. I think I would do birth to now’

I was wondering how you could get 3 books done in time for Christmas even if you did shorter segments for each.

What a GREAT idea (I may steal it!).

I have been doing photobooks for years. I did several for grandparents, one for a BIL/SIL and one for a good friend. I also have done them for all of our vacations (well a few, ahem... aren't quite done). I used to use Shutterfly but now I use Apple. It is all very intuitive and easy to do.

I think Jojoco has it right. Don't sweat it, just pic photos that you like. I had already made a spreadsheet of the photos I wanted to include (eg pregnancy, newborn, firsts of various holidays, each school year, artwork, hobbies and sport, vacations) but I may be creating needless work. I think I will just look through and pick what i like!

Thank goodness for the "faces" option on my Macbook,it does the searching for me.

Project creep alert - most of my photos are digital, but I have some that are not. What is the best scanner to buy?

I'm excited about this project! I think they will be tickled by it. It is sooo hard to buy for teens. I am also getting them each the latest iphone (they have 5s and 6s), so between the two major gifts, one personal,one just a splurge, I think it will be a hit.

I'd agree, linear isn't necessary--today's digital natives don't really expect or work that way in their media consumption. So they will no doubt be thrilled to get something so customized, it doesn't at all have to be here-you-are-starting-the-day-you-were-born.

I was actually contemplating doing something like this for my daughter this holiday, except I have in mind giving it to her boyfriend ;). I thought I'd call it something like 'The Little Book of [Daughter's name] and just include images and captions from her childhood. Thank you Mtn for triggering the thought I could/should make one for my son and give The Little Book of [Son's Name] to his wife too!

I like the idea of doing it in stages, such as birth to kindergarten, then k - elementary, then high school. I did do baby books for my sons and they are incredibly boring.I do love the lock of hair from their first haircut. #1's book is much longer and detailed than #2.

One time I put all the school pictures in a photo album for the older one. The pictures are so funny, as school pictures tend to be. It was a small album so I put one year on each [age. That was really entertaining to see the difference from year to year along with goofy hair, missing teeth, that sort of thing.

You don't even need a scanner. Just take a careful photo of the physical picture with your phone.

A scanner is much faster they say, and while i am at it I should just scan any old photos we have.

Maybe you can work backwards. Start with current pics of the kids going back a few years, the next book picks up at that point and fills in a few years, closing with their beginnings as babies. Most people appreciate their baby books much more after they've grown up anyway, more than they do when they are teens.

i may consider this idea for my kids, but not for this Christmas, that's for sure. Have fun!

Well, I used a scanner for a photo book for my Mom's 80th birthday, and it took me ages. After a while, I developed a system, scan one set of pics while cropping, etc. the previous set.

I have to say that the work was definitely worth it. My mom was so touched and said it was the best gift ever.

Regarding scanning pics: taking a picture of photograph is much quicker than scanning unless you have a document scanner with a good feed. Look at the fujitsu scansnap line. These should work for photographs.

I ordered a scanner that supposedly scans 1 pic in 2 seconds... DH will be put to work on that duty. It also autocrops, straightens, etc.

I think pregnancy thru 8th grade is fine. That gives you time to do high school & college later.

amazing present! I am working on a photo book for Emmet‘s first year and it is taking me forever!!

Ps I made my own old school photo album when I was a teenager and pets and friends featured prominently FYI

A few years ago I made photo books for both of my DD"s that were vacation thru the years books. They liked them because as others have said, they like looking at themselves changing and growing. Remembering the trips was a bonus.

They will enjoy whatever you do .

Robo, yes,I already have pets and friends as a category!

I am going to do birth to current. 2 are in HS and one just started college. From here on out, they can do their own books! : )