Lisa Bearnson first discovered scrapbooking at age 7 and quickly became addicted to this fulfilling hobby.
"I started with a passion for saving memorabilia that was very therapeutic for me as I was growing up," Bearnson says.
As founding editor of Creating Keepsakes Magazine, this Utah mom later turned her lifelong passion into a multimillion-dollar business. Along the way, she discovered that making scrapbooks for children "can build self-esteem and show them that they belong to a family who loves them."
Creating a birthday page for each year and assembling all the pages into a birthday scrapbook is an easy way to celebrate that child, Bearnson says. She offers the following suggestions:
1. Choose a yearly theme. Consider each year as a "chapter" in the birthday scrapbook. She recommends choosing a yearly theme to connect the memorabilia and help each birthday stand out as a separate memory. For example, on Bearnson's daughter Kayla's eighth birthday, she chose a smiley face theme. "All the pages from that year are black and yellow and have smiley faces on them," Bearnson says.
2. Plan your pictures. There are two types of photos that make great additions to a birthday scrapbook, Bearnson says. The first are close-up photos of the birthday child. "This could be a child holding up fingers to show how old he is, or sitting beside a cake with the appropriate number of candles," Bearnson says. She knows one mom who has her child hold a sign.
The second type of photo includes party guests or family members celebrating the event. For her son's birthday party where the children made gingerbread houses, Bearnson snapped a photo of each child with his or her finished project. "These pictures are great for thank you cards — to send each child a photo of himself with a thank-you note," she says.
3. Collect autographs. Include a time in the celebration when guests can sign autographs as mementoes of the day. "Autographs are an easy, adaptable way to preserve memories that fits with any birthday theme," Bearnson says.
4. Record the year's highlights. An easy way to do this is to create a list of your child's "favorites," such as a movie, song, vocal group, color, book, sport or hobby. Parents can write a letter to their child that describes events of that year. "A parent can also take the opportunity to express love and appreciation for the child in such a letter," Bearnson says.
5. Create a "pocket page." A "pocket page" is a scrapbook page with another piece of paper attached. You can create a "pocket" by gluing or taping the top piece of paper to the scrapbook page on three sides, allowing you to "keep memorabilia that you don't want to glue inside the scrapbook," Bearnson says. "It's perfect for birthday cards, movie tickets, a copy of your invitation or other mementoes."
6. Create an "invitation page." It's fun to create an invitation that fits your theme, and therefore contributes to that year's birthday theme in your scrapbook. For example, the invitation for Bearnson's "smiley face" party is a camera that says, "Put on your smiley face because Kayla's having a happy birthday."
7. Use your creativity. Bearnson says that a scrapbook is as individual and unique as a child. "Work together with your child to determine which memories are most important to him," she says. "Most of all, a scrapbook is a place to be yourself and have fun."