November 9, 2010
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Photo Book Party + Giveaway + BBQ
Photo Book Party
Hi hi! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I threw a photo book party! I had a few of my mommy friends come over so we could share ideas about photo books and products. I have so many photos but never seem to have the time to make photo books or even print them out! We talked about what kinds of things we could make with our photos and about what we thought of different photo companies.
I made folders for the mommies with photos of their kiddos that I had taken. I even made one for Evan, hehe.
I’m hoping to do more in-depth research on photo books/prints/canvases and share the results with you…when I have time! For now, here are a few tips/ideas that we talked about at our party:
* Canvases: A few of the companies we liked are Simply Canvas, White House Custom Colour (for pros?) and Canvas on Demand.
* Prints: We like Costco and Shutterfly for prints. I actually think they use the same Fujifilm paper. Even though it’s hard to tell by looking at a photo of a photo…take a look below and see if you can tell which one is the Costco or Snapfish one. The original photo was taken by Youkeun Oh from Evan’s one year photo session last year.
The left one is from Snapfish and the right one is from Costco. Snapfish does something to the photos to make them look a bit overprocessed. Plus, the paper is thinner than both Costco and Shutterfly.
* Calendars: Caroline had a really cool idea~ she makes a photo calendar each year and fills in her activities with her kids throughout the year.
* Photo books: One really awesome idea Connie suggested was to make a storybook out of photos of your baby! You could just make up the words or base it off of a favorite book. Other great ideas include~ a book of your kid’s artwork, a book of just the simple moments in your life (where you eat breakfast together, your baby’s favorite toy, etc.) and a book that has photos of each of your family members and close friends.
* Memory boxes: Helen was so sweet to lug her big memory box frame all the way to my place to share with us. It’s so beautiful and it looks even better in person!
* Groupon for Blurb: Groupon (my favorite daily deal site) has a deal on photo books for Blurb today. $20 for $60 at Blurb. Here’s the LINK. I bought a few so I’ll share the results when I finish my books!
Please share your best photo product ideas, tips and tricks!
Giveaway
I was so excited that Shutterfly generously offered a free photo book and holiday cards to my guests. I also have four gift sets to share with you! Each set will include one 8×8 photo book and ten holiday cards. I’ll send the codes to the first four people who say they’re interested!
BBQ
Gina and her brand new husband set up a BBQ at the park for Andy since they weren’t able to make it to his actual party. It was so much fun just relaxing and chowing down on the yummy food they prepared, especially the mussels! I even told my dentist and she wants the recipe for the mussels~ lol!
Evan learned how to say “Hershey” and kept calling for his buddy.
We’re so thankful to have such wonderful friends!
Comments (51)
jenny! you are the cutest mommy i know! i so wish i was able to be at the photobook PD! looks so fun~! i can’t wait until you share more tips!!!! see you soon! xox
photo party’s a great idea! how do you even come up with these? and how do you always get such great deals and special promos? cud you send me a promo code too if u have extras? so jealous… =P
and i LOVE evan’s two pics for the folder! hes such a sweetie~ just wanna bite him! kkk
i love how you put together a photo party! THings are so heavily digitized these days, esp with photos that I think pictures have become so disposable… you just hit delete and it’s gone, whereas with film, even the flop shots you have a record of. As for printing the photos, I do photo yearbooks through Blurb. Actually I have 3 of them sitting in my computer still ready to be printed, I am going to buy a few of those blurb groupons! I organize my photos by month (okay, i lie.. i organize by month folders and then by date they were taken, but i thought this might make me sound totally crazy lol) and it’s pretty easy to make the photo yearbooks, I just drag and drop chronologically into the layout pages. We burn our picture files onto DVDs by year and keep them in our fireproof safe. I’m totally obsessed about preserving our family memories. ^^ Anyway. I’d love the shutterfly coupon!!!
lol
where is the memory box from? i love it! i need to frame my baby’s 1 year pics in that exact format. i was planning to go to a custom framer.
my favorite consumer photobook vendor is adoramapix.com. they have lay flat pages that are pretty thick.
wow this is awesome Jenny you never cease to amaze me! I also want to know where you for the memory box from. when I was in CA I used to be able to just go to the frame store but have yet to find one out here. Would you recommend any online stores?
this party is such a great idea! love all the pics and now my head is swimming with stuff for holiday gifts for the grandparents! if you an extra coupon, i would love it. thanks!
oops. never mind, didn’t realize i was so late in commenting. haha. anyhow the books look great! thanks for the multitude of ideas on how to group photos together. i’m going to go and buy that groupon now. =P
Yes, gone are the days of scrapbooking, it’s all about photobooks. I agree shutterfly has great pics. Lovely pictures of your family. Evan is such handsome little fellow!
shutterfly me!
great idea, jenny. i love your theme parties. how do you do it all with an evan running around?
hi supermom! hahaha i love that you threw a photo book party. wish i could’ve been there! if and when i ever get off my ass and find a man can you pretty please take photos of me tooooo? lol <3
what a great party idea!!! wish I could have been there
I went digital once I had Ronen… I still haven’t scrapbooked our wedding photos or all the pics I have from when we were dating! Oh well, some day 
Not sure if I am too late for the awesome giveaway, but I am definitely intersted in it. I love to take photos of my two boys but lack the energy to do anything with the photos.
Awesome! I’d really like to make a photo calender in the future.
Right now we use MyPublisher for our photobooks. We’ve made two different ones and bought four copies of each (for us, my parents, Tim’s mom’s family, Tim’s dad’s family). We like them so far, and they have really good deals that I’m signed up for. We’ll buy gift certificates at 50 or 40% off, then buy books when they’re buy one get one free. It saves us HUGE amounts. I calculated that on our last order we spent about $66 for what otherwise would have been a bill of $192. I plan on writing a post about it sooooooon to share…
We used Shutterfly for a 20×30 print of a family photo we had made and for Cady’s birthday invitations. Did you know you could get a code for 50 free Christmas/holiday cards by writing a post for them? http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/
I heard about it here: http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/10/special-offer-from-shutterfly-want-50.html
I already got the code for my cards and ordered them! We saved $119.50. I already liked Shutterfly, so everything I said was true.
Had a great time!!! Thanks for hosting, Jenny. You are my superwoman! =) And thank you thank you for the awesome picture of Jacob. I love seeing his photos that others have taken….it’s totally a new perspective! I put the picture on our fridge and Jacob can’t get enough of his own face (narcissist, I know). =P I will really try my best to make the photobooks and to print out more pictures! Must keep each other accountable.
those are some great ideas for pictures! and, is it just me or does Evan look photo ready all the time?! hehe. He is one handsome boy!
Hey Supermom. I wish I lived in CA just so I can attend your arts and craft parties. How do you do it with a kid?
Thanks for sharing these tips/ideas!
And your photos are amazing! I really need to start on A’s photobooks… She’s 6 yrs old and her photos only made it to the a file folder :T I generally use Costco for my photos and didn’t realized that it was a better quality compared to others until you pointed it out. I would love to try out shutterfly if you still have the giftset available
@nomorepink - I sort of miss the film days when you had to print all your photos! Ooh~ please share your photo yearbooks from Blurb! I always get behind with my photos so I don’t really have time to ever catch up! You totally don’t sound crazy with the organizing by month/date! When Evan was first born we were crazyyyy and organized photos so that each day had its own folder. It was too hard to keep up with. I love that you love preserving memories as much as I do! =) I’m going to message you the codes now!
@jenniahn - Hi buddy! I’ll send you the promo codes now~~! For the record, I’d like to bite J too, hehe. =)
@efficientb2 - Hi~! I asked my friend about the memory box so I’ll let you know when I find out. It would be perfect for one year photos! =) I’ve heard good stuff about adorama pix too but haven’t had a chance to try them out. Thanks for rec! Are you interested in the Shutterfly items? You didn’t mention it but since you’re one of the first people to comment I wanted to check!
@orangemomo01 - Thanks buddy! I asked my friend about the memory box so I’ll let you know when I find out. I think it’s an online source so you’ll be able to get one too! =) I was wondering if you wanted the Shutterfly items~ you didn’t mention it so if you weren’t interested I was going to pass it along to the next person. Just let me know! =)
Beautiful pictures! This is going to seem really random/weird but I I really want to adopt Asian children. I think they are beyond adorable.
@minglenyc - Yes~ so many great gift ideas for the grandparents! I actually do have an extra set I could send you~ I’ll message you now! =)
@tubecozy - Sorry buddy~ I ran out of the codes! If you sign up for their e-mails they’ll send a free book code once a year. The bad part is that you’ll have to put up with all of the other messages that come from them. I love throwing events~ big and small! Unfortunately with Evan running around the only time I have to prepare is when he’s sleeping so that means late nights for me!
@munchkincho - Thanks! I’d love to see your photo books one day. I’m sure with your awesome photos they’re all really good! =)
@petitetokio - Even without a man I’d love to take photos of you and your pretty face! =)
@sammieliang - It would’ve been awesome if you could’ve been at the party~~! How exciting that you joined Xanga! I hope you’ll start blogging and post photos of your model kiddos and of your Sammie Blossoms creations!!! I totally know what you mean…I still haven’t scrapbooked anything from way before our wedding. Wish we had time to do those things but nowadays…I’m lucky if I can even get photos printed!
@Yen - Sorry~~ I ran out of the codes! If you sign up to receive Shutterfly e-mails then like once a year they send out a special code for a free book. The only negative is that you have to receive all their other messages until you get the freebie! Wow, two boys~ you must be so busy running around after them! Even with my ONE boy I’m exhausted! =P
@lovelyingenue - Wow~ thanks for sharing such great info! That’s so awesome that you were able to make the MyPublisher books for such a good deal. The buying the gift certificates then using them for the buy one get one free promos is genius! Thanks for sharing about the free holiday cards for blogging thing too~! Their nice cards are pretty pricey so you’re lucky you got them for free! =)
@jiNNie_g - The next time you’re in CA all the mommies should plan a big arts & crafts party just for you. =) I love having these parties but it takes a few sleepless nights putting some of the stuff together. I usually keep them low key though and I know the other mommies understand! It’s impossible to get things done when Evan is actually awake, hehe. =P
@audreysmommie - Sorry~~ I ran out of the codes! If you sign up for Shutterfly e-mails they do send a free photo book offer like once a year. The only negative is that you’ll have to keep receiving all their other junk messages until you get the one you want. I’m generally happy with Costco prints except that they don’t usually have promotions!
I also feel like I have so many pictures, I want to make sure I do something fun and creative with them before they pile up too much!! D:
your life reminds me of my boyfriend’s aunt.. she’s always having so much fun with friends and her kids and taking pictures of it!
I love you Jenny! Thanks for hosting such a great party! You did such a great job. Sean loved the photo of me and Trystan. We are so lucky that we live in S. CA and we get to hang out at parks in fall and winter. Your bff is so cute! I hope i can get my act together and make some books. I feel so behind on technology.
What a cute idea! I would love to know where she got the memory boxes. Have you tried Walgreen for photo prints? They aren’t too bad and great for that late night last minute need for pictures.
@skippeeahn - no worries. i wasn’t sure when i’d have to time to put together a photobook any time soon, but that would have been my motivation.
@skippeeahn - np, i know that publisher or some other ones do holiday promos but somehow i always miss it. i’ll have to look out for it since i plan to do a photobook for the inlaws this year. i purchased a flip mino from there and there was a coupon in it for 100 free prints (i think if you buy something photo related they give you a coupon for free prints).
@skippeeahn - definitelyinterested in the codes I got over excited about all the pictures you posted hahaha
i guess i may be too late to say i’m interested in the code. =T but i’m actually more interested in how you got shutterfly to do that. that actually sounds like something i’d be interested in doing with some moms out east. mind sharing the info?
Hi ~ I stumbled onto your blog thru a friend’s blog and I am just amazed at the quality of your photos. Can you tell me what camera you have? Thanks!
awww darn. i missed the giveaway. what a fun party! you are def the hostess w/ the mostess
. wish i lived near you and hopefully be invited to all this fun stuff. i totally need to make use of all the pic i have and really need to get my butt in gear in making photo books. i’ve been trying to make one every year but still working on 2009 
.
btw, i was going to ask. do you use picaso? if not, what program like it? or do you know of a good one for making collages?
Hi Jenny ~ I forgot where I commented last and not sure if you responded. Can you tell me which camera you have? Thanks!
@joesee22 - Hi buddy! I don’t think I’ve tried Walgreens before. Thanks for the tip! There’s one right by my place so it would be really convenient. =) I asked Helen about the memory boxes so I’ll let you know when I hear back!
@audreysmommie - That’s so cool you got 100 free prints for buying a Flip Mino! MyPublisher always sends out promo e-mails. I get them all the time (like 2-3 times a week) for buy one get one free, 50% off, etc. I’ve never tried them before though~!
@orangemomo01 - LOL~ you’re so cute! I’ll message you the codes now! =)
@Angthefatass - Thanks! I always have my point & shoot with me~ it’s a Panasonic Lumix LX3. Although they have a nicer/newer version (LINK). I also have a DSLR~ a Canon 5D Mark ii. =)
@sue_shi - Hi~! What a great idea to do a get together for the East Coast mommies! Could I snag an invite if I happen to be out there when you have it? =P I found out about the Shutterfly promos through a site called House Party. Different companies sponsor you to have parties! The only thing is…I wasn’t interested in any of the other ones but I kept getting e-mails about all the other events!
@hudson_umma - I totally wish you lived near us so we could have parties together. I love all of the parties you’ve thrown! I’ve used Picasa in the past but now I mostly use Photoshop now. For collages I’ve used Picnik but I think Picasa has more options.
aw so glad you’re back and doing well!
i’ve gotten several things from WHCC and love them so far. i also got a photo book from picaboo recently (cuz it was free), but even tho the picaboo one was good, the WHCC quality is so much better (i guess that’s what you get when things are free). i wish i coulda gone to your photo book party! Hheheheh
the food you guys ate looks so good! and evan is getting growing tooooo quickly!! i can NOT wait to see evan in a couple of weeks before he gets even bigger…can’t wait~ yay!!
that is such a fun faboo idea! i can’t wait to hear all about your products when you’ve had a chance to put it all together.
ive been saying forever that i wanted to make one of our wedding or even our honeymoon but i never get around to it. i love the imagewrap books that blurb offers and their heavy paper options.
you have such beautiful pictures of your family, i cant wait to see!