Do you have the baby book your mother filled in for you? I do because I am the first-born in my family. My mom says she is sorry to my younger siblings that the books are a little scattered and sometimes blank. When my babies were born I knew I was the type to fill out the first few pages but then forget the rest so I looked for alternatives to the traditional baby memory book.
I had no idea there were so many great ideas. I love creative mom entrepreneurs. They help make our lives as moms so much easier. One of my dreams in life is to come up with a great new baby product…I have a million ideas.
7 Alternatives to the Traditional Baby Memory Book
1.Baby Keepsake Box – These boxes are perfect for lots of items you will want to keep. I love how there is a little compartment for all the baby items you collect in the first year. I didn’t know what to do with the tiny hat and shirt my baby had on in the hospital. This keepsake box gives everything a spot.
2. Calendar – For those that don’t want to spend a lot of time writing a calendar is perfect. There are stickers for events such as First Smile, or First tooth and you just place them on the day that it happened. It is easy to look back and see when all the big milestones happened for your baby and you didn’t even have to write them down. There is also a small spot on each month to write any special memories.
3. Blog – I have keeps a different personal blog since my oldest twins were born. If you love to write like I do then this is a great way to tell stories and have detailed memories of your day-to-day life with your little ones. Each year I print out the blog into a book and I have several copies made. One for each child and one for each grandmother and I gift it to them for Christmas. I can’t tell you how much my kids enjoy looking through the memories. Plus, I am so grateful to read back at what it was actually like to have twin during their first year of life because I think my brain blocked out the memories so that I would want to have another baby. 🙂
My tip for keeping just a personal blog is to use a free platform like Blogger. It takes less than 5 mins to get a blog started. Then once a year I use a program like Blog2Print and it automatically loads all your blog posts into a book format and you can edit it a little if you want and then order.
4. Memory Box – This is a super easy way to keep all the baby favorites together. I have a box in each closet to put the special items that I just can’t give away. Here is a super cute one that The Realistic Mama put together for her baby.
5. Apps on your phone – I can see the market for these apps becoming huge. We may not be able to get to the baby book later to write down the milestone but we always have our phones near us. Plus it is easier to add pictures directly into the app versus having to print out a photo for a book. Here is a list of apps: Kid Capsule, Moment Garden, Sweet Baby and My Own Little Story. Most of these even have the option to print them out into a book.
6. Shadow Box – Keep your newborn items displayed in their room. I find it so sweet to look at these heirloom booties that my mother and my daughter both wore as babies. These cute boxes are easy to find in many sizes online.
7. Modern Baby Memory Books – Here is a list of some books that are not the typical baby memory books.
How ever you choose to keep your memories just be sure to do it. It is so fun to go back and relive all that you have been through nurturing your child. I also like to tell myself that my kids will be grateful for the record keeping but that remains to be seen. 🙂
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I feel so bad I save everything but I don’t have a lot of the baby keepsakes leftover. I love all your ideas for those new moms that are starting out.
Both of my girls have memory books. It was something that I just couldn’t imagine doing without. However, these are all great ideas for those moms who may not be into the memory book!
I am terrible and have not done a baby book for either of my kids. The oldest is 4 now lol I have everything, just never put anything together. I was thinking about doing a shadow box though.
I love these ideas! I did a really detailed photo book for my oldest, but I’m struggling to do so for #2. The memory box is a great option!
My gosh … these are all fab ideas! My personal fave is the memory box! It’s a great keepsake and will also have the actual look and feel of memory lane.
Me too. I love to keep all the small items.
These are all good ideas, I think keepsake boxes are great to keep hold of smaller items which your child loved so you can look back on it x
I have yet to make a baby book for any of my 3 kids. I take tons of photos though so they’ll likely always have that. I also have sort of a memory box thing going on… as I hold on to anything I can. I think I should look into finally working on those baby books though!
I also love keeping a memory box for all my keepsakes and events that happen in my life. And you’re right, blogging is another great to way to do exactly the same to those memories you cherish. I believe If I have a child of my own, I would blog also just to relive those memories and see how they grow. Great advice here.
These are some lovely ideas and that’s one of the reasons that I enjoy blogging because it can capture different moments of your life! I like the box idea too, I did one for my eldest!
I would soooo do a blog if I was having babies now! I also loved the calendar and did one for my daughter (30 years ago!) and that is so much fun to look back on!
Yes, the calendar is so easy and fun.
So creative. I really like the idea of combining tech and a tactical “book”. It gives you the option of sharing with family and friends.
I’m beating myself up for not having thought of using a calendar to record milestones! It’s convenient, efficient and you can also make it fun depending on how you decorate it.
I was the worst with my daughter and keeping track of her milestones! How bad of me! I love the idea of a shadow box!
I have a mix of a few of these! I had the traditional baby book, but also a little “treasure box.” I also have a notebook that I kept track of a lot of things in when my son was a preemie.
I am so behind on all three of my kids baby books. I definitely need to get on them and start making it happen.
I love the box idea. I am horrible I didn’t do any of these beyond my first child, and I am really kicking myself now.
These are all so great to give to an expecting mom or one that just gave birth. The Memory Box is my favorite.
We have a family blog too. With my oldest daughter I started when I was pregnant and wrote in it everyday until she was about three years old. She was six when her little sister was born and although I’ve uploaded photos every year, I’m sad I don’t have that same journaling experience for our second daughter. I’m actually in process of updating because it’s something very important to me. We’ve printed with Blog2Print too and the books are an incredible keepsake.
So glad to find someone else that has done blog2print. I love looking through the books.
Some lovely ideas here. I did it all for my firstborn then failed with my second!
These are some great ideas. I especially love the blog printing idea. Also i love the look of your blog here. Going to follow your social media.
So many cute ideas!!! We did a keepsake box with my daughter. So much easier than a baby book!
Looks cute! I found more memmory books on this site, check it out – https://top-mom.com/best-baby-memory-book/