This is a new-to-me idea and I think it’s smart. Laikonik makes Once-A-Year-Books — a simple, accordion-fold book that helps you chronicle your child’s first 18 years. All you do is insert one photo per year and add a brief description of that year on the corresponding page. They also include a ‘Chatter Book’ which is a small notebook for keeping a record of your child’s first words or funny sayings.
I know it’s not an every-little-detail-of-your-child’s-life approach, but I love that it’s manageable and that the whole thing wraps up into an elegant little package. If I had something like this from Ben Blair’s childhood, with notes hand-written by his mother, I would absolutely treasure it. I imagine the future spouses of my kids would feel the same. A Once-A-Year-Book would make a beautiful baby gift.
Do you keep baby books for your children? I used to be so good at it, but I have gotten progressively worse with each new addition to our family. Do you like this once-a-year-concept? Would you use something like this in addition to, or in place of, the records you already keep?
In case you’re curious, Laikonik is based in Austrialia. I inquired, and yes, they do ship to the US.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
That is a really neat concept. As the fourth child, I totally wish my parents had used this book! Since we are only on the first we are doing everything to the extremes but this will be a good gift for some of my friends who are having their third, fourth, and so on!
I do like this one-a-year concept. It’s a lot less overwhelming than some of the other books out there. I haven’t done a book for my son yet (he’s 14 months), but I plan on buying a bunch of albums and getting all my pictures developed since he’s been born.
I am absilutely going to get one of these! So easy and super cute.
As the spouse of an under-photographed and under-documented fourth child, I can definitely attest that future spouses would/should love these!
I meant absolutely. Sorry.
I love this. I am a scrapbooker and keep my kids (only 2 here, mind you) lives pretty well chronicled, but what a great gift idea! Having 2 boys, I also can imagine how much their future wives would appreciate something like this. It would be such a special shower or wedding gift.
I love this idea – I have not been able to keep up with my kiddos baby books (and I only have two) – I too think that this would be a great keepsake.
These are amazing – what a neat idea. Thanks for posting.
OMG! I love this idea! I have two baby books for my son. The one I bought myself and realized it didn’t leave room for some of the stuff I thought was important so I bought another one. It’s pretty up to date too, surprisingly! This is a great supplement to the traditional baby book in my opinion.
this feels like an heirloom. I love it. My mom did a baby book (no pics – just words) for my oldest brother. My middle brother’s details are on the last page of my oldest brother’s book. And when I found my book (a pink version) when I was six, it was empty so I filled in what I could in my six year old handwriting… I’m still working on my second baby’s book and she’s nearly four. the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…
I heart this! This is something I can do now even though my girls are 2 and 5.
I’m very bad at doing the baby book thing. I start out with great intentions but as like with many things, when you have children, priorities shift and it’s gets pushed aside for another day.
I found these cards http://www.tiny-tales.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=6 awhile back and wished I had found them when my babies were in fact babies. They do however have toddler and expecting ones though for the mom who is on top of things.
i love these… they seem manageable and oh so sweet.
I love this idea. I have an entire bin of scrapbooking supplies and have made exactly 3 pages-my oldest is 5! I also like the idea of making each child a photo book for each year. I’m going to get a few of these for baby gifts. Lovely.
I love this concept – I’m trying to do something similar with Emmeline’s baby book. It has summary pages where you put a photo, what their favorite things are, and a snippet about them etc. I like this more portable, smaller version though – it would be a great gift them once they got engaged/married/became a parent.
That last photo is cute – reminds me of a dala horse
Love it! Love it!
I became lax with the babybooks and scrapbooks early on (presently just beginning to get the last 20 years organized–eek). I decided that I would rather live life with them than worry about it all getting documented & pray that I will be able to keep my memories for eternity.
I do write each child a letter on their birthday (on a card that reflects that year’s interests) describing my past year with them. I keep the cards in a special spot and wrap them in a ribbon (or rubber band). My oldest will be 18 this fall. I can’t decide if I should give them to her when she leaves home or when she starts her own family.
Time goes so fast.
Those little books you showed us are a wonderful thing.
Oh I love this idea. It brings us back to old times, where our grand-parents used to have few pictures and that’s all what you can get from them. But how sweet, how much few pictures can actually tell more then the hundreds.
Love the idea. I definitely will get some. And it’s a great for gift too!! :)
Naomi:)
This is lovely! I started something (not nearly as gorgeous) when my firstborn sat on Santa’s lap. I bought a 5×7 print and put it in a special photo album just for photos of her (and then her two siblings) sitting with Santa). I bring it out once a year, with the Christmas decorations, and love flipping through the pages now that my oldest is 9!
The only issue will be when they are too old to sit on Santa’s lap! Wait? Are kids ever too old to sit on Santa’s lap!?
Get on his lap kids! Mama needs her picture! Poor Santa!
These are fabulous! I am going to get one right away – I’ve been feeling guilty about not having baby books ever since my oldest son was born, and this is the perfect catch-up opportunity! Thanks for the great find!
these are adorable!
I keep a blog for my daughter and with the best photos and stories I order a book that I can customize from blurb.com
I can’t imagine choosing ONE photo to represent the whole year!! We do a photo every day! Sure, some may say it’s overkill, but I say, what the heck- why not?! I love photography and I have the best & cutest subject in all the land! We’ve been doing for since our boy was 4 weeks old, starting on January 1, 2009. He’s now 18+ months and it’s just so amazing to see how’s he’s grown! Last year we used the top photos and made photo books from Apple for all the grandparents! Here’s a peek, if you’re curious: http://bit.ly/7HPsoN
I LOVE this. I can’t stop thinking about it. It would be PERFECT for me, because I’m really bad at recording the details about my kids.
I had a similar idea that I wanted to do a “Marriage album” where we took a photo of our family every year to add to the album, and in years to come you’d be able to flip through the pages and watch our family grow.
Thanks for sharing!
What a beautiful book. I’m glad to see from reading these comments that I’m not the only mom who has some pretty empty baby books!
My husband and I actually created a website (www.kidlee.com) to let parents keep a “micro-blog” and quickly enter milestones and funny quotes from their kids. I’ve captured so many great memories that I probably would have otherwise forgotten.
I never started the first baby book. I wish I had. I’m thinking about starting one for my 3 year-old (from what I can remember) and one for my new baby while on maternity leave this time around. Funny that in my case the FIRST baby is the one that was slacked on and they will probably get progressively better as I get the hang of all of this!
I think the once-a-year book is a great idea and agree that it would be a treasure for the child *and* future spouse, children, etc. to have.
Brilliant! And not daunting at all. Fabulous find!
That is a genius idea. I have a book of my school years (your photo and then a page of info). But I like the more informal and yet formal aspect of this. The ability to write about more than just school. And that book is gorgeous to boot.
Maybe we could get Rag and Bone to make one…I’m currently madly in love with their photo frame books.
LOVELY! Such a good idea.
I absolutely love this idea. It would complement perfectly my baby record books and journals that i have done for my children.