Christmas gift help...

[threecrazykids]

This Christmas I am trying to make as many heartfelt gifts as possible all while keeping my costs low.

I'm needing a bit of direction from anyone who has ideas....

My Great Grandmother (when she passed) left me all of her handwritten recipes and cookbooks with her own personal notes in the margins. All of the women in our family were so disappointed when they found out they weren't the one who received these in her will , but I on the other hand was of course thrilled.

So, for Christmas I'm trying to figure out how make copies of each of her handwritten recipes and somehow get them put into an inexpensive book or bound notebook format.

Everyone will be SO happy to have these, but I have no idea how to get this done at a reasonable price or where to even begin.

Have any of you ever done this? Or received one that you could help me with some ideas?

 

[ENSOCK]

When I went to Barnes and NOble this summer, they had a book there to put your own recipes into. I made copies of my mom's handwritten recipes and the pages of her cookbook that I remember as a child her cooking from. Those were the pages that had the stains on them. I copied them on a copier and complied them into this book for my sister. We had a great time remembering each recipe. Good luck!

 

[NYEmomma]

What about using just a pretty binder? Target has some really beautiful ones, actually. I think it was $6-$7.

Alternatively, if you can find a good deal on photobooks, you could take pictures of the handwritten recipes and make them into a photobook.

 

[queendisney]

that is a wonderful idea for a Christmas present.

Now I live in the UK but hopefully the same thing is available across the pond..

I just did a search for Book Binders in google and found loads of places that could do what you want if you was in the UK. There were a lot of sites also for college students to have their work bound and they may be able to do it a lot cheaper. But I did like a lot of the proper book companies where they bind them in hard covers etc..

I hope that sort of helps and thank you for a great idea.

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

A few years ago for Christmas, my mom typed up all the favorite family recipes for all her daughters and daughter in law. She printed them out then put them in those plastic sleeves (page protectors) and put them in a binder. She decided to make them this way so that they could easily be added to and the pages were protected from spills, etc. I treasure this book!!

 

[Eljay]

.....Alternatively, if you can find a good deal on photobooks, you could take pictures of the handwritten recipes and make them into a photobook.

The quality of the picture will be much better, if you scan each page of the cookbook into your computer, then you can have glossy prints made, just like digital pictures.

Also, you could add photos of your Great Grandmother to the book, as a tribute to her, as well as a way to make the gift even more special for your family to pass the recipes and the pictures down.

Sounds like a lovely gift!

 

[luvmy3]

I would do as the pp suggested and scan the recipes and then either print them from home or a printing place like Kinkos (do they still have those around?). Then just purchase pretty binders, or decorate plain ones yourself, or get scrapbook albums and put them in there.

What a beautiful gift to give your family members.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

What a wonderful gift- they will all love it, I am sure!

Check with Staples/Office Max/etc with a copy center re: cost and quality. If you have just text/handwriting, I think it would be fine. (Photos I'd worry more about.)

They'd do spiral binding there too- I like the suggestion better of putting in plastic sleeves in a binder. Then spills could just be wiped off.

If you had photos of her with a particular dish, you could include those in a photo section in the back.

 

[Eljay]

I have found that Walgreens sometimes has a good sale on prints. If you scan the pictures and recipes, you can upload the images from your computer to the Walgreens photo site, order prints and either have them sent to you, or you can pick them up. Trust me, it's super easy. They walk you through the process.

Sometimes it's even cheaper than buying the photo paper and printing at home. The ink costs a fortune if you print photos at home! I found that out the hard way!!!

I'm certain that there are other online services that you could use. Maybe someone can suggest one.

 

[MineMail]

I created a Word document and typed the name of the recipe, a category ("soups") and the main ingredients at the top of each page, then inserted the scanned image of the original handwritten recipe. (Mine were on 50+ index cards)

Then, I printed the Word document to a PDF. I could email or copy the PDF to a CD for family/friends, or just print one page if someone asked for a particular recipe. The typed information I added was searchable, so I could use the Find function to find the name, "chicken" or "stew" recipe quickly.

This was easier than retyping all of the recipes and more accurate: I usually miss an ingredient or step when I retype.

I like the idea of printing it on glossy paper to protect from spills. Great tip!

I keep my spiral-bound index card book of recipes inside a plastic zipper bag to keep them clean. Just open to the card I need and then put it inside the bag.

 

[emilymad]

What about scanning the pages and then making a Blurb book. I feel that their quality is much better than say Shutterfly. I used them for my wedding album and it came out wonderful. They do all sort of sizes and soft and hard back books. I think if you have the pages as PDF's you can just upload them like that. I haven't tried that though. I also like that Blurb stores your book on their server so if you need to ever reorder you don't have to start from scratch.

 

[MissBritt]

I'd scan and turn them into a photo book on Shutterfly (but those aren't cheap!!!).

 

[Carina]

I'd scan and turn them into a photo book on Shutterfly (but those aren't cheap!!!).

Artscow isn't bad - depending on the # of pages.

But spiral bound laminated from Staples (or similar) Would last better in the kitchen.

How many would you be making ?

 

[scrapquitler]

This Christmas I am trying to make as many heartfelt gifts as possible all while keeping my costs low.

I'm needing a bit of direction from anyone who has ideas....

My Great Grandmother (when she passed) left me all of her handwritten recipes and cookbooks with her own personal notes in the margins. All of the women in our family were so disappointed when they found out they weren't the one who received these in her will , but I on the other hand was of course thrilled.

So, for Christmas I'm trying to figure out how make copies of each of her handwritten recipes and somehow get them put into an inexpensive book or bound notebook format.

Everyone will be SO happy to have these, but I have no idea how to get this done at a reasonable price or where to even begin.

Have any of you ever done this? Or received one that you could help me with some ideas?

I think it would be really nice to keep them in Grandma's handwriting in the recipe books you make rather than typing them out. It will make it more memorable and sentimental for people.

You can go somewhere like Staples or Kinkos and make the copies of the recipes on the photocopiers there if you don't have other access to one. I think copies at my staples are something liek 8cents each and they might discount it if you make a lot.

While you are there, talk to the people in the copy center and tell them what you are doing and they will be able to make suggestions as to how to approach this project. I know that they can do spiral bindings (probably both metal and plastic) and you can have them put a hard cover on it as well (like a heavy weight card stock), they'll be able to explain the options availalbe to you.

It might also be nice to include some color copies with photographs either on the cover or interspersed with the recipes in the book.

One of my husband's relatives did this a number of years ago. She typed the recipes up and a printed them out. She put one recipe per page (and she used a half sheet of copy paper, so the book is like 5.5" tall and 8.5" wide), she used a red laminated cover that said "Grama Brown's Best Recipes" and on the title page she put "In Memory of (Grandma's Name and Birthday/date of death) Compiled by (the cousin's name) Christmas 1990. It was bound with one of the plastic coil bindings. Everyone loved it and was thrilled to have all the old family recipes. I still use it every time I cook a couple of the recipes that my husband remembers from his childhood.

I'm sure your relatives will love it and appreciate it! You might also want to package it up with some of the cookies or fudge or something made with one of her recipes.

 

[threecrazykids]

I think it would be really nice to keep them in Grandma's handwriting in the recipe books you make rather than typing them out. It will make it more memorable and sentimental for people.

You can go somewhere like Staples or Kinkos and make the copies of the recipes on the photocopiers there if you don't have other access to one. I think copies at my staples are something liek 8cents each and they might discount it if you make a lot.

While you are there, talk to the people in the copy center and tell them what you are doing and they will be able to make suggestions as to how to approach this project. I know that they can do spiral bindings (probably both metal and plastic) and you can have them put a hard cover on it as well (like a heavy weight card stock), they'll be able to explain the options availalbe to you.

It might also be nice to include some color copies with photographs either on the cover or interspersed with the recipes in the book.

One of my husband's relatives did this a number of years ago. She typed the recipes up and a printed them out. She put one recipe per page (and she used a half sheet of copy paper, so the book is like 5.5" tall and 8.5" wide), she used a red laminated cover that said "Grama Brown's Best Recipes" and on the title page she put "In Memory of (Grandma's Name and Birthday/date of death) Compiled by (the cousin's name) Christmas 1990. It was bound with one of the plastic coil bindings. Everyone loved it and was thrilled to have all the old family recipes. I still use it every time I cook a couple of the recipes that my husband remembers from his childhood.

I'm sure your relatives will love it and appreciate it! You might also want to package it up with some of the cookies or fudge or something made with one of her recipes.

I think this is the route I'm going to take just to get an idea of prices. I am probably only going to make 3-4 copies to start. If I need additional copies I will go back and have more made.

I really want to have them in her original handwriting for the sentimental touch. Plus...she even used to put a big X through some of the recipes and write "HORRIBLE...don't make again!!!" in the margin. I will for sure put a couple of those in there as well...as everyone will find it amusing.

It's a humorous sentiment in our family how much she used to write on everything. On the backs of every picture was the date the pic was taken and age of the child or person in the pic, anything about the day pertaining to the picture, etc....which now we find is PRICELESS.

I thank everyone for all of the suggestions, now to get her hundreds of recipes organized into the ones that will make the cut.