Where to laminate pictures etc to make a photo book for baby?

[boys2enough]

Hi, I am still on my frantic quest to accumulate stuff to amuse my 15 mo on a 10+ hour flight to Asia... Somebody suggested a photo album, I tried, though Gabriel enjoyed looking at the pictures, within 5 minutes he tore one page off the album. (Ok, it was a cheap one, but now I am not going to give him one with nicer quality hence more $$...)

I remembered reading about laminateing pictures and secure them together with a binder ring for babies to look at. Anybody knows where I can have pictures laminated for a good price?

TIA! Cheers, Lin

[Momof3Labs]

Kinko's or any type of quick-print place should be able to do it for you.

[August Mom]

I'm the one who suggested a photo album. Sorry you had a mishap with that suggestion. You can get small baby-friendly albums at BRU/TRU/Target in the baby section. We have one from Kids II, I believe. I know that Sassy makes one too. Some of them have teething areas too. Some have plastic covers, while others are cloth. They are pretty durable.

As far as laminating, you should be able to do that at Kinkos. I also have seen some laminating material at Sam's Club, although you would need to bind it elsewhere.

Alternatively, you could just get a cheapy regular photo album for your DS that you don't mind getting destroyed.

Good luck.

[egoldber]

I agree. I have a cheap photo album from Kids II (I think?? it was a gift...) and she adores it. But generally its the photos they adore looking at, so the album is purely optional as long as you don't mind the photos getting beat up. Its a great way to use up doubles.


HTH,

[sweetbasil]

Have you thought about buying self-laminating sheets at a local office supply store, or even buying clear contact paper and using that? Just another option that has worked great for us in the past. We've even made placemats out of pics, stickers, and other relatively flat decorations, then sandwiched them between two sheets of clear contact paper. Those are ingredients for quick, easy, cheap, but fun craft time at our house!

HTH,

[cmyk]

An alternative to laminating and binding is to make a photo album using several sandwich-size Ziploc baggies. Insert photos, gather up the baggies and wrap masking tape over the open edge. My DD has been playing with hers for months now! It's one of her favorite toys. We have family photos in ours. You could also do one with photos cut from magazines.

HTH!

Shelley

[Kimberly H]

All 16 of the families we traveled with to China used the Sassy albums for their babies. We actually have 2 - one for daycare and one for home. We have a couple of cloth ones but I don't like them as well because the Sassys are vinyl and you can wipe them clean after dirty fingers.

Be really careful with laminating photos as the edges can be really sharp!

[LD92599]

Staples will laminate for 99¢ up to 8 1/2 x 11; if there's any teacher supply stores nearby, you can laminate there (ie: Becker: http://www.shopbecker.com/index.asp); Becker is usually 50¢ per foot.

The Staples laminate is "harder" than the one done @ Becker, FWIW.

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

[suribear]

I would stick to the vinyl "kids" albums. We have one by Sassy. Worked out really well for us :)

Kris

[raynjen]

Hey! I'm doing the reverse trip in a few days (Asia to mid-USA).

What I did for photos (since I didn't want her cowering in terror when she 'meets' her relatives) is bought a VERY inexpensive photo albumn. It is the kind that you can slide 1 - 3 1/2" x 5" photo into each page. I cut sheets of paper that size (3 1/2" x 5") and then mounted small photos on each side with double stick tape. We had a lot of 'school' pictures to use up so they were the perfect size. I also used stickers to decorate each page. Then, after I slid the paper into its sleeve, I put a narrow piece of double stick tape at the top sealing the two edges together - so she can't pull the papers out of the sleeves.

One thing to remember is that when you are on a flight you will be within arm reach of your child at all times so toys that normally would be a no-no are probably okay.

Here are the other things that we are taking on OUR flight:

Laptop (for DVD's on the plane, and for showing/storing photos from our digital camera)

Write/wipe board a thin metal one, you could also use a thin small cookie sheet, and a bunch of magnets. I also put magnets on any small toy that she likes (small cars, a 'cell phone', the largest stacking cup, etc.) and chose a few magnets from our refrigerator that are favorites. I mounted a velcro strap to the bottom of the write/wipe board so that we could fasten it to the airline tray. Using peel and stick magnets I made various pads of paper, coloring books, and a small sticker book magnetic.

Sticker book and a bunch of stickers.

My first Brain Quest which, if nothing else, has pictures of animals in it that we can talk about.

Magna Doodle (of course, this is absolutely necessary)

I shortened her colored pencils then fastened them like charms to a necklace so that I won't be crawling around on the floor looking for red halfway through the flight.

Number flash cards mounted on a big snap-ring.

Another big snap ring with anything that had a clip already mounted on it - a tiny flashlight, a small purse of chapstick, a cheapy plastic maze (the kind where you tilt it to get the bb from one end to the other).

An assortment of flimsy books (the thin ones that you get for like $3) because they are lighter weight and easier to pack than board books.

Two strings with 'alligator clips' on either end to keep her blanky and lovey within reach.

Of course I don't know yet which of these things will work and which won't, but I can tell you later this week!

Hope some of that tome was worthwhile.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/3)

[August Mom]

This is more related to your original post, but Jen's post made me think about it. Baby Einstein makes some really cool flashcards. They have all sorts of photos on them, as well as numbers, letters, colors and shapes. DS loves looking at them. http://www.geniusbabies.com/trflcabybaei.html FWIW, I bought them at BRU for $5.99.

[boys2enough]

Oh, my, you ladies are really fountains of great ideas! "August Mom," please don't feel bad, I am not blaming you at all. I mean, this kid eats paper for a living... lol. I am esp. grateful for all the advice you have been giving me on all sorts of topics. The same gratitude goes to you all. :) It is not easy for us moms to find time to even get a shower in the morning, I know how it is. So I really appreciate the time and of course, the info and advice you share with me here.

Jen, I am printing out your post so I can remember everything that you mentioned. My goodness! I am totally freaking out, and after reading your post, I realized that everything I've bought is probably not going to work. You have so many great ideas! I am totally floored by the "baking sheet" idea. What ingenuity! I bought a magnetic board with a farmhouse background at T.J.Maxx and was not too happy with it (too small yet too heavy). I am bringing a baking sheet with me. :) Now good luck with your long flight back. We are changing planes at Narita airport in Tokyo so your flight will be exactly the length of our first lag. Can't wait to hear your "tale."

Thank you all! Now I should leave my computer and go watch the Oscars. ha ha ha. ;-) Cheers, Lin

[kransden]

Kinkos

FYI my daycare asked us to make a little scrapbook for them. The kids LOVE them.

Cut a 8.5 x11 piece of paper in half. Cut the photos in interesting shapes. Glue and label pictures on the page. I also added stickers. I had pictures of all of the cats on one page with their names, us at the zoo on another etc. I put them back to back and got the pages laminated then bound all of them together.

I plan on doing something like this for my mom and MIL for mother's day.


Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[boys2enough]

That is a neat idea! Probably will also cut down on the cost of it: I was thinking of simply laminating 4X6 pictures, that would be expensive probably.

with the 8X10 size, they sound like the perfect size for placemats as well? Thank you for sharing this good idea! Cheers, Lin