Graduation Scrapbook: Ideas for High School Graduation Memories

By Christine Perry

Did your child graduate this year? Four years of high school seems to go by so fast. Wasn't it just yesterday that are graduates started kindergarten? Now they'll be headed off to college by fall. Don't forget to preserve and document your child's high school graduation memories with a graduation scrapbook.

You may already have a school scrapbooking album for your child, but high school graduation memories can fill an entire scrapbook. Dedicate one album for this special occasion. It doesn't need to be a large album, but one that can accommodate professional portraits might be important if you plan to include the sittings for senior pictures.

Senior pictures are usually taken the summer before a student's senior year. Still, they deserve a page in a graduation album. Use your favorite pose or the one used in the high school yearbook for your graduation scrapbook's title page.

Preparing a scrapbook for high school and memories doesn't have to be difficult. Take a copy of your child's graduation announcement and showcase it on a page layout. Don't forget to include cards and letters from family and friends. Highlight ones with graduation advice. Include a special letter from you with a personal message to your child. Tell him your hopes and dreams for the future along with things you wish you would have been told on graduation day.

Highlight any special awards or honors that your child is receiving at the graduation ceremony. Designed page layouts to highlight these accomplishments. You may want to include the original certificates or make copies.

If your child is giving a speech at the ceremony, snap some pictures of him practicing for the speech. You can even save his draft or notes and use them on a scrapbook page.

Check your local newspaper for coverage of the graduation ceremony. Include clips and articles for a scrapbook page. Make a copy of any congratulations announcements made in the newspaper. Because newspaper articles fade over time, it's important to make copies to preserve them.

Graduation is full of photo opportunities. Think about the photos you want in your child's graduation scrapbook, and make a list before the celebration starts. Pictures of the ceremony are important, but so are photos of your child with his friends, family and teachers.

Don't forget high school mementos, such as, the program from the graduation ceremony. Save at least two copies to use on a graduation scrapbook page Ser you can show both the cover and the inside of the program.

Take lots of candid shots during graduation parties. You may not be attending some of these parties. So be sure to send along a camera with your graduate and plan to exchange photos with his friends, too. You'll have a lot more photos to choose from if you share them.

You should definitely include a copy of your child's final report card or transcript. A nice complement to the scrapbooking page would be a copy of the college acceptance letter he received from the college he plans to attend.

For the final page of the graduation scrapbook, create a special page layout highlighting a photograph of your child leaving for college. You could even place a picture of your child on his first day of kindergarten next to a graduation photograph.

It's easy to create a graduation scrapbook. It will soon become a family heirloom. Keep it simple, and remember the most important thing is to document your graduate's special day.

About the Author:

Christine Perry invites you to her website, http://www.intoscrapbooking.com for more scrapbooking tips and information on scrapbooking theme paper.