There are several options for creating a memory book both online and off. We present several below that will help you create yours.
Years after the class reunion is over, your classmates are going to thumb through the memory books and reminisce about the great time they had at the class reunion.
Memory books serve as great reminders of the class reunions and provide the impetus to attend the next one.
Despite their nostalgic value to the class reunion, many planners don’t create a memory book for lack of time or money or both. In other cases, it is because they just don’t know how it is nowadays to create one online at no cost.
There are many vendors that produce very high quality photo or memory books for a class reunion. All you have to do is upload the photos on their website and rearrange them into a book. The process is very simple and even people who are not very good at computers can do it with ease. Read “How To Create A Class Reunion Memory Book Online“.
Here is a list of class reunion memory book creators:
Blurb.com
Blurb.com is a leader in memory book creation. You can create memory books online without having to pay anything. Take as long as you want and when its ready, inform your classmates that they can purchase them online.
We would recommend that you add the layout, design and old photos ahead of the actual class reunion. Once the reunion photographs are in, then you can add the new pictures and captions and get it printed.
Prices start at $3.95 and volume discounts are applied when you purchase seven or more books (Not a terribly high hurdle here). Typically, a class reunion will require around 30 units and the group discount is 10% if you order anywhere between 10-49 memory books.
Instead of purchasing all the books, you can also choose to offer the book for sale in their bookstore. Just create the memory book, and provide your classmates with a link to purchase it. You can also add a markup and charge more than it cost to print. The extra money can go towards a class gift, donation, or just in the class reunion coffers.
They offer several different sized books with hard and soft cover versions. The hard cover version can be customized with an “ImageWrap”. A group photograph of the entire class reunion would look great on the cover.
The only thing we did not like about Blurb (and its common among most online retailers is that they do not readily offer a telephone number to contact in case you have a problem.
Blurb.com offers a clean and easy to use interface that is both intuitive and fast. With delivery times of 7-10 days, their service is hard to beat. They may not be the cheapest company to purchase the memory books from but they are one of the best.
Mixbook
Mixbook is very popular scrap booking website where you can create a personalized memory book. They offer a 10% discount if you buy more than 10 memory books and offer a 5-8 day delivery window.
The books you create have to be more than twenty pages long (So they can bind it properly) and less than ninety nine. For most class reunions, that will not be a problem.
They offer a great selection of templates (Try the “School Days” template) that are very easy to use, and photos are a breeze to upload. Adding notes, captions or changing fonts is easy as well. A typical 30-40 page book will cost around $30 with the group discount.
One particular feature we like about Mixbook is the ability for multiple people to edit the memory books. Instead of one person editing and updating the book, you can have others join in the fun and enjoy the creative process together.
Mixbook is very customer friendly as they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not satisfied, they will replace it for free.
SnapBook/Shutterfly
Shutterfly is another company that offers much the same services as the previous two mentioned above. They offer a feature called auto-fill which allows you to automatically place the photos you’ve uploaded. You can rearrange them from that point on.
Snapbook.com offers more designs than Mixbook and one that we liked was “Storytelling”. This particular theme has 15 different layouts that you can use in any combination. Pricing is very similar to the companies mentioned above.
Changing designs and layouts was simple as was placing photos in the book. Adding captions and changing fonts was intuitive and easy.
Ritzpix
Surprisingly, Ritz (The camera store in the mall) has a pretty good website for photo-books too. They offer a lot of designs, and layouts with an easy to use interface. The only drawback that we noted was that there is no template specifically designed for class reunions.
ReunionPhotographers.net
If you are going the route of hiring a photographer, then you should hire someone that specializes in class reunions. There are a lot of professionals out there that do class reunion photography as a specialty.
This company will send out a photographer to your class reunion at no charge and they offer this service nationwide. They will take a variety of pictures, and create memory books for your classmates. They have been in business for almost 30 years and have serviced over 35,000 reunions.
From their website, “We take great pride in being able to offer our portrait and group photography to ensure that your reunion night goes smoothly. We want you and your classmates to focus on what you are there for–having a great time with as few distractions as possible”.
Phone: (714) 265-3638
http://reunionphotographers.net/
Tip: If you need someone local in your area to take pictures that has experience with reunions, try using Google. Just search for the term “Reunion photography [insert your city and state]” and you will get a list of vendors that specialize in reunions.
Whether you choose to take your own pictures and create a memory book online or use a reunion photographer, it is important to create as high quality a product as your budget allows. It is better to cut costs somewhere else than to lower the quality of the product. Your memory books will grace the shelves of your classmates for as long as they live so make it count.
What should you do next?
Since you’re interested in creating a memory book, why not look at our series of articles on creating memory books for a class reunion.