$10 Gift Ideas With a Family History Flair

Do it yourself gift ideas:

CD Photo Collection-under $10-Why not give your family the gift of photo memories? For an easy, and inexpensive, holiday gift, burn your favorite digital pictures onto a CD. If you don’t already have a digital editing program, download Picasa 3 for free. With this program, you can create video slideshows, photo collages, and gift CDs. You can purchase blank CDs at Amazon.com. If you don't mind spending a few extra dollars you can even design a colorful label and affix it to the CD using the CD/DVD labeling system by Avery. We've used this product and find it very user friendly.

Family History Recording-under $10-Families treasure family stories and personal memories from the past. Why not record your personal memories, or those of older family members and share them with your family this year? For some helpful suggestions about how to get started, see our article in this newsletter Preserving Family Stories using a Digital Voice Recorder, or our previous articles on Writing Your Personal History, and Oral Histories: Conducting Interviews.

Legacy : A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing Personal History-You might find this book helpful if you are attempting to capture the life history of an elderly family member.

The Personal Historian Software can be a wonderful aid in helping you to recall the meaningful memories from your own past while writing your personal history.

Holiday Family Newsletter-under $20-What would make a better gift for your loved ones this year than sharing family stories and news? Whether you want to start a family tradition, or just share the joys and blessings of the past year, a newsletter is a great way to keep in touch with the people you care about. Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

Print Workshop 2009 ($9.99) can help you easily create your holiday newsletter on the computer with pre-designed templates, thousands of cliparts and photos, and user friendly editing tools that will allow you to personalize your project. You can also use Print Workshop 2009 to create greeting cards and stationary, as well as many other projects that will make this software a valuable tool even after the holidays are over.

You can also create and share a "Family Newsletter" through our MyTrees Online program. After you have logged in, click the "MyTrees OnLine" link in the left-hand menu bar. Then click the "Update Family News" link at the left. Then just create your text newsletter and click the "Submit Your Family News" button. Registering a family password allows you to share your "Family Newsletter" with friends and family.

If you'd rather create your newsletter by hand, you can write it in any word processing program and add some festive spirit with holiday stationary from Amazon.com ($3.95).

Coby 1.5-Inch Digital Photo Keychain-$9.99-This digital picture frame has a 1.5 inch LCD full-color display and can store up to 60 pictures. Pictures are transferred to the device with a USB connection.

Family Tree Gift Mug-$9.95-Features a beautiful picture of a tree and the following caption: "The Family Tree... No matter how many branches it has it cannot survive without roots".

Family Picture Frame-$3.95-Help your family members celebrate their memories of loved ones with this 2.5" X 3.5" picture frame, bearing the word "Family" across the top.

Historical Coloring Books-$3.95-This Western Pioneers Coloring Book is just one example of a fun way to help your youngest family members get interested in their ancestral and cultural heritage. There are additional books for many cutlures around the world including American, British, Mexican, South American, Egyptian, and more.

KinScribe Cemetery Transcription Notepad-$3.95-Something for that tombstone hunter...Comes with 4 cemetery identification sheets, 100 tombstone transcription sheets, and 1 tip sheet.

Grandma Picture Frame-$4.95-This 3.5" x 5.5" wooden frame would make a good gift for any grandmother. To make it even more special, include a photograph of grandma with her grandchildren.

Family Name Certificate-$5.00-A 10" x 10" certificate that celebrates family and home. The beautiful design and lettering would make it a handsome wall decoration or scrapbook page. Other heirloom certificates available include marriage and children.

The Kids' Family Tree Book by Caroline Leavitt-$5.95-This book would be a great gift for the young genealogists in your family. It provides fun research ideas and creative projects to get kids interested in their family history.

Mousepad-$8.95-This colorful mousepad would be a fun gift for any family historian with a computer. The caption reads "Family Trees are Always in Season."

Scrapbooking Your Family History by Laura Best-$9.95-Genealogists tend to collect old photographs of their ancestors, but what do you do with them? This book gives ideas on putting those pictures together in a scrapbook that can be enjoyed by the whole family. For a review of this book Click Here.

Make Your Own Book with Picaboo-$9.99-Create your own book of photos and memories with Picaboo. The process is simple: download their free software, add photos and text, and order a printed copy. A great way to do a photo album or memory book for your family and friends. You can order a wide range of sizes and bindings to fit your needs. Prices start at $9.99.

LightWedge Pocket Magnifier-$9.99-A lightweight 3X pocket magnifier with a powerful LED light. Perfect for carrying in a pocket or purse to assist in reading those old records and small print books.

Digitize Old Photos or Video with iMemories-$0.49 per photo, $9.99 per videotape-Help perserve those precious family moments with iMemories. They'll take your photographs and home movies and convert them into a digital format, making it easier to perserve and share your memories with family and friends.

We've researched these gift ideas with other companies with which we have an affiliate relationship. If you follow any of the links on this page and choose to purchase a gift, we will receive a commission.