Friday, August 27, 2010

Story CD

We love to give gifts to our nieces and nephews, but it can be a challenge to come up with something affordable and fun that doesn't add to the toy avalanche.

For my nephew's 5th birthday last week, we decided to make him a story time CD. I picked several books from my collection that I thought he might like and then also recited a couple of poems in between the longer stories.
I used scrapbook paper for the "album cover" and decorated it by hand. I know you're just blown away by my beautiful artwork! hahaha

I listed the titles on the inside.

The process took about an hour and a half- 30 minutes for me to read through everything and an hour for my husband to fine-tune it.

One of the blessings of having a musician for a husband is that we also have equipment.  He used his own home recording system for this and it worked great!

If you don't have access to a recording system, most computers have a simple sound recorder built into the operating system. All you need is a basic microphone. That's all the info I can give you because I have no idea how it all works!

This is a very frugal gift to make(provided you have the proper equipment) and one that can be personalized to suit the recipient.

We didn't give books along with this gift but it would be a neat addition. This is also a great idea for trips in the car!

 He liked it a lot and I see us making a few more of these in the future!

It's frugal, it's personal and it won't clutter up the house!

** This post is part of Frugal Fridays!

6 comments:

Abbie Byers said...

very clever idea!

Wendi said...

Wonderful idea! As a mom I love that you didn't add to the toy avalanche.

Tracy said...

I love that idea, Mary Ann! We've been doing that for our children and I've thought about doing a book of the Bible (maybe we could add to it each year with another book?) You are very sweet to think of such a thoughtful gift!
I miss Frugal Friday..you are inspiring me to jump back on board! : )

Mary Ann said...

Thanks everyone for the comments! I appreciate each one.:-)

Well, I know how the toys seem to give birth to more at my house and I don't even have that many!

Books are always a favorite and welcome gift with all the families involved! I didn't know this at the time, but a few of the books I chose for the CD are included in his kindergarten curriculum so my sister was tickled to be able to use it in homeschooling as well.

Tracy,

I think books of the bible would be awesome. It could be time-consuming, depending on the book you choose, but what a great way to fill your children's minds with the Word. That would be a nice thing to play as they fell asleep at night, I think.

My mom recorded my dad reading Bible stories to us years ago when we were little folks. We just loved listening to that again and again!

Wendi said...

Mary Ann,

Thanks for the nice comment on the flag on our shed. It is make out of an old picket fence gate that was here when we moved in. I cut it in half and then painted the flag. For the star I printed out a pattern and then traced it on. I taped it off and then painted it. Not perfect, but when it is hung you can not see the imperfections. To bad that we do not live closer beccause I still have the other half of the gate. I would love to see what you come up with!

Ann Minard said...

We have been doing this in our family for years, and we have many tape cassettes to prove it.