The Best DIY Baby Book Idea for Your Next Baby Shower

Cards on the table, I am very excited about this next project. I’m always on the lookout for awesome activities for showers and hosting. This DIY baby book is SO easy and pretty, and such a special keepsake—it checked off all the boxes for a simple and practical baby shower activity.

Also, if you are trying to find cool baby book ideas, this one doesn’t need to be a party activity. It could be a sweet gift to a new mama from family members or a group of friends. (I love that idea too!)

I should probably note because my last name is on the book—this is not a baby announcement! 🤣 It was just easiest to use my own last name, Pruett.

So here is the jist of the activity: set out a blank photo album with rsvp envelopes pre-glued onto every page. Guests fill out little notes for the baby and place them in the envelopes ☺️.

YOU’LL NEED:

Photo album. (I used this one because I LOVE the linen, flat-lay style book, and printed it without images. More details on how I did this specific one below 😉.)
Envelopes (I got these because I liked the transparency. If you aren’t purchasing too many, just get a bunch of samples—cheap and ship free! These from Amazon are also great.)
Acid-free glue stick
Printable note card pdf
Pretty pens

DIRECTIONS:
01. Print out pdf onto cardstock and cut out.
02. Glue backs of envelopes and place onto book pages. Let dry.
03. Place out book, pens and pre-cut cards, so guests can fill out!

Download Printable Notecards!

Okay, you can use ANY photo album, but, in case you are curious about this specific photo album, here are the deets. Because, believe me, I did a lot of research and ended up being very picky! 😝 I wanted the album to feel like a high-quality keepsake.

I chose the matte book stock paper, with dark gray linen cover. I also added the “dust jacket,” which you see above. (Mpix usually has a lot of sales and free shipping offers, so check around the site for those.)

Also, you can fit two envelopes per page, so calculate the pages you’ll need according to your party size. For example, 20 pages has space for 40 envelopes and will work for 40 guests.

Then I literally went through their photo customizer and didn’t load a single photo. Instead I deleted all the pre-loaded templates to create empty pages and purchased. Boom! Beautiful, blank photo album.

For the dust jacket, I chose the “full image” template and added my image. If you would like to use that as well, I added the editable pdf to the file download 😊. Just click to open the template, edit the text and save/export as a jpg. (This is important as you can’t upload pdfs.)

Yeah, it looks weird that my glue stick is purple but dries clear. (Maybe that is obvious?) I found glue sticks to work the best because it didn’t show through the transparent envelopes once dried (unlike glue dots).