Not only is scrapbooking a fun hobby and a great way to save and display your own personal family photos, you'll find that scrapbooking makes perfect gifts for friends and family. Since scrapbooks are personal items, you may not find them suitable for acquaintances, unless you are creating custom scrapbooks for another person. For example, someone in your work place may ask you to create a scrapbook for someone who is retiring. You'll be amazed how once people find out about your talent and passion for scrapbooking, that everyone will want one. But in general, you'll find that creating scrapbook gifts for your parents, siblings, children, and close friends is an excellent gift and one that is greatly appreciated.

One of the fun parts of creating scrapbooking gifts are in gathering resources and research. This is one project that you can't expect to complete on your own. A close accomplice is essential. You'll have to brush up on your sleuthing skills and take out your detective cap as you whisk photos away from your intended recipients. With a computer and scanner, you can copy photos without anyone ever noticing and have the perfect images for completing your projects. Be sure to take current photos as well. It's also a great idea that you always leave some blank scrapbooking pages. This way, your recipient can choose to add several photos of his or her own to the scrapbook. A surprise scrapbook makes an excellent gift for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and retirements.

If you don't like surprise, or simply feel that it will be too difficult to get the photos that you need without the recipient being aware of your intentions, you may want to let the recipient know that you are planning on creating a scrapbook for them as a gift. This way, they can be included in the planning process and will help choose the photos that they want included. You won't need to feel uncomfortable about this. People love to receive scrapbooks and it isn't the element of surprise that makes these gifts special, it is the time and skill that you will invest in the project that makes them endearing. So, make sure that you spend plenty of time beforehand determining if it would be better to keep the gift a surprise, or whether you would like to enlist the services of the recipient. You may find that it is just simpler, easier, and results in a better gift to have the recipient select the content for the scrapbook.

Another scrapbook gift that you may want to let the recipient know you are planning on making is a bridal/wedding scrapbook. The bride to be will be more than delighted with the gift and will gladly share her collection of pictures, treasures, and sentimental items for the scrapbook. This is another gift where you will want to leave a few blank pages to ensure that the bride can include some of her most treasured and personal moments.

Holiday scrapbooks are also excellent gifts. These can be created without the help of the recipient. Since these scrapbooks do not necessarily need to reflect momentous milestones in a life, you can use current photos and create the scrapbook as a memory book for events that transpired during that holiday season. These make excellent surprise gifts and are treasured for years to come. There are numerous embellishments that are available to accessorize holiday inspired scrapbooks. There is no doubt about it, no matter what the occasion, scrapbooks make perfect gifts.