MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 7

I was browsing in a hobbies shop recently, and noticed a whole aisle given over to ‘Scrapbooking’. There were masses of accessories, from the books themselves through to decals, buttons, decorative papers and all kinds of miniature stick-on accessories. I could see that the making of scrapbooks was now an in-thing.
During the 1980s/90s when my children were small, we filled scrapbooks too, but unlike today’s arty creations, ours were designed to record our holidays. Sometimes we made additional scrapbooks to fill with memorabilia relating to the places of interest we had visited over the year; zoos, exhibitions, stately homes and other days out. The first scrapbook I made was when we were on holiday in Cornwall. My son was one year old, and I wanted to create a memory as I knew he would never recall this holiday. My son and daughter can’t really remember much about their early holidays, so the scrapbooks have proved fascinating. For the first few years, I wrote the diary while the children contributed their finds to the album. Later, they were old enough to write the words themselves.

We bought a postcard from each of the various places we visited, and kept admission tickets, meal receipts, sugar sachets, car park tickets, paper napkins – even the occasional ice-lolly stick or chocolate wrapper. Yes, I know it’s junk, but it’s also treasure! Free leaflets and fliers were a boon, and feathers, a small piece of seaweed, tiny shells, and some daises or thrift from the cliff all contributed to the scrapbooks. The children were always on the lookout for interesting holiday bits and pieces, and they made holiday drawings too.

By now, you’re probably thinking that it can’t be much of a holiday if you have to work on a scrapbook every day, but in fact the work is minimal. All you need to pop into your luggage is a notebook, a supply of small plastic bags and an old bus timetable or similar book which won’t matter if it becomes soiled. Each evening jot down in your notebook where you went, what you did, and most importantly, the prices you paid for admission, boat trips, bus rides or other things. Then put the day’s treasures into plastic bags together with a slip of paper with the date. Press the seaweed and flowers in the bus-timetable (you were wondering about that, weren't you?). It doesn't take long, honest. When you arrive home, stick your notes and treasures into a scrapbook and label everything up. The children will enjoy helping to create this snippet of social history and it prolongs the fun of the holiday. Older children get fun out of these books too – when I suggested that we needn’t bother any more, now that they were older, my son and daughter greeted the suggestion with shocked protests even though they were well into their teens.

Not only are these holiday scrapbooks wonderful to look back on in years to come, they can resolve arguments (was that mine we visited in Cornwall or Wales, and what was the name of that little tea room in Devon?) Unfortunately, they can also cause great anguish when you notice how admission prices have tripled over the years!