If you’ve ever returned from a family holiday with a phone full of photos, a head full of memories, and absolutely no clue what to do with them all, I hear you. After our last trip, I found boarding passes tucked into pockets, scribbled notes from the kids stuffed into a bag, and about 400 sunset photos in my camera roll. All lovely… but forgotten far too quickly.
So this year, as we’ve been thinking more about future travels (and possibly a family cruise, more on that below), we’ve also been thinking about how to make the most of the memory-making. That’s where scrapbooking comes in, not the perfectly curated kind, but the messy, joyful, memory-filled kind.
And if you’re planning or dreaming about a cruise, scrapbooking is a brilliant way to involve the kids, both before and after the trip. It keeps little hands busy, gives older children a creative outlet, and helps all of us hold onto the best bits of the journey. So here’s how we’re planning our cruise travel scrapbook, from prep to post-holiday pages.
What You Will Find Here
Why a Cruise Makes Scrapbooking Extra Fun
Cruises are bursting with little moments you’ll want to capture. From sea days and dress-up dinners to docking in a new port each morning, every day looks different. That variety makes a scrapbook feel more like a storybook, with each page telling a unique part of the adventure.
Looking through the Bolsover Cruise Club website, I’ve been struck by just how many cruise itineraries offer such varied landscapes. One day you might be walking through colourful streets in Lisbon, and the next you’re gazing at fjords in Norway. That’s a scrapbooker’s dream!
Before You Go: Pre-Holiday Prep
Start before you even set foot on the ship. In the run-up to your trip, involve the kids in putting together a travel scrapbook kit. Think:
- Washi tape in nautical colours
- A small box or envelope for ticket stubs and brochures
- Coloured pens and highlighters
- A mini notebook for jotting down daily highlights
- Glue sticks, safety scissors, and some pre-cut shapes or stickers
- A folder for loose items like maps or postcards
Let them decorate the cover with cruise-themed doodles or family handprints. You can even include a “countdown calendar” section or a list of places they’re most excited to visit.
Older kids might enjoy researching ports of call and printing out a fun fact for each one. For younger ones, drawing or printing ship shapes or making bingo-style “spot it on the ship” games is a great way to get them engaged.
During the Cruise: Collect the Moments
This is where the fun begins.
Encourage each child to collect one thing each day, it could be:
- A napkin with the ship’s logo
- Doodle on a placemat
- A photo they’ve taken themselvesQuote from someone they spoke to (or even overheard!)
- Tickets from an excursion
- Memories from a beach day
- A pressed flower from a port visit
Let them make quick notes in their travel journal each night, what they saw, what they ate, something funny that happened. You could set aside 15 minutes before bed to reflect and stick in the day’s memory.
If your cruise includes themed nights (like tropical evenings or dress-up dinners), those can become whole double-page spreads. Think outfit sketches, snapshots, or even menu clippings if the kids loved their dessert!
After You Return: Assemble Your Story
Once home, it’s time to pull everything together.
Spread out all the saved bits, receipts, sketches, photo printouts, maps, you name it. Get the kettle on (or juice for the kids!) and make an afternoon of it. Choose one page per day, or group things into sections like:
- Setting Sail
- Life at Sea
- Favourite Ports
- Best Food Moments
- Funny Fails (because every holiday has them)
- What We’d Do Next Time
Don’t worry about perfection. Overlapping corners, misspellings, and slightly smudged glue sticks? That’s all part of it. The magic is in the making, and in seeing your children reflect on what they remember most.
You could even leave a few blank pages at the back for “future cruise dreams”, where they can draw ships, write wish lists, or paste clippings of places they’d love to visit next.
Why It’s Worth the Effort
We live in a time where memories can get lost in a scroll. Taking the time to print, cut, stick, and write feels beautifully tactile, like anchoring your memories somewhere they can’t slip away.
And doing it as a family brings conversations you wouldn’t otherwise have: What did you love most? What surprised you? What made you laugh?
Scrapbooking doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but it does give something really special in return. A way to relive the joy, to honour the chaos (because travel with kids always includes chaos!), and to come back to those moments again and again.
Please note this is a collaboration.
