Do you have a child going off to college and want a college drop-off gift to leave with them? Learn how to easily make a cute college gift card photo album filled with gift cards for college that can be given as a college drop off gift, college care package, or high school graduation gift.
This college gift card book is filled with gift cards from friends and family to help your child get through their time away at college. It’s filled with gift cards for things like: Pizza Night, When they’re sick, missing home, tired, and more
College Gift Card Photo Album
Whether it’s your child’s first year in college or their last this college gift card photo album creates a cute, memorable, and personalized gift that can be given to them to help them get through the year. The college gift card book makes a great high school graduation gift as well.
What is a College Gift Card Photo Album?
A college gift card photo album is a cute way to personalize gift cards for teens and adults going off to college. It’s a photo album filled with cute pictures, gift cards, words of encouragement, and whatever else you want to add. You can fill out the gift card book yourself or have friends and family contribute to it as well.
The great thing about it is that you can start on it months in advance, since buying a lot of gift cards can get pricey. You’ll add gift cards to their favorite places and for things they will need while away from home. You can even add family photos with memories, words of encouragement, bible verses, affirmations, and whatever else you may want!
How to Make a College Gift Card Photo Album
Now let’s get started on making your College Gift Card Photo Album. Here is what you’ll need and how to assemble it!
Supplies needed for a College Gift Card Book
College Gift Card Book Files – These are the files I used on Etsy.
5×7 Photo Album – For this project, you’ll need a photo album, but you could also use a notebook/journal instead if you wanted. This is the photo Album I used. I like that the cover has a pocket so I can add the cover for my book to it, but if you wanted something with a design on the cover this is a cute photo album!
Gift Cards – You’ll want to get gift cards to their favorite places that are local to them in college. You can do this on your own or have friends and family contribute a gift card and make it a group gift. If someone contributes a gift card you can write on the page who it is from and if they have a note they want added. You can start collecting gift cards months in advance to make it easier on your wallet.
Colorful Cardstock – I used these pages to hold the gift cards in the book. I got the pastel cardstock pack, but the primary cardstock pack works great too!
Colorful Pens – These are my favorite colorful pens, but use whatever you like!
Glut Dots or Tape – You’ll want to use these to hold the gift cards to the pages. I like using glue dots, but regular tape works too.
Cardstock or Printer Paper – I like to print my pages on cardstock, but you can use regular printer paper. Since this is going in a photo album you won’t need the paper to be super sturdy. However, I just like the look of the cardstock better.
Paper Trimmer or Scissors – I cannot live without my paper trimmer, but Scissors work as well.
Printer – You will need to print your pages. You can print them at a local print shop or print them at home. The ecotank is my favorite printer to use for projects like this and the ink lasts a long time.
How to Assemble a Gift Card Photo Album
Once you have all your supplies it’s time to put your gift card book together. This part is pretty straightforward.
Step 1: Print Your Files: Purchase, Download, and Print Your Files. I got mine via Etsy!
Step 2: Cut Down Your Files: Once your files are printed you’ll want to cut them down to 5×7 in size.
Step 3: Add Pages to Your Album: Place the cover page on the front of the album. Place the letter on the first page of the album. Then you’ll want to add a decorative page on the left side and a cardstock page with a gift card on the right side.
On the colorful pages, I added little notes and whether the gift card was from someone. Place a glue dot on the back of the gift card and attach it to your page.
If you want you can skip the colorful cardstock page and just add another decorative page. You can add a gift card to the decorative page if you want to fit more gift cards into the album.
On the last page I used the cash page and added the gift card to the decorative page. You can use the last page however you see fit. You could even write a note or words of encouragement for that page.
That’s it! You now how a special college drop off gift for your college student filled with college gift cards!