Homemade cookbooks filled with cherished family recipes make great gifts, but the process of collecting the recipes and putting together a book can be daunting. Instead of aiming for a comprehensive tome, why not put together a smaller book of the very best recipes? At less than $5 each, these books look great and are affordable enough to give to everyone on your holiday list.
Pictured above is a 24-page book of family recipes I made to give out as favors at my wedding, using the publishing website Blurb. I collected one favorite recipe from each of the women in both my and my husband's families and assembled them using Blurb's software, which I found simple and intuitive.
Since I needed over 100 copies of the books, I went with the least expensive option — a 5"x8" softcover book with a glossy color cover and black-and-white text inside — but I was still impressed with the quality of the finished books. (Pricing for this size book starts at $3.95, with bulk discounts available if you order more than seven copies.)
A few tips to save time and make your best book:
• Start with clean copy. Although I generally found the software easy to use, it is not the best choice for copy-editing. Use a document-editing software like Word to make any corrections to your recipes before pasting them into Blurb's software.
• Figure out the page layout before you get started. Play around with the placement of the recipe text, the font size of the title, and other layout details until you get it right. Then input the rest of the recipes. This will save you the headache of changing your layout halfway through, and having to manually fix each recipe.
• If you have time, order a proof book. Before placing a big order, get a single copy of the book so you can see exactly what the finished cookbook will look like. I didn't have enough time to do this, and ended up with an error in photo resolution that hadn't been visible on a computer screen. It didn't ruin the book, but I kicked myself for not getting a proof copy.
These books are so slim and affordable, I love the idea of making them an annual tradition. You could break your grandmother's best recipes into volumes (cakes, casseroles, vegetables, etc.) and give out one each year, or collect your favorite new recipes of the last year and give them out annually to friends and family who like to cook.
• Check it out: Blurb
Have you ever made a family cookbook? How did you do it?
Related: Gift Idea to Start Now: DIY Family Cookbooks
(Images: Christina Richards Weddings)
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I love the font. What is it?
@billiem: It's Strangelove Text. I love it too! We bought it and used it for all the printed materials at the wedding. You can find it here.
oh this is NEAT. thanks for the link!
Lulu.com and CreateSpace.com are good as well.
brilliant!
Sweet! This is an excellent idea. Also a good idea for orgs wanting to self-publish recipe books for fundraising.
Just used Blurb to make our wedding albums (one for each set of parents)--I can't wait to see how they came out. Overall, I found the software easy to use, and their quality is very good for the price. It beats paying upwards of $500 per album, and we were able to pick and choose the photos and layout.
In my family, the men have recipes to contribute, too. Sorry to brag.
how early would i have to order one to get it by christmas?
I just used Blurb to order a larger family cookbook I put together over the past year. I had used the software previously for a vacation photo book and had a good experience; once I got into fonts and text layout though I found it to be a huge headache. The quality is great, though.
My mom made one and just printed it on card stock (each page is half a sheet of letter-size paper) and put it in a little two-ring binder. She illustrated a different cover for each of us. (Or at least, she's supposed to have. So far, only one of us has cover art.) I love it, because this way it's totally changeable. She can send us new recipes to put in it, we can make our own additions, and also we can reorganize the book as befits our own organizational styles.
If you have 5-6 hours to spare, Blurb seems like a good way to go. I don't have that kind fo time to spend on cutting and pasting and reformatting and resizing, and redoing everything because the software is so frustratingly difficult to use. Seriously was excited about getting these for Christmas presents for family and now I'm scrapping that entire idea. Total waste of time.
Your post inspired me to make a family cookbook as a favor for my cousin's bridemaid's luncheon. I used Blurb and loved it, although it did take a good bit of time. I blogged about the process and listed my tips for the project:
http://maplemacaroni.blogspot.com/2013/05/how-to-make-family-cookbook.html