Grace: As a poor college student, I have a hard time finding gifts for my friends that I think they’d enjoy but won’t leave me broke. The easy way out would be to buy clothing or jewelry, but those gifts can get repetitive and boring.

As a very hands-on person, I love the idea of giving a scrapbook as a gift. Scrapbooking is a fun and easy activity that anyone can partake in; all it takes is a little time and patience. It is a visual form of story telling that was first practiced in ancient Greece. As more people became literate and no longer had to hire scribes to record their thoughts and memories for them, scrapbooks became more popular. Sometime during 15th century England, scrapbooks started appearing as personal journals where recipes, letters, quotes, and other memorable items were placed. Today, scrapbooks are used mainly to preserve memories.

For my friend’s 20th birthday, a bunch of my friends and I decided to buy and start a scrapbook for her, and it was a complete success! We started out with a simple scrapbook, nice and affordable, and started 2 pages. In order to give her a little push, we bought her some stickers, glue, glitter, and other fun crafty things, and printed out a bunch of pictures we thought she would enjoy.

I wasn’t sure if my friend would actually continue scrapbooking, but come finals she’s always sitting in her room cutting paper and pasting pictures. She finds that it’s a great way to relieve stress (and procrastinate). A scrapbook is a great gift for someone who loves arts and crafts and also has the patience and time to actually work on one.

Dan: I have never personally made a scrapbook of my own, but I have received one as a gift. It was a memory capsule of many of the major moments during my four years in high school. I cherish that present more than any other gift I have ever been given. It is so important to me that it has to come to college with me throughout the year so that when I become over-stressed I can open it up and laugh about good times from the past. I am so happy that you gave this gift recommendation, Grace, because it is a very special one. You beat me to it!