wedding gift idea

Tomorrow I am going to a shower for my future sister-in-law and had spent a while trying to think of a meaningful gift. Since we are in a bit of a budget pinch right now it needed to also be inexpensive.

I thought about the things I use in my home on a daily basis and (after asking the bride-to-be a few subtle questions to see if this would suit) I decided to create a recipe binder for her like the one I use every day.

I used to use a recipe box and that was... a disaster. My binder however is a joy to use! I hope it is for her as well!

Here's what you'll need:
- LARGE 3-ring binder (I think this one is 2.5-3 inches?)
- at least a 50 pack of page protectors
- sticky tab inserts for your categories
- a piece of cardstock for each category
- coordinating scrapbook paper for outside of notebook

I used the scrapbook paper and odds and ends of scrapbooking supplies that I had to create the cover, spine and back of the book.

I typed up the various categories and put those in the tab inserts. Going in order I stuck the tab inserts at varied intervals along the TOP of a piece of cardstock. Then I put the cardstock in a page protector (it doesn't work to use regular tab dividers because they won't stick out past the page protectors!). Lastly I printed out my own copies of recipes and added those to the binder.

Here are a few other tips for the binders:

- you can use page protectors with photo slots to hold recipe cards that you don't want to throw away. In my binder I have several of these because they are in the handwriting of someone special or were given to me at a special occasion.

- tear out recipes from magazines and slide them in a page protector

- make sure you give the bride some extra card stock and tab dividers if they want to adjust the categories

- keep it clean and organized

- make it pretty, you (or the recipient) will be more likely to use something that looks nice!

Read more frugal tips at Life as MOM.