An inexpensive wedding gift idea

I?ve reached the age ? and time of year ? where all my friends are getting married. And in between new dresses and shoes and traveling to the ceremonies and bridal showers and so on, there?s always the actual wedding gift.

This weekend ? today, in fact ? my sister?s best friend is getting married in South Carolina. She was registered at multiple places, but I decided to go a different route. So I created a recipe book.

I expected, honestly, to find a recipe organizer (or something similar) at Target, but I had no such luck. So I began to improvise ? a fun-looking journal? Well, not if she wanted to move the recipes around and organize them differently. A wire box of index cards? Not very fancy.

Then I found the photo albums.

I chose a smaller one (104 slots), and then headed over to the index cards. The 4?6 size fit perfectly into the sleeves, since they?re made for 4?6 photos. I picked up a sheet of letter stickers to make the ?cover page,? if you will, and headed home.

Once there, I used the alphabet stickers for the first page. Then I collected my cookbooks and own recipe cards. For the most part, I tried to copy over recipes I?d used myself ? that way, I knew I wasn?t giving her duds. My choices varied from dinners to salads to appetizers to salad dressings to breads to desserts. After I had 30 or 40 cards, I started to organize so I could see where my gaps were ? I only had one pork recipe, for instance.

It took me about a week to copy over 60 recipes, which I mostly did as I caught up on TV or watched a movie at night or over the weekend. The ingredients went on the front, ruled side of the card, and the instructions went on the back.

In the end, it turned out well. The cards can be removed, rearranged or have notes added. And after I copied 60 recipes, i filled the other slots with blank index cards. Hopefully Kate and Josh can enjoy themselves trying out a new recipe or two ? and add their own, if they want.

Here?s how the cost broke down:

Photo album ? $8
Alphabet stickers ? 99 cents
Two packs (200) 4?6 index cards ? $1.68
Wedding card ? $3.29
Total: $13.96

I'm the books editor and a multiplatform copy editor at the York Daily Record / Sunday News. I dabble in green living, food, gardening and -- of course -- all things books-related. Have an idea, suggestion or comment? Email me at schain@ydr.com.

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