If a coworker or family member retires, that is definitely worth celebrating. Perhaps they have been with one company for 30 years, or were involved in multiple industries; no matter, they worked hard and deserve to really enjoy their retirement. Instead of just giving them a present that may be like any other gift ever given—like a coffee mug sporting some quippy retirement quote—really try to do something meaningful.
A DIY retirement memory book can always be a great way of celebrating one’s journey with wonderful memories they have created over the years. If scrapbooking isn’t your thing, then you would probably want to generate ideas that make your book memorable. These ideas should help you make your gift truly special. Keep reading to start planning the memory book.
In this article, you’ll get to learn different memory book ideas for someone who is retiring and how to create a memory book for retirement.
Key Takeaways
- The best DIY memory book ideas for retirement are a map of travel, historical items from the company, photographs, a retirement bucket list, letters from the retiree’s current coworkers and boss, letters from past coworkers, customers, clients, and vendors, retirement quotes, items that will remind the retiree of inside jokes, a timeline of your parent’s workplace clothes, and now vs. then.
- These DIY memory book ideas offer a heartfelt way to celebrate a retiring coworker or family member’s career journey and achievements. Each idea can be personalized to create a meaningful gift that honors their legacy.
10 DIY Retirement Memory Book Ideas
Searching for the perfect retirement gift? Making a retirement memory book is an excellent way to honor someone’s career and life milestones. Here are some creative ideas to make this memory book unique and unforgettable:
1. Map of Travel
For great travelers for work, you could put together a memory book with a highlighted map of the places they’ve been or the routes taken. The map will act as a lead-off into remembering the work travels—the stories about traveling.
If you are a good illustrator, you could do the map yourself. Otherwise, you can get a memory book online and still have that personalized feel but looking polished and professional.
2. Historical Items From the Company
If your parent has worked at the same company for many years, they will have undoubtedly seen many changes over the years. Research the history of the company through old logos and pictures of retired uniforms, then add some older marketing campaigns and brave letterheads and business cards to make a truly special retirement book. Help showcase some of the history of the company by sprinkling these images throughout the memory book.
You can then put these in a box if you wish to have a memory box instead of a book. This project will require some creativity to carry out an outstanding understanding of your parent’s industry in searching and picking up the most meaningful pieces.
3. Photographs
When designing a retirement memory book, you can encounter a problem of not being able to gather enough photos; this is not the case in graduations, vacations, or weddings where there are many. In most jobs, taking photos is not a common thing; after all, there is not much excitement in pictures of people sitting at desks or talking on the phone. The clients could also feel weird about being photographed with employees.
If you know someone is going to be leaving employment in the near future, start taking more pictures. Or, if it’s part of your job to coordinate retirement parties, try to take a few photos on a regular basis. You’ll appreciate having them when it comes time to recognize a colleague.
If you can’t find photos anywhere else, search the social media accounts of the retiree and your coworkers. Learn how to make prints from Instagram and Facebook. Even though these won’t be from inside the office, they will come in handy too.
4. Retirement Bucket List
Creating your retirement bucket list is a great way to start life’s next chapter together, for couples retiring at the same time, or if you’ve just been chomping at the bit for your spouse to retire.
A bucket list should be inside the memory book. That way, it can be a tangible reminder of some of those shared retirement dreams, like places to travel, things to do, or just the intention to really relax and enjoy slower moments together.
5. Letters From the Retiree’s Current Coworkers and Boss
Ask everyone in your company to email messages for the retiree. Because many people may feel awkward, unfamiliar with the process, or even far from where they could deliver the letter after writing it. You can include a few examples or ideas to help people who have no idea on how to go about it begin:
- What is your best memory of [retirees name]?
- What kind of advice did [retiree name] give you on your first day?
- What was your first impression of [retiree name], and was it right?
- Name three adjectives to describe [retirees name].
- How has [retiree name] helped you at work?
Set a deadline for submission and remind everyone two days before the final date.
6. Letters From Past Coworkers, Customers, Clients, and Vendors
Most of us come into contact with numerous others every day at work. To make a true retirement memory book, make a list of all those with whom the retiree has worked over the years. Add to this long-term customers or clients who have almost become part of the family and even include cleaning staff and workers in coffee shops whom they saw every day.
Contact these individuals and ask if they want to write a note honoring the retiree.
7. Retirement Quotes
Even though others may believe that the person retiring is excited about retirement, you know they have apprehensions. Some people think they will get bored or be less productive after retiring, and your spouse doubtless feels this way.
Send them inspirational quotations or stories about retirement to help boost their morale. Show them, actually, that this is a new and fascinating chapter in their life.
Retirement Party Guest Book Ideas for Coworker
8. Items That Will Remind the Retiree of Inside Jokes
If your workplace is known for its good humor, you can bet that for many years you have shared numerous laughs.
Most workplaces do have those inside jokes that give everybody a reason to smile. Put in your retirement memory book artwork, photos, or key phrases that trigger the remembrance of those really fun times that colleagues are going to cherish.
9. A Timeline of Your Parent’s Workplace Clothes
It may be a challenge to find photos of your parents working, but you will more than likely find pictures of your parents over the years. Look for photos of your parents in work clothes from other decades.
You and your siblings will get a kick out of your mom’s large shoulder pads, puffy hair from the 1980s, and ignore your dad in slim knit ties and sporting permed hair.
10. Now vs. Then
If they started working in the 1970s or 1980s, that retiree has seen a lot of changes. Even if you can’t find examples specific to their workplace or industry, you can still compare the past to the present differently.
Create a contrasting collage in the retirement memory book of prices, styles, movies, and music from their first year on the job to the present year. This part of the memory book can make the retiree remember how much things have changed over time and all of their favorite pop culture memories.
What to Do with A Retirement Memory Book
Once a retirement memory book has been completed, what purpose can it serve? Apart from being given to a loved-one or fellow colleague as a gift, here are several ways in which a retirement memory book could be useful:
- Family Heirloom: Another very good idea is that of a retirement memory book, in which such a heritage of a person’s career and its legacy are preserved as a family treasure to be passed down through generations.
- Funeral Arrangements: Having the retirement memory book included during a loved one’s funeral—traditional or virtual, like those put together by GatheringUs—can be very meaningful.
- Final Wishes: As you create your end-of-life plans, consider adding instructions for the handling of your retirement memory book. See that it passes into the hands of your family, filed by your employer, or attached as part of your legacy. You can easily protect all of your belongings and wishes after passing in a legally-valid will right on trust & will.
- Digital Preservation: Instead of a physical book, you can digitize your retirement memories by uploading them to a computer, the cloud, or social media, and ensure they are available for as long as possible. Or better still, you can use a service like Meminto to create the retirement memory book so that you not only get a digital copy but physical one as well.
- Secure Storage: Storing your retirement memory book in a safe that is secure, waterproof, yet easily accessible when needed for emergency purposes is very important.
How to Create a Meminto Memory Book for Retirement
By now, you have an idea of the memory book you want to create to celebrate retirement. Now, let’s walk you through using a tool like Meminto to make your own DIY memory book for retirement.
To begin creating your memory book with Meminto, follow these steps:
- Visit https://meminto.com/product/life-book/ and click on “Get Started.”
- Choose whether you are creating the book for yourself (“I will”) or as a gift for someone else (“Someone else will”).
- Select the number of pages you want in your book and indicate if you’d like additional or digital copies. Then, click “Add to Cart” to proceed.
- Enter your shipping address, select your preferred payment method, and apply a promo code if you have one.
- Confirm your order and track its progress on the checkout page.
- Check your email for a confirmation message containing an activation code. Copy the activation code and visit https://memin.to/register.
- Fill in your personal information, enter the activation code, and create a password. Click “Sign up for Meminto” to begin writing your story.
- Choose your preferred language (German or English) and select the day you wish to receive weekly questions. Click “Save Changes.”
- Customize your book by selecting its typographic alignment and how categories are presented.
- You can now personalize the book further to suit your preferences.
Watch the instructional video below on using the Meminto app for more guidance.
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More InformationConclusion
Making a DIY memory book on retirement is a very considerate, personal way to celebrate the end of someone’s career and all their successes. From travels around the globe to saving historical items at their workplace to messages full of emotions from colleagues and friends, each idea in the memory book adds its zing to the retirement celebration.
These memory books are such that they not only serve as a keepsake for the retiree but also acknowledge and bring into light all the good they have done for people over the course of their career. Whether it be in the form of a gift handed down from generation to generation in one’s family or placed alongside funeral-type arrangements, showing respect and pride in a life well-lived, these retirement memory books most certainly rank high and are very special in capturing valuable memories and stories.
