Who wouldn’t like to be a celebrity – at least for a single day? To have all newspapers writing about them – or at least one? Even if you aren’t friends with the local publisher, you may present a person of your choice with their very own birthday magazine.
Why did I make a birthday magazine?
I came up with this idea at high school before my friend’s 18th birthday. It is a really big event in the life of a teenager in Poland, yet it is only celebrated by family and friends. Hardly any newspaper would be interested in the coming of age of an average Joe. As far as I was concerned, my friend deserved to feel special that day, and that was how I decided to honour her.
How did I make the birthday magazine?
Firstly, I collected photos of her and her friends that I found in my albums. I waited until her birthday and bought a local black-and-white newspaper. Then I matched as many articles accompanied with pictures with the photos I had, and photocopied the photos. After some cutting and adjusting, I pasted the black-and-white copies in the magazine. The effect was stunning. My friend was delighted to read that she had won a beauty contest, established beneficial cooperation with foreign partners on behalf of the local government and sponsored a playground for an orphanage in the neighbourhood.
A birthday magazine can be given on various occassions:
- birthdays,
- anniversaries,
- hen parties,
- going on retirement…
Birthday magazine – on paper or computer screen?
I had no problems doing the birthday magazine at high school, which proves that it doesn’t require the use of modern technology. This doesn’t mean, however, that it wouldn’t be helpful. If I had had access to a computer, a printer and some modern applications, I could have used a colour magazine, and instead of cutting photos, I could have enlarged or shrunk them in a photo editor.
Birthday magazine – your turn!
If you feel that the task of matching photos to articles is too demanding, try doing the following: Pick three funny but diverse pictures. Then choose a random magazine (an on-line magazine would do for the sake of the exercise). Now try fitting your photos to the article. Easy?
Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the resulting magazine, but if I ever do this present again, I promise to upload it. And in the meantime, I’m counting on you! Let me know how it worked for you and paste samples below!
My advice:
- Use only positive articles! Avoid press releases about murders, road accidents and terrorist attacks.
- This present cannot be prepared beforehand: the date of release is crucial here. Therefore it may only be considered if the party is held after the day of the actual anniversary.
- Recently, I have found an online birthday magazine cover creator. Unfortunately, it is not free. If you are willing to pay $10 for a design or $20 for a printout, you will receive a professional magazine cover. Nevertheless, I still think you can do just as well on your own.
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