Hey everyone! This is Terri, and I am on a mission to get a travel smash book done in the next 10 days for a trip I am taking to New York City. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to share my process of creating a travel journal that I will be carrying with me and using throughout the trip to document our adventures and collect memorabilia.

About the trip: My son’s high school marching band (he’s a Freshman this year), was chosen to perform in the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving! For months we have been planning, preparing, and practicing (lots of band practice!) and finally it’s only 10 days away. It’s our first trip to NYC and the band has planned a fantastic itinerary including: the Statue of Liberty, 911 Memorial, Rockettes at the Radio City Music Hall, Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Top of the Rocks Observatory, NBC Studios Tour… and of course the Macy’s Day Parade! So we’ll have so much to photograph, see and document. I think the Smash Book will be a perfect companion.

The Organization & Planning of the Smash Book: I broke this down into 3 parts. It is easy to get overwhelmed, so I am in need of breaking the process down and getting pieces done each day. I did a quick informal video on our Create Scrapbooks YouTube Channel about the process and will have follow-up videos with progress and a final tour of the book once I return from NYC so you can see how it all came together.

Here’s a short video of how to I am getting a travel smash book started for the NYC trip, but can be adapted to ANY holiday or vacation.

• Buy or create your own smash book. I used the International yellow version that I purchased at Two Peas in a Bucket.
• Gather your supplies. Seems simple enough, but as you know gathering what you want to use ahead of time SAVES time and keeps your focused on the task at hand.
• Plan around your trip. Usually you have at least a rough plan or itinerary that you’ll be following on your trip. I will be printing out the band’s planning agenda so I can do my smash book following it day-by-day.
• Create your book!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest updates on our video series… AND make sure to watch the Macy’s Day Parade this year and cheer on the Legacy High School marching band from Colorado!