Family Photo “Go Fish” Game {gift idea}
**I shared this project over at Infarrantly Creative a few weeks ago, as part of Beckie’s Pennywise Presents series.**
I really love giving personalized gifts whenever I can—especially using photos! Today I’m sharing a simple and inexpensive gift idea that the whole family can enjoy together: Go-Fish using your own family photos. Do you remember this game? I liked playing it growing up, and it’s a fun game that all ages can play. {Go-Fish game rules here} This is also a fun way for young kids to memorize names and faces of family members, especially those who may not live close.
Supplies to make your own Family Photo Go-Fish Game:
- Family photos, of course!
- Patterned paper or cardstock
- Paper trimmer
- Glue Stick
- Corner Rounder Punch (optional)
- Contact Paper or Laminator (optional but recommended)
First, I gathered up my family photos and digital graphics in Photoshop and created my game cards. Now, Photoshop is definitely NOT required on this project if that isn’t your thing. You can simply print out your photos whatever size you want (at the photo lab or your own home printer) and mount them on fun patterned scrapbook paper or even plain cardstock. My finished cards ended up being 3.5 x 5 inches in size. To make it even less expensive you can make the photos wallet-sized.
I decided to include our family of 5 plus both sets of grandparents and of course we can’t leave out Max the dog! 🙂 You could also include aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole extended fam if you want! I kept the design pretty simple; each person has their own color “theme” and cute little nametag. You could even be silly and give each family member a funny nickname on the cards. You will need FOUR copies/game cards of each person for the game.
I printed mine on 4×6 photo paper at Costco, then trimmed them to the correct size with my paper trimmer.
At this point you can mount your photos on paper, making sure you have the same backside on every card, just like a real deck of cards.
To finish them off, I used a corner rounder punch on each card. I like how it looks, plus it takes away any sharp edges for younger kiddos. To add extra durability, I’d recommend laminating the cards or cover them with contact paper to protect from messy little (or big) fingers. 🙂
How fun it would be to receive a completely customized family game?? I’ve already shown it to my kids and they think it’s the coolest thing to have our own faces on a card game! 🙂
You can tie a ribbon around the cards and put them in a cute little tin, or a box that you decorate, or even stick them in a mini stocking. It’s a good idea to include a copy of the rules as well. 🙂
You could even use the same game cards to play a round of Family Memory, so it’s like two gifts in one! It’ll be a blast gathering your family together during the holidays to play this simple, personalized Go-Fish game.
This is such a cute idea! I love it!!
http://julies-thisandthat.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Julie!! 🙂
I love this idea! I’m pretty sure I will be doing this for my nieces for Christmas this year.
Thanks Suzy! It is such a fun personalized gift. 🙂
Love this!! Pinning it right now ;D
Oooh, thanks for pinning it April! 🙂
Very cute! What adhesive did you use to add the cute backs?
Thanks, Michelle! I just used a glue stick. You could use any adhesive you want and it should work.
I LOVE this! Thanks for sharing such a cute idea. I’m going to make a cousins go fish game for all my nieces and nephews for Christmas. 🙂 Where did you find the little tin?
Thanks Debbie! What a fun idea for cousins! I’ve had that tin in my stash for a few years, I can’t remember where I got it–maybe at a craft store or online somewhere–sorry!!
Such a weird (blonde) question…but why do you need 4 of each card??
Oh, in the rules I found for go-fish it called for 4 matching cards to lay down, so that’s why I made 4 of each card. There are different versions of the game so you can do whatever way you want, if you only wanted to have 2 matching cards then you’d only need to make 2 of each.
What an awesome idea. I especially like it for the little ones that have grandparents that live in another city. I will be making it for my nieces also.
Do tell…where did you find the chevron and multiple colored dot graphics you used for backgrounds?? And, if I understood this right, the entire front (polka dots/pic/name) is printed as one piece as a photo, then you print the chevron backing separate and adhere it to the back of the card? Any tips for the best product to adhere the backing?
Yes you’re right Holly. I created the entire front in photoshop and printed as one piece. The background is a separate piece I printed and then glued them together just using a glue stick, as I am planning to laminate them to hold them together longer. You could use any adhesive you like, anything you’d use scrapbooking would work. I apologize but I don’t really know any of the names of products.
I made the chevron in photoshop myself and the polka dot papers I originally got from http://www.crystalwilkerson.com and recolored them for the different colored backgrounds. Hope that helps!
What brand and size rounded corner punch do you have? I just bought the ek 1 inch rounded punch and it doesn’t work very well at all.
I love this, and want to make these cards for my grandson. What version of photoshop are you using? I have been wanting to purchase photoshop, and want to get the right one.
Thanks
i use Photoshop CS4 but you could use the less expensive version and still do pretty much everything you’d want to do–it’s called Photoshop Elements and I think the latest version is 10.0. Good luck! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Hi Brooke,
My grand-daughther is named Brooklyn, and I’d like to make this for her:)
I’m new to PSE.
Would you have a template, or advice on how to set this up?
Thanks,
Vicki
I love this idea ~ what a great little stocking stuffer gift idea. Thanks so much for sharing!
Could you tell me approximately how much it would cost to do this???
hi Brooke,
D you have a suggestion for where I could find a Photoshop tutorial to do the fronts of the cards? I love what you did but am challenged to even come close to that quality!
Thanks for the cute idea! Can’t wait to make these for my next family gathering. Does it matter how many people you use for the game?
Hi! Love this project. Can you tell me what you used to mount the photo paper to the patterned card stock for the back of each card? Do you think a spray adhesive would work?
used this great idea in a holiday post and just wanted to share it with you! Thanks for the idea. I see many go fish games on the horizon. http://drinking-the-whole-bottle.blogspot.com/2014/11/holiday-gift-guide-2014.html