My Graduation Video Gift To My Boy

Manic:  Scrambling to put 18 years of pictures to a video slideshow format and not wanting to hire it out to save money…and to have the sentimental experience of doing it myself.

Managed:  My gal pal, Gina told me about a terrific site called Animoto that made this feat quite easy!  I was able to streamline the process, find perfect songs for each chapter that I created in the video and more.  The best part…my son loved it!  Some friends and family teared up when they watched it, too.  I was touched and my hard work of pulling so many pictures and then scanning was worth it.  Thankfully the rest the job was made easy by Animoto.

In this video, I especially loved the chapter I call “Little Sisters Aren’t So Bad” (shhh…don’t tell…this made my husband cry!) and I had fun putting the hockey years section together.  When I brainstormed a part called “Two Peas in a Pod” that featured my husband and my son in some amazing photos that capture ordinary moments that are so cherished now, I was thrilled with the outcome.

I was also able to really honor and thank our amazing family and friends who have been quite the spectacular village for our son.  I do believe it takes a village and this video enabled me to thank them, too.

And the milestones and “our wish for you” parts of this video towards the end really came together and brought out laughs and tears.

At the very end, a pretty cool surprise happens that no one saw coming!  So take a look, enjoy and try your hand at this video making magic using Animoto the next time you need to make a milestone or just a fun video.  I did it!  And make sure to go full screen when watching this and turn on the volume to see how the music matches the images.  I feel like I really accomplished something that my son will always cherish with this graduation video.