We talk often about what goes into the pages of your leavers’ yearbook – but what about the ending? If you’ve ever been disappointed by how a book ends you’ll be on-board with this already. I can tell.
Clever photo pages, plans for the future, a treasured collection of messages and signatures all make great yearbook closers. Strive to end the yearbook with the same energy as it started with some of our ideas below for the last page.
A leavers’ poem
End your yearbook with a heartfelt, or witty poem. If you haven’t got the time (or skills) to pen your own prose choose a piece of poetic charm that sums up your experiences.
Poems about friendship are the perfect fit for a yearbook. We all have treasured memories of our time with friends, so a poem ode to those you’ve shared so many memories with is ideal.
With this being the last page people will read, where can be more suitable for a poem about the future and what’s to come? Here are some short poems to get you going:
Thomas Jefferson
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Glad We’re Friends
by Anon
Wherever life takes me
Whatever hills I may climb
Or tumble down;
Whatever joy I feel
Or whatever makes me frown;
I’m so glad you are there to tag along;
To have a friend like you through it allI’m really glad we’re friends.
Dreams
by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Goodbye from the Yearbook Committee
You may have read our post a couple of weeks ago, packed full of Yearbook Committee page ideas. A mountain of time and effort goes into creating a yearbook, so those involved fully deserve their own sacred space in the leavers’ yearbook.
A Yearbook Committee page can consist of simple brief ‘thank you’ message, or a full-blown run down on each member and what they contributed (along with their own messages).
Year group photos (silly and sensible)
Just because it’s the last page of your yearbook, doesn’t mean it has to be a sensible one! Maybe you have some outtakes of your formal year group photo, or a funny photo from a trip that just didn’t work on the trips page.
If you can track down a photo that really sums up your time together as a year group, it’s gold! Pop it in with a hilarious (but clean) caption
Bucket List – what your year aims to achieve
Here’s an immediate item for your bucket list – read SPC Yearbooks’ post about bucket list ideas!
Keep those life goals in check, and have something to follow up on when you meet for your reunion. A bucket list page is a collaboration of things to achieve by a certain time, for example 30 things to achieve before you’re 30. What a great forward-thinking page to end on.
Making shapes with your year group
Popular with primary school yearbooks, have some photo fun by making the shape of your leavers year with your pupils! In fact, you don’t have to just make numbers, how about the words ‘good luck’, or ‘goodbye’? A fun and creative activity that gets everyone involved.
Signatures / messages / jokes
A staple page of any yearbook, but where could a signatures / messages / jokes page live? Well, how about at the end of your yearbook? It’s easy to locate when it comes to leavers’ day and won’t make horrible imprints in the middle of your book – bonus!
Instead of just signing names, ask your fellow leavers to write a little message about how they’ll remember you. A favourite moment, which classes you shared, or how you met are also great things to ask them to write, so you’ll always be able to remember.
You don’t just have to have autographs and messages, how about throwing some favourite jokes in there for good measure? Everyone loves a little giggle. Maybe it’s a joke you all shared in class, or even jokes you’ve made up yourself. Keep them clean and friendly, your parents may not appreciate reading the ‘dodgy’ ones!
Wrapping up for another page idea. We’d hate for you to rush your last page, so I hope these ideas have given you some fresh, new ideas to end your masterpiece of a leavers’ yearbook.
As always, if you have any page ideas to share with us and other yearbookers, pop us a message in the comments below, or get in touch on Twitter @SPCYearbooks
