When my first child turned one, I wanted to give him a gift he could hold and look through with photos of every member of his large extended family. They lived all over the country and it was important to me that he knew who they were.

As he grew, there were times the family was together and times we were apart. The cards helped him know the faces and names of his family, even if he only saw them in person once a year. Kids love looking at photos of themselves and the people they love. This put them in his hands and not hidden on my phone. We have kept our cards in the kids’ bedrooms, and taken them in the diaper bag as we traveled the world to remind us of our special people.

When my second child turned three, we started playing Go Fish… and she was really good at it! I thought how fun it would be to have a set of matching cards with the faces of all the family members. I started figuring out how to make them and realized many families would enjoy this idea. The Loved Ones card game was born!

Because of my professional background as a graphic designer, I designed the graphics on the card and utilized Canva, a free-to-use graphic design tool to make it editable and available to all families. And there are so many ways to play with them! Our matching cards can be used to play five games: Go Fish, Seek-A-Boo, Fast Match, Lucky One (a variation of Old Maid), and Memory Match. Instructions to play are included. 

I know your family will enjoy playing with your one-of-a-kind card game as much as we have. It makes my heart swell as I watch my children get so excited about who is on the card they are holding. Families are important, no matter what your family looks like or who it consists of.

Playing face-to-face with our children, and spending quality time together, is the best gift you can give them.