Last-minute Christmas gift for children: a book ready in minutes

Christmas is only a few days away, it’s too late for delivery and there’s still a name on your list. A personalised children’s book starring the child is ready to read as an eBook within minutes of payment. Here’s how to make it, and how to wrap a gift you can’t hold.

Too late for delivery

If you’ve ever been shopping on 22 December, you’ll know the feeling. You pick from what’s left on the shelves and hope nobody else in the family has had the same idea.

An eBook doesn’t need delivering. The story is written and the pictures are created after you pay, and a few minutes later you’ll receive an email saying the book is ready. It’s just as personal as the printed version, with your child’s name and face, their family and even the cat.

One evening is enough

You’ll need a photo showing your child’s face straight on, in daylight. If there isn’t a suitable one on your phone, take a new one by a window tomorrow. It only takes a minute, and our guide to choosing a photo explains what to look for.

Then choose a theme and add a few details that are special to your child: their teddy’s name, a word they say in a way nobody wants to correct, or the fact that they insist on putting ketchup on everything. It’s details like these that make the book feel like yours. A Christmas story is an obvious choice, but a space adventure is just as lovely if that’s what your child loves.

Make the book a few days before Christmas rather than on Christmas morning, so you have time to read it through. You can edit the text and title yourself, and have a picture redrawn if it isn’t quite right. The pictures are created by AI using the photo. They usually look a lot like the child, but sometimes a fringe is too long or a hand looks odd. It’s easier to fix that on a quiet evening than when guests are arriving.

Getting the light right

The tricky part of a last-minute book is often finding a good photo. A picture taken at the kitchen table in the evening, under a ceiling light, can give your child dark shadows around the eyes and a yellow tint to their skin. That can show up in the illustrations.

Try taking the photo during the day, by your largest window, with your child facing the light. An overcast day is fine: the clouds soften the light. If it’s already dark when you get home, look on your phone for a recent weekend photo taken outside or by a window. A photo from the past few months should work, as long as your child is facing the camera and no hat is covering their hair.

Wrapping a gift you can’t hold

The eBook is a PDF. Print the cover, perhaps on slightly thicker paper, and put it in an envelope with a note: ‘Your very own book. Let’s read it tonight.’ Your child can spot themselves on the cover before they even know what the gift is.

If you’d like something bigger to wrap, print the whole book and put it in a folder, or place a tablet in a box with the book open at the first page. Then read it together on the sofa once the wrapping paper has been cleared away and things have quietened down.

If the book is for someone else, such as a grandchild or godchild, you can email it directly from the book with a message. The recipient gets a link where they can read and download it.

If your child is spending Christmas elsewhere

If you’re spending Christmas with family, away from home or on the other side of the country, print the cover before you leave. You may not have a printer where you’re staying, and a phone screen can be small when five cousins want to look at once. A tablet or laptop is better for reading together on the sofa.

If you want to keep the book a surprise, make it while your child is asleep and read it yourself first. And if the foreword makes you a little teary, there’s no need to be embarrassed.

The printed book can come later

You can order the hardback whenever you like, even in January. What you’ve paid for the eBook is deducted from the price, so you never pay twice for the same book. It arrives one to two weeks later, perhaps when the decorations are down and Christmas already feels a while ago. That’s not a bad time to receive a parcel.

It’s an A4 book with a hard cover, and you can have it sent directly to someone else, such as grandparents who would like their own copy. See the prices for the eBook, hardback and extra copies.

Make time for the foreword

The foreword is a few lines from you at the beginning of the book. It’s easy to skip when you’re in a hurry, but it may be the page that means the most when your child has grown up. Three sentences are enough. If you can’t find the words, the ‘Write a suggestion’ button gives you a draft to edit. For help writing a foreword that sounds like you, read our post about a Christmas gift for a grandchild.

Something to do on Christmas Day

Free Christmas colouring pages are easy to print at home and can keep little hands busy for a while between the meal and dessert. You’ll find more ideas for the season on our Christmas page.

Would you like to see a finished book before you decide? Browse our example books.