A Christmas gift for your grandchild: a book starring them and you

You want to give something that lasts beyond Christmas, not another plastic toy. A book with your grandchild as the hero and you alongside them is a gift they can bring out again next December. Here’s how to plan ahead, choose a story, write a foreword and get the book to the family.

Start in November

The trickiest part of a printed Christmas gift is timing. The book itself is written and illustrated within minutes of payment, but the hardback still needs to be printed and delivered. Printing takes 3–10 working days and delivery usually takes one to two weeks in total. Postal services are especially busy in December.

Make your book in November if you can, and order the hardback by 2 December to give it time to arrive before Christmas. Read it through carefully, ideally twice with a night’s sleep in between. A misspelt name or a missing cousin is easy to put right before printing, but not once the parcel has left the printer.

If you do run late, there’s always the eBook. You can email it with a message on Christmas Eve, and the printed book can follow after Christmas. You won’t pay twice: what you paid for the eBook is deducted when you order the hardback.

What should the story be about?

Start with your grandchild. What do they love right now? What have they learnt this year? Ask their parents: the favourite from a few months ago might already be old news, and it can be hard to keep up with which characters are popular this month.

You could choose a Christmas theme, with Father Christmas and a night when anything can happen. Or pick something completely different. A book about a day at the beach can make a lovely Christmas present too.

Think about what you share: things you do together, a place you both love, or a joke only the two of you understand. Write it down when you make the book, and it can become part of the story. You’ll find more suggestions among the story ideas.

Put yourself in the story

Upload a photo of yourself and you can become a character in the story. Perhaps Grandma finds a secret path through the woods, or Grandad fixes a rocket with a screwdriver and a piece of string. For a child who doesn’t see their grandparents often, the book can be a way to keep them close between visits.

Choose a photo that shows only you. Stand by a window, look straight at the camera and take off your cap. If you always wear glasses, keep them on. Your grandchild’s parents are the best people to ask for a recent photo; check with them first that you can use it in the book. It’s also a good chance to find out what your grandchild is interested in without giving away the surprise. There’s more advice in our guide to choosing a photo.

Write a foreword

The foreword comes at the beginning of the book, and it’s the one part written entirely by you. It might get a quick read on Christmas Day, between presents. But it could be read again in ten or thirty years, when nobody remembers what was in the other parcels.

Write it as a letter to your grandchild. They may not be able to read it this year, but one day they will. A few sentences are enough: what you love about them, something you’ve done together, or what you wish for them in the year ahead. Write as you speak, rather than like a shop-bought card: ‘Dear Ella, this year you learnt to ride your bike, and I’ve never seen anyone look so proud.’

The little details are what last. ‘You are so wonderful’ is easy to forget. ‘You ate seven gingerbread biscuits and said it was because they were small’ is harder to forget.

You can write the foreword once the book is ready, on the book’s page or when you order the hardback, so it doesn’t have to be perfect first time. The ‘Write a suggestion’ button gives you a draft to start from, and ‘Improve the text’ polishes what you’ve already written. Sign it with the name your grandchild uses for you: Grandma, Grandad, Nonna or simply your first name.

Send the book to the family

You can send the hardback straight to your grandchild’s address by entering it at checkout. There’s no receipt in the parcel, so their parents can put it under the tree as it is. If you’d like to include a message, you can add a card with a picture from the book and your own words.

If you’re spending Christmas together, you could have the book sent to your own home instead. That way, you can put it into your grandchild’s hands and see their face when they recognise themselves on the cover.

You can email the eBook directly from the book’s page. The family will receive your message and a link where they can read and download it. If you live far apart, you can read it together on a video call, even if the first thing your grandchild shows you is probably the ceiling.

If your grandchild speaks another language at home, the book can be translated into any of 39 languages at no extra cost. Two copies, one in English and one in their dad’s language, show that both languages belong to them.

If you have several grandchildren

If you have several grandchildren, it’s tempting to put them all in one book. You can, as long as there are no more than five characters, and the result will be a story about your family. Cousins who live far apart could help each other find Father Christmas’s lost sack, and each child can have their own printed copy.

If their ages are very different, a separate book for each child might work better: short sentences for a three-year-old and a proper adventure for a ten-year-old. Our post about siblings and cousins has more ideas for giving everyone a part.

Add something extra

The audiobook lets your grandchild hear the story read aloud on evenings when you can’t be there. An adult can start it by scanning the QR code printed in the book with their phone.

You can also order a calendar with a picture from the story for each month, a colouring book with line drawings of the illustrations, a canvas print of a favourite picture, or a card featuring the book’s characters. You’ll find everything on the pricing page.

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