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A birthday bookall about them

A personalized birthday book for adults and children: the star, their people and the years so far, drawn from your photos.

From $49 delivery includedOpens soon

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Ordering opens soon. Make it now and see your characters, the cover and two pages free: no card needed, just an email to save it.

  • For a first birthday or an eightieth
  • Printed in the USA, delivery included
A woman laughing at her birthday dinner as she opens a picture book about herself, her friends around her

Ordering opens soon

Make the book now and see it free. Leave your email and we write once, on the day ordering opens for The Birthday Book.

How it works

  1. Tell us about the star

    Their name, one to three photos and the things they love. Add up to four of their people and two pets.

  2. See it free

    We draw them, the cover and two pages while you wait. Not quite them? Say what to change.

  3. Order, check, celebrate

    Pay when you love it. We draw the rest and email you the finished book: change any page, or say yes.

You pay nothing until you have seen them. See your characters, the cover and two pages free before you pay. Then you check every page: if we haven’t heard from you within 12 hours of our email, we print it as shown so it arrives on time.

Maya Turns 40

Their name on the cover

Type a name and an age and see the cover. Inside, it is all about them.

What’s inside the 32 pages

  1. The coverTheir name and the age they are turning, in the title.
  2. A title pageThe title of your book, on a page of its own.
  3. Your dedicationYour own words, printed on their own page.
  4. Meet the crewA portrait of everyone in the book, pets included, with their names.
  5. The story13 scenes, each a page of text facing a full-page picture: the birthday morning, the things they love, a place that matters, a story only your crew would know, their people, a surprise, the party, the cake and the wish.
  6. A closing letterA birthday letter to the star, to end the book.
  7. A keepsake pageA printed frame to stick in a photograph of your own.
  8. The last pageWho the book was made for, by whom and when.

Hardback, 32 pages on thick silk paper, with a printed, matte-laminated cover in the color of the occasion. You check every page before we print.

Three pages from a birthday book

Every book is built from what they love and who they love. These sample pages are drawn in the Modern style.

Flat modern illustration of a woman swimming in the sea at sunrise while friends cheer from the beach

Every Saturday at seven, whatever the weather, Maya swims. Her friends hold the towels.

The things they love, drawn as they are.
Flat modern illustration of friends raising glasses at a birthday garden party under string lights

Forty years, and the best people she knows, all at one table.

Their people, gathered in one place.
Flat modern illustration of a dog with its face in a birthday cake while the family laughs

Nobody has forgotten the year Biscuit ate the cake. Nobody ever will.

The story only your crew would tell.
Hands opening a birthday picture book on a table scattered with confetti and a slice of cake

Better than a card

A card is read once. A book about them, with their friends, their dog and the story only you would tell, gets read out at the party and kept.

Opening the birthday book among the confetti and the cake.

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For partners, friends and parents

Partners make it for a milestone, the 30th, the 40th, the 50th. Best friends club together for it. Parents make it for an 18th or a 21st, and for a first birthday with the whole family in the pictures.

It works for any age because you choose who reads it: short rhyming lines for little ones, warm and witty prose for grown-ups.

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A man in an armchair smiling as he reads his birthday book while his wife watches from the doorway
The quiet read after the party.
A baby at her first birthday in a high chair while her family laughs over her picture book

Any age, any birthday

A first birthday is the start of a story: the family, the first steps, the dog who guards the crib. An eightieth is a whole life to celebrate: the places, the people, the moments that get retold.

Tell us the age and a few things that matter, and the book is written for that birthday.

A first birthday, with the whole family in the pictures.

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Twelve ways to draw it

Our picks for birthdays: Modern, Caricature, Paper cut-out and Storybook. For a child, try the softer styles; every style works for every book.

See every style side by side

Sizes and prices

Hardback, 32 pages, delivery to your door included.

Classic square
20 × 20 cm · 8 × 8 in · easy for little hands
$49
Wide landscape
28 × 21 cm · 11 × 8.3 in · big scenes across both pages
$55
Large square
28 × 28 cm · 11 × 11 in · the coffee-table keepsake
$62
Every extra copy
any size, from the mini book at $17; sent to another address for $5 more
from $17

Why $49? A hardback drawn from your own photos, with up to five people and two pets, written for them and mailed to your door. One payment, no subscription. A softcover mini book on its own is $39.

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Square hardback picture books with printed covers in seven colours
Every occasion has its own color.

Ordering opens soon

You can make the book today and see your characters, the cover and two pages free. Ordering for The Birthday Book isn’t open yet: leave your email and we’ll write the day it opens.

  • See it before you pay. Your characters, the cover and two pages are free, and we redraw what isn’t right (three redraws per person before you order).
  • You check every page. We email you the finished book: change any page, or say yes. If we haven’t heard from you within 12 hours, we print it as shown so it arrives on time.
  • Cancel before we print. Not happy with the finished pages? Cancel before we print and get a full refund.
  • Free reprint. If it arrives damaged or with a mistake we made, we print it again, free.
  • Printed close to home. In the USA, with no customs fees, mailed with tracked delivery.

Questions, answered

When can I order?

Ordering for The Birthday Book opens soon. You can make the book now and see your characters, the cover and two pages free; leave your email and we will write the day it opens.

Is it for adults or children?

Both. You choose who will read it: little ones get short rhyming lines, grown-ups get warm, witty prose.

Can it be for a milestone birthday?

Yes: an 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th or 80th. Tell us the age and it goes on the cover and into the story.

Who can be in it?

The birthday star and up to four of their people, plus up to two pets.

Do I need photos?

No. One to three photos of each person give the best likeness, or build them in the character maker.

What if they don’t look right?

You see them, the cover and two pages free before you order. Tell us what to change and we redraw it. You check every page before we print, with 12 hours to ask for changes.

Can I send it straight to them?

Yes, to any address in the USA. Extra copies cost from $26.

What happens to the photos?

They are used only to draw your book and never to train AI. We delete them 30 days after your book is delivered, and drafts that are never ordered after 60 days.

What if it arrives damaged?

Send us a photo and we reprint it free.

Where do you deliver?

To addresses in the United Kingdom and the United States, printed in the country it goes to. We can’t deliver anywhere else yet.

Can I cancel?

Yes, until we print. If you are not happy with the finished pages, cancel before we print and we refund you in full. Once it is printed, a book made for your family can’t be returned, but anything damaged or wrong on our side is reprinted free.

More in the full questions page, or write to [email protected].

A book for every occasion

Make their birthday a book

Make it now and see them, the cover and two pages free.

See it free

Ordering opens soon. From $49, delivery included.

Email me when it opens