Their people, their first ChristmasWhat goes in a book for a baby who can’t read yet?
The family, telling the baby how much they were waited for. A first-Christmas book for a baby is written to them: how loved they already are, the waiting for them, and their first Christmas at your place, because we ask what Christmas looks like there and who was around the table. Every spread is one painted scene, drawn from the photos you add, so the book keeps how they looked that December. A person checks every page before it prints.
Then it comes out every December. At three, they point at the baby on the page and know it is them. And reading to a baby is not wasted: the Raising Children Network says reading can start from birth, and suggests linking the pictures to the baby’s own life. This is a hardcover you read to them, not a board book they handle alone.
The other first-Christmas books work differently: a name-swap book (Dinkleboo $33.99, My Story Tale, Storybug $24.99) prints your baby’s name in one fixed story, and a board book (DK’s Baby’s First Christmas, $14.99 at QBD) is the one for chewing. Ours is the one about your family.
Who can be in the book?
Everyone who was there for the first Christmas. Up to 6 people go in the pictures, each drawn from their own photo; 3 people are included and each extra person is $15. The dog counts as one of them. The family in the book is whoever you tell us it is, and no one is drawn without a photo, so no one is guessed at: anyone without a photo stays in the words, named but not drawn. One newborn book we made held all six children of the family.
Buying as a grandparent, aunt or friend? Ask the parents for one clear, recent photo of each person, or just describe the parents and they stay in the words. If there is a new big sister or brother, the book can be for them both.
I See Me’s Our Family’s First Christmas with Baby prints the family’s names and a favourite photo or two. It names your family; it doesn’t draw them. A Paperlake book draws each person from their own photo into the scene.
Who can be in it
Up to 6, the baby and the dog included, each from their own photo
No photo?
They stay in the words, named but not drawn
The price
3 people included, $15 per extra person
The Keepsake ($119) adds a six-photo album and an online copy to share. You can also add a second printed copy: one buyer ordered one because the child’s mother wanted a copy put away while the other was read every day.
What to give a baby for their first Christmas
The usual picks:
- A first-Christmas bauble or ornament, dated, for the tree every year
- The “my first Christmas” outfit, worn once, kept forever
- A photo with Santa
- Something for the parents, who are running on no sleep
- A book about their first Christmas, the one on this page
The book is read that December and every December after. For presents outside Christmas, see personalised baby gifts.
What to write in a baby's first Christmas book
Your dedication is printed word for word, so write it to the baby. Shapes that work, as examples to make your own:
- From the aunts or cousins: “Your first Christmas, and you are already so loved by all of us. We can’t wait to watch you grow.”
- To the baby and the new big sister: “For Rosie, the piece we were always missing. And for Audrey, who waited so long to be a big sister.”
- From far away: “We can’t be there this Christmas, but we think of you every day, and you are always close in our hearts.”
- From the parents, short: “Leo’s first Christmas. We love you. Mum and Dad.”
How it works
Tell us about them
Their name, their age, one thing you love.
Read it before you pay
The whole story and the cover. Change any line.
We make the book
A person checks every page. Hardcover, to your door.
