Personalized Gift Ideas for Moms and Dads ~ and Grandparents, too!

This is a great time of year to start thinking about gifts for moms and dads (and grandparents, too), so if you’re considering how to give something meaningful and memorable that will be cherished for years, you’ve come to the right place! Personalized DIY Books are just the thing. Truly.

And please keep reading if you’ve lost a loved one. I have just the thing–from my own experience.

Yes, a tie is lovely and flowers are beautiful, but something lasting that’s from the heart will be unforgettable!

All you need is a beautiful book template from a professional publisher and some journaling prompts and photos to make the book yours. So, here we go!

Start Here with Simple Tools

The easy, beautiful templates I’ll show you here have 21 pages (but you can add more if you like), so here are 21 journaling prompts to include in your book. Use one per page, or one on every other page so you can include more photos, or write your own ideas.

• Something you learned from your parent or grandparent
• A fond memory of something you did together during your childhood
• Your earliest memory with your parent or grandparent
• Something you’re glad you have in common
• A funny memory of your parent or grandparent
• Something you’re grateful your parent or grandparent did with or for you
• Something you hope to emulate
• One way your parent or grandparent inspired you
• Something that always makes you think of your parent or grandparent
• Your favorite picture of your parent or grandparent, and why
• Your favorite quality of your parent or grandparent, and why
• Something you can recognize now as a challenge for them that you see they overcame
• Ways you can recognize your parent or grandparent’s love for you
• Something your parent or grandparent did that you took for granted but that you appreciate
• Your favorite birthday or holiday with your parent or grandparent
• Your favorite vacation with your parent or grandparent
• One way you see that your parent or grandparent made the world a better place
• Something you’re glad your parent (or grandparent) never let you do
• Something you’re glad your parent (or grandparent) let you do
• One way your parent or grandparent trusted you and how that has impacted you
• A story or example of your parent or grandparent’s faith, perseverance, loyalty, or strength
• Something your parent or grandparent said (or did) that sticks with you to this day

Yes, if you’re counting, there’s a bonus one! There are 22 ideas here, and you should feel free to adjust and adapt them to fit you.

This Family Floral book is a free template (click the link to start creating) where you can choose from lots of page designs, including a full-photo page and a full-text page, with floral and soft linen accents. Choose 8×8 or 12×12 with a soft cover or hard cover.

Or choose this Blue Denim book with stitching and metal details. Also a free template, you can create this book in minutes by choosing from a variety of page designs in 8×8, 10×10, or 12×12 sizes with a soft cover or hard cover.

The great thing about using one of these specific book templates is that the photos you upload to create them are kept private (which isn’t all that common, actually!) and you’ll get a digital backup of the book in your account which is downloadable. That means you can always reprint the book if something happens to it, and you can share it digitally with your phone, computer, or tablet. (Many companies will delete your projects after a certain amount of time.) These are just two of the many free templates available, but feel free to explore more here if you prefer.

If You’ve Lost a Loved One

This is actually NOT my own favorite time of year to be thinking about Mother’s Day gifts. This fall will mark 10 years since my mom graduated to heaven, and there are so many things I’d like to tell her. I know that she knows them, but I still wish I were the one to tell her.

If you’re like me and have lost a parent or grandparent you wish you could give something like this to, might I recommend a powerful alternative to this gift idea:

MAKE THE BOOK ANYWAY.

Make the book anyway. Gift it to yourself.

The act of writing, collecting photos, and recalling good memories by itself can be therapeutic. I wrote about my experiences here. I love having this book of my mom’s life story because it gives me something to go to and spend time with when I can’t call her on her birthday and Mother’s Day. It has–very honestly–been healing, as I detailed in that blog post.

A book is a gift that keeps on giving, but a heartfelt, personal book like this one gives so much more!

P.S. You’ll want to allow about 2 weeks (though I suggest a little more for cushion) to order and receive your book. The program you’ll use to make it is very intuitive, so that part won’t take too long, but give yourself a couple of weeks to make it since you’ll be thinking about what to write. Here’s a quick tutorial on making these books.