A personalized Christmas book starring your child

A personalized Christmas book is a picture book written for one child, with that child as the hero. At Fiktola, your child is drawn from a photo you upload, and the whole story is written from scratch around them: their name and age, the people and pets they love, the things they're into, and the Christmas you're about to share. It isn't a fixed story with a name dropped in. Every page is written and illustrated for your child.

How a Christmas story is made

You start by picking a world your child loves: space, mermaids, dinosaurs, pirates, unicorns or princesses. Right under the worlds, switch on Make it a Christmas book.

Three short questions follow, all optional: where your family celebrates, one family Christmas tradition, and whether Santa should appear. That last one is your call. Skip it and Santa stays out of the story.

The book then starts at home in the days before Christmas, with your tree, your tradition and the people you added. From there your child slips into a real adventure in the world they picked, and comes back home for Christmas itself on the last pages. Christmas is the warm setting around the adventure, so the adventure stays as exciting as any other Fiktola book.

The same step asks for your child's hobbies and favourite food. Skip any of them if you like. The more you share, the more the book feels like it could only be about your child.

Next you choose one of three story ideas, and the full story is written. Before you pay, you read the whole story, approve how your child and the other characters look, and see a storyboard of every page. Only then do you decide.

Start your Christmas book and see the story first.

What to tell us about your Christmas

A few words work, but a sentence gives the story more to hold on to. Parents often mention:

• Where Christmas happens. At home, at Grandma and Grandpa's house, or somewhere new this year.
• A family tradition. Baking cookies, choosing the tree, putting the star on top, opening one present on Christmas Eve.
• Who is there. Add brothers, sisters, grandparents or the family pet as characters with a photo, and they're in the story too.

Keep it to things you'd be happy to see in a book. The story picks up what you write; it doesn't need every detail.

A Christmas book for siblings and the whole family

Christmas is a family time, so the book can be too. One book holds your child as the hero plus up to three more people or pets, each drawn from their own photo. Brothers and sisters, a grandparent or the family dog can all be on the pages.

Want a book for each child instead? Two books in one order cost $69.99, and each further book is $30.00, up to five books. Each child gets their own story and their own hardcover. The books in one order are shipped together, once every book in the order is made.

Ordering as a grandparent? A recent, clear photo of each child is all you need for the drawings.

What you get, and what it costs

One book costs $39.99. That includes:

See the pricing page for every option, and our help page for questions about printing and shipping.

When to order for Christmas

For delivery by Christmas in the US, order by December 6. Making the book takes a little time on your side too: you read the story and check the characters before you pay, so give yourself a quiet evening for it rather than the last minute.

Ordering several books in one order? They ship together once every book in the order is made, so make all of them before December 6.

Why a book with their name in it gets read again

Children love to see themselves as the hero. A book where they fly a rocket, swim with mermaids or follow giant dinosaur footprints, with their own face on every page, is one they ask for again and again. Because it is written around your family's Christmas, it also keeps a little of this year. Next December, it comes out with the decorations.