A DIY Christmas coloring book needs four decisions: where the pages come from, how many you want, what goes on the cover and when you print. The last one catches people out, because a book made too early can expire before you print it, and one made too late can miss the mail.
This guide uses our Custom Coloring Book tool for the examples. On November 3, 2026, we read the tool's code and worked out the costs and dates below. We have not printed a test copy, so the printing advice is planning, and we don't report results from a real book. Use your own photos, or images you have the rights to.
Each route gives you a different kind of book, and the cheapest one costs nothing.
| Route | What you end up with | Cost | Best for |
|---|
| Free gallery pages | Printable pages from themes such as Christmas, Santa, snowmen, Christmas trees and ornaments | Free, no account | A quick book for kids, or a large group |
| Story book | 6, 8 or 12 drawn pages about a hero you describe, in one PDF with a cover | 12, 16 or 24 credits | A gift with a plot, starring a child or a pet |
| Photo book | Up to 20 pages made from your photos, in one PDF with a cover | 40 credits a book | A family's year, a new baby's first Christmas |
The gallery route has no cover or single PDF, so you print the pages separately and add your own cover sheet. Both book routes put the cover, the pages and an "About the artist" page in one print-ready PDF.
A new account starts with 2 credits. That covers one page from the AI Coloring Page Generator, which costs 2 credits, but it won't start a book. The smallest book is a 6-page story at 12 credits.
Without an account, the AI generator and Photo to Coloring Page give you 1 free page a day, as long as the site's daily free pages have not run out. Between November 10 and December 17 that adds up to 38 days, which is more than enough for a 12-page book if you start now.
Those pages are not saved anywhere, so download each one on the day you make it. The Name Coloring Page Generator and Mandala Generator are free every day with no sign-up. A page with a child's name makes a fine homemade cover, and a mandala is an easy way to add a page for adults.
Plan a 12-page book before you make anything
A loose page list saves you from twelve pages of Santa. Here is one plan for a 12-page book, built so each page has a different main shape to color:
- Writing a letter to Santa at the kitchen table
- A decorated tree with room for a star
- Baking cookies, with a big tray in front
- A snowman wearing someone's real hat
- Sledding down a hill
- Wrapping a gift that is clearly the wrong shape
- A pet tangled in tinsel
- A street of houses with lights
- Hanging stockings on a fireplace
- A reindeer with a red scarf, looking lost
- A sleigh over the rooftops
- Opening gifts on the living room floor
For a child under five, cut this to 6 pages and ask for Easy detail or Simple style. A long book for a small child tends to stay half finished. For a teenager or an adult, try Detailed pages and add a few mandalas.
Make a Christmas story book
Open the tool and choose Story book. You give it a hero's name of up to 24 characters, a description of how the hero looks and an idea of up to 200 characters. Then pick the length, the layout and the book's language. It writes an outline, then draws about 20 seconds per page, so keep the page open while it works.
Here is the kind of idea to type: "Mia the small fox has to deliver a lost mitten to every house in her snowy village on Christmas Eve." A clear job for the hero gives each page its own scene.
You also choose one of two layouts. Pictures only gives a portrait page with one line under it. Wide picture and story gives a landscape sheet with big text under the picture, while the cover stays upright. If you bind that version, turn the story pages so their top edges meet the spine side you picked, and check one pair before you staple the rest.
The site only draws original designs, and a word list runs before any drawing. We read that list, and it holds a few surprises for winter books. "Frozen" is on it, so "a frozen pond" gets refused. So are "stitch", "elsa", "lego" and "pooh".
Write "an icy pond" and "a knitted stocking" instead. For a well-known character, describe your own: "a reindeer with a red scarf" works where a character's name may not. In the AI generator, a refused prompt uses no credits. A story book charges its credits when the book starts and checks your idea after that, so read the idea over first.
Mix in your own pages, within limits
A book can hold up to 30 pages in total. Up to 20 of those come from photos in a photo book, and the rest can be free extras from the Add free pages button. That button lists your 40 newest creations and the 40 newest gallery pages.
It has no search, so a certain Christmas page in the gallery may not be there. If you want a specific one, download it from the gallery, print it and add it by hand when you bind the book. Pages you made in other tools are easier, since your recent ones appear in the list at no extra cost.
Books and pages are kept for 30 days and then treated as gone. A book you start on November 10 disappears around December 10. If you plan to print after that date, download the PDF as soon as it is ready and store it on your own computer or phone.
The rebuild is free while the book exists. Change the title, the name on the cover or the order of the pages, and you can build a fresh PDF as often as you like. The first page doubles as the cover image, so move your best drawing to the front before you build.
A book PDF has one sheet for the cover, one for each page and one for "About the artist". A 12-page story book is 14 sheets. A full 30-page book is 32 sheets, so check your paper and ink before the week of Christmas. For paper weight and binding, see how to make a coloring book, and for printer settings, see how to print coloring pages.
Mailing the book to someone? USPS recommends these send-by dates for delivery before December 25, 2026, inside the lower 48 states. USPS notes that actual delivery can vary.
| Service | Send by |
|---|
| Ground Advantage | Thursday, December 17 |
| First-Class Mail | Thursday, December 17 |
| Priority Mail | Friday, December 18 |
| Priority Mail Express | Saturday, December 19 |
We would plan backward from those dates and leave a few days for a print shop, if you use one. We don't ship physical books. You get a PDF to print at home or take to a shop.
Write the name on the cover yourself with a marker if you want it to feel handmade. Tie the book to a small box of crayons or colored pencils.
If you want more for the holiday break, Christmas crafts for kids and Christmas activities for kids pair well with a book like this.
Yes. Print free gallery pages, add name or mandala pages from the free generators, and bind them yourself. You only pay for paper and ink. A single PDF with a cover needs credits: 12 at the lowest.
How many pages should a homemade coloring book have?
Six suits a small child, and 12 is a good gift size. Our story books come in 6, 8 or 12 pages, and a photo book can reach 30 pages with free extras.
Yes, with a photo book. Up to 20 photos become pages in one style. Use photos you took or have permission to use. Your originals are not stored after processing.
The PDF itself can be ready the same day, since a page takes about 20 to 30 seconds to draw. The real limit is printing and mailing, so check the dates above.
No. You get a printable PDF and handle printing yourself, at home or at a print shop.
Last checked November 3, 2026.
