A personalized coloring book works best as a gift when the pages could only belong to one person. Some books sold under that name print a child's name on standard art. One deal listed on Hip2Save in 2023 had 52 pages, 26 of them personalized, with the name on every other page and eight themes to choose from.
The ideas below go further, because the pictures themselves come from that person's life. Each one says which kind of book to build and what to put in it. We use our Custom Coloring Book tool for the builds, and the limits and prices come from its code, which we read on November 3, 2026.
One thing to know before you plan a gift: we do not print or ship books. You download a print-ready PDF and print it at home or at a print shop.
Photo book or story book?
The two kinds of book suit different gifts.
| Photo book | Story book |
|---|
| Made from | Your own photos | A description you write |
| Length | Up to 20 photo pages | 6, 8 or 12 pages |
| Price | 40 credits a book | 2 credits a page (12, 16 or 24) |
| Text | Title and cover name | A short story, in one of 7 languages |
| Best when | The real faces and places matter | The child should be the hero of an adventure |
Both books include a cover and an "About the artist" page at the end. A photo book also lets you make up to 10 redos, so you can replace a page that came out badly.
The flat price changes the math for small gifts. Converting photos one at a time costs 3 credits each on Photo to Coloring Page. So 13 photos cost 39 credits singly, and from 14 photos up (42 credits) the 40-credit book is cheaper. For a handful of photos, make single pages and put them together with our guide on how to make a coloring book.
You can pad out a photo book for free. Pages from the free gallery and from My Pages can be added at no extra cost, up to 30 pages in the whole book.
1. A birthday story starring the child
Build a story book with 8 pages. Give the hero's name and a look you can describe in a line, such as "a girl with curly hair and a yellow raincoat." Then write a plot that uses what the child loves this year. Put their age in the cover title so the book dates itself.
Build a photo book with one close-up of each grandchild, then a few of them together. Choose the Detailed style if the grandparents will color it themselves, and Simple if the kids will color it with them. It also makes a good visit activity, along with others in our list of activities for seniors.
Build a photo book and sort the pages by day, starting at the airport or the car. Pick photos with one clear subject, such as the tent, the dog on the beach or a kid with an ice cream. Wide views of a crowded street tend to come out cluttered.
Build a photo book of one animal. Use close-ups with good light, since dark fur in dim rooms turns into a muddy shape. It works for a new puppy and also as a keepsake for a pet that has died, so think about who will receive it before you choose the cover line.
Build a photo book in the Detailed style, using photos from each year together. Add a page or two from the couple coloring pages if you are short on pictures. Use the optional cover name field for a line like "For Sam and Priya."
6. A new sibling story
Build a 6-page story book where the older child is the hero and helps get the house ready. Six pages suits a short attention span, and you can read it aloud as they color. This works well in the weeks before the baby arrives.
7. A moving day or first day of school story
Build a story book that walks through what will happen, from the moving truck to the new bedroom, or from the backpack to the classroom. Seeing the day in order gives you something to talk through together. Choose Wide picture with text for this one, since the words matter more here.
8. A story in the family's other language
Build a story book and set the language to Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French or English. The story and the "About the artist" page come out in the language you pick. Each book uses one language, so a bilingual family would need two books.
Build a photo book from field trip pictures, and get parents' permission before you use any child's photo. Print one copy per child. To add each child's name to their own copy, the free name coloring page generator can make a page per name from a pasted class list.
Build a photo book of the couple, the ring bearer, the venue and the pets. Keep it short, since you are paying per printed copy. Ten good pages cost far less to copy than 30, and a print shop can run the copies.
Mix photos of the parents with pages from the baby coloring pages. Guests can color a page and leave it as a note for the baby. Print single sheets instead of a bound book if you want to collect them afterward.
Build a photo book from last year's holiday pictures, then add free pages from the Christmas coloring pages. You arrange the printing yourself, so ask your print shop early how long December binding orders take.
For a photo book, the order of work is the same each time.
- Collect more photos than you need, then cut to the best ones. Close-ups with one subject and good light make the cleanest pages.
- Use only photos you took or have the rights to. Skip professional portraits unless the photographer's license allows copies, and skip pictures of book or TV characters.
- Open the Custom Coloring Book tool and choose Simple for younger kids or Detailed for older kids and adults. Every page uses the same style.
- Reorder the pages, remove weak ones and redo any that came out wrong.
- Add the title, an optional name of up to 60 characters and a cover image.
- Download the PDF and save a copy on your computer. A book older than 30 days is removed from our servers.
For a story book, you fill in the hero's name, their look and the story you want, then choose the length, layout and language. The tool writes an outline first and draws each scene. The character's face, body, colors and clothes stay the same from page to page, but small details can still vary, so look through every page before you print.
At home, print one-sided on regular paper for crayons and colored pencils, or on heavier paper for markers. A print shop can add spiral or comb binding and a cardstock cover. Our printing guide covers the settings.
No. We only make the print-ready PDF. You print it at home or take the file to a print shop.
How many pages can a personalized coloring book have?
A photo book can have up to 20 photo pages and up to 30 pages in total with free extras. A story book has 6, 8 or 12 pages.
The book itself uses credits. Signed-out visitors can try the photo tool once a day for free, which shows you how one of your photos will look.
Use your own characters. A story hero you describe yourself is original to your book, and your own photos are yours to use.
Last checked November 3, 2026.
