5 Custom Gift Book Ideas for Readers
It’s never been easier to create unique or personalized gifts online. But this is Lulu and we’re all about books, so I’ve got some unique gift ideas you can make on Lulu that book lovers (& writers) in your life will cherish.
Lulu’s print-on-demand makes it easy to order 1, 10, or 100 copies of your gift books. So you’ll save money ordering exactly as many gifts as you need. We can ship to locations all around the world. With a variety of book templates, we make it easier than ever to create your gift book for readers on your holiday shopping list.
Create a Book for a Gift
Books make amazing gifts. Everyone needs books—from the most avid reader to the copious note-taker. With modern printers, bookstore-quality books can easily be printed from PDF files.
Here’s a 40-second video that shows how to create your own book using Lulu:
When you make your own book, you’ll need to gather all the content together to create the PDF. That means creating the pages, editing images, and laying them all out. Check out some of our guides and templates to help you create your book files.
5 Ways to Give a Book
These five book ideas all make great personalized gifts.
#1: Make a Personalized Calendar
Custom calendars make amazing gifts. Trust me. I give them all the time. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another generic wall calendar at Target; not when I can turn 14 images into a fun calendar so easily.
Watch this 3-minute to see how easy it is to make a custom calendar:
All you need are the images! Maybe you took a vacation this year; let your friends and family relive those memories. Kids and pets make great subjects for calendars too! Or you might show off some of your original art.
Our calendars can include a range of months—from 2 to 18. And you’ll have the option to add custom holidays.
#2: Readers and Writers Love Notebooks and Journals
Do you know someone who writes? You do, I promise. Maybe not novels or textbooks, but we all write. Maybe it’s a grocery list or some weekend to-dos.
And since we all write, journals and notebooks are a perfect gift for the writers in your life. And they’re incredibly easy to build! Just grab an interior template from this page, update it if you want any additional content (maybe a personal note to the recipient?), and create a cover.
If you need a simple, inexpensive way to make your cover, I suggest Canva or Adobe Express.
#3: Write a Memoir or Biography
For your friends and family, a memoir is an intimate gift of sharing your journey. Or maybe you become a biographer and create a memoir for a family member.
Memoirs are the most time-consuming gift on this list. So you have to be working on it early. There aren’t any simple templates like we have for calendars and journals. For your memoir, you’ll need to design the entire file.
Follow our guides carefully to be sure your memoir will print beautifully. Gather family stories, detail an adventure you’ve had, or trace the history of your ancestors: memoirs are the perfect book to create lasting family memories.
Create Your Book
Use Lulu's free templates to easily create and publish your book today.
#4: Turn iPhone Pics Into Photo Books
With cameras in all of our pockets, we’ve never had more material for creating photo books! Take pics from your adventures or gather some old photos to make a family history.
With high-quality paper and ink, as well as hardcover binding, a printed photo book is the perfect unique gift to show off your pictures and bring joy to friends and family.
Photo books are one of my favorite kinds of books to give, but they can be tough to create. Luckily, there are lots of great ways to design a photo book without spending a penny. So while Instagram is great for sharing photos today, a photo book is the perfect gift to capture those pictures for a lifetime.
#5: All the Right Ingredients for a Cookbook
Finally, we have cookbooks. If you like to cook or you’ve got a family member who loves to cook, giving a recipe book is a wonderful gift. Want to gather your mom’s apple pie recipe and your uncle’s hand-pulled noodles and whatever else your family loves to cook? Create a unique recipe book!
Creating a cookbook means designing the pages just like a memoir or photo book. You’ll want to check out our Book Creation Guide for specs, but our templates (for InDesign or Affinity Publisher) help make it easy to lay out those pages.
You can also find templates for Microsoft Word on their site, but I find Word to be a poor choice for cookbooks—it’s difficult to keep spacing and page layout consistent.
Regardless of how you choose to design your cookbook, you know your family will cherish those recipes for years to come. The perfect (and most delicious) gift you can give; though you might want to consider making one of the recipes to go along with the book!
Making This a Memorable Holiday
Showcase your creative side to your friends and family when you create something for them this year. It’s never been easier to make unique gifts and even though the shopping season is fast approaching, you still have time! Get started today and make this holiday season one to remember.
