Gifts & occasions
Conversations and writing take months rather than weeks, and most occasions do not wait that long, so what you give on the day usually depends on how much notice you have.
How much notice do you have?
Weeks away
Christmas, Father's Day, Mothering Sunday, or any date already circled. What you give on the day is the voucher, arranged with me rather than bought here, and the recipient decides afterwards whether that becomes the full Life Story, or the Memory Kit once it is available.
See the gift voucherMonths away
A 70th, 80th or 90th birthday, or a golden or diamond anniversary. With months of notice, the finished book itself can be ready for the day. A lower-cost Memory Kit version of the same gift is coming soon, for anyone the full book isn't right for yet.
See The Life StoryOther occasions
A retirement after forty years, a new grandchild, a christening, all of these work well too. The same two options apply: the voucher if the date is close, or The Life Story if you have the time to have it ready.
See pricingBuying this for yourself, not as a gift?
See the questions people askWork out the milestone
Put in the year they were born, and the year they married if it is an anniversary. You get the milestones coming up, and the years they will remember, which make good first questions.
Born in 1946, they turn 80 in 2026.
What they lived through
Each card is finished like the photographs of its decade. Ask where they were for any one of these, and the rest tends to follow. The hundred questions
By occasion
For the parent who says they do not want anything. What to give, and what happens after the wrapping comes off.
For the parent who has stopped needing things. Why an 80th has the timing that works, and what changes at 70 or 90.
Two people, one shared story, and the interesting part is where their versions differ.
For the mother nobody has ever asked about herself. What to give instead of flowers, and what to do if she is no longer here.
For the man who says he does not want anything and will not talk about himself. How to offer it so he says yes.
The gift is unusual, so the card does more work than usual. What lands, and what makes people refuse.
Questions and guides
Start a conversation
If none of this is quite what you had in mind, say so. This is one person's business rather than a shop, so the sensible thing is usually to tell her what you are trying to do and let her suggest how to do it. There is no obligation, no pressure, and no salesperson at the end of it.
Design concept, not the live site