Gift books
A photo book for grandparents, made from your phone
The best gift for grandparents is usually the photos of the grandchildren they never see. Upload your camera roll to Photouria and choose a grandchild. It picks the best photos of them, leaves out near duplicates and blurred shots, and lays out a linen hardcover you can change. From NZ$149 with shipping included, sent straight to their door. Delivery usually takes 4 to 13 business days.
Building the book is free and needs no account, so you can see it finished before you decide to order.
The photos grandparents most want are usually the ones they never see. They are on your phone, in a camera roll thousands of photos long, and the handful that reach them arrive as messages that scroll away. A book puts a year or a childhood in one place, in a form that sits on a table and gets picked up.
How do you make a photo book for grandparents?
Four steps. Only the first asks anything of you.
1. Upload the photos you have
Upload from your phone or your computer. You do not need to choose the good ones first or put anything in order. If your partner or a sibling has photos too, ask them to send you theirs and upload those as well.
2. Choose who the book is about
Photouria automatically organises your photos and groups the people in them. Pick one grandchild, or one of the grandparents, and the book is built around that person from the whole library.
3. Read the book and change what you like
The book arrives laid out, in the order the photos were taken. Swap a photo, remove a page, add a caption or a few lines of your own, and put a title on the spine.
4. Send it to them
You pay only when you order. The delivery address is whatever you enter at checkout, so the book can go straight to their door, in your country or another one we ship to.
What should go in a book for grandparents?
The books that get kept on the coffee table tend to be one of these four.
- The year. The grandchildren from one January to the next. Easy to repeat every year, and the set of spines on the shelf becomes the gift.
- One grandchild. Everything from the first photo to now. There is a fuller guide to making a photo book of one person.
- The photos they are in. Choose Grandma or Grandad as the person the book is about, and it becomes a book of them with the family around them. There is a guide to a photo book gift for Mum too.
- A visit or a holiday together. The week everyone was in one place.
Whichever it is, fewer and better beats everything. A grandparent reads a photo book slowly, and forty photos they linger over is a better present than two hundred.
How many photos does it take, and what does it cost?
Photouria asks for a range rather than an exact number: 24 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 60, 61 to 80, or 81 to 100 photos, or a custom number up to 180. A book needs at least 24.
The count sets the price. NZ$149 covers up to 30 photos, then NZ$10 for every 10 more, capped at NZ$219 from 91 photos up. Prices are in New Zealand dollars wherever the book is going, and shipping is included.
How does it compare with other photo gifts?
Three common presents made from family photos, and when each one is the right call.
| A Photouria book | A design it yourself photo book | A digital photo frame | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your effort | Upload a library and choose the people. The layout is done for you | You choose every photo and place it on every page | You set it up once, then keep sending photos to it |
| What they receive | A linen hardcover with a foil stamped title on the spine and a printed dust jacket | Depends on the supplier | A screen that needs power and usually wifi |
| Best when | The photos are buried in a big camera roll and the date is a few weeks away | You already know exactly which photos you want and enjoy designing pages | They are comfortable with a device and want new photos every week |
| Price | From NZ$149, shipping included | Varies | Varies |
When should you order for a birthday or a holiday?
Delivery usually takes 4 to 13 business days from the day you order, because every book is printed to order and then shipped. Allow three weeks before the date, and a few days more in December, when carriers everywhere are at their busiest. We cannot promise an arrival date.
Grandparents’ Day falls on different dates in different countries, so check the one that applies to them. Because building is free, you can make the book weeks early and order it when you are ready.
What is the printed book like?
Every Photouria book is the same object: a Lulu linen hardcover, woven linen over hardcover boards, your title foil stamped on the spine, and a printed dust jacket over the top. There are six sizes, from 14 × 22 cm up to A4 at 21 × 30 cm, and six linen colours. Inside, photos print on 80lb coated paper with a matte finish, and a book can run from 24 pages up to 800.
Questions people ask
Can the book be sent straight to the grandparents?
Yes. You enter the delivery address at checkout, and it does not have to be yours. We ship to New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and most of Europe.
How much does a photo book for grandparents cost?
NZ$149 covers up to 30 photos, then NZ$10 for every 10 more, capped at NZ$219 from 91 photos up. Prices are in New Zealand dollars wherever the book is going, and shipping is included. Building the book is free, so you pay only if you order it.
How long does it take to arrive?
Usually 4 to 13 business days from the day you order. Every book is printed to order, then shipped.
What if the photos are on more than one phone?
Upload them all into the same library. Photos from different phones and different years are sorted together after they arrive, so nobody has to organise anything first.
Can I add names, dates or a message?
Yes. You can add captions and your own text inside, and the title on the spine is foil stamped, so a name and a year read clearly on a shelf.
What do you get grandparents who have everything?
The photos they do not have. A book of a grandchild from the past year, chosen from your camera roll, is a gift nobody else can give. See a gift for someone who has everything.
Do I need an account to start?
No. You can build and preview the whole book without an account, and nothing is charged until you order.