16th birthday gift

A 16th birthday gift from family and friends, in their own words

Sixteen, in their people’s words

At sixteen there’s a lot going on: exams, first jobs, friends who matter more than anything. A book of memories is a steady thing to hold on to: what a grandparent remembers of them at six, what a best friend would never say out loud, what a parent has been meaning to write down. Each piece carries the name of the person who wrote it.

Their friends can add to it from their phones, with one link and no account.

What to ask people for

• The first thing you remember about them
• A time they made you proud
• The funniest thing they’ve ever done
• What you’d tell them about the next few years

Sixteen years, in chapters

The book starts with chapters made for a sixteenth: The little years, School years, Friends, Family, Sport and hobbies, Holidays, and Now. Rename any of them, take out what doesn’t fit, and add the ones only your family would think of: the exams, the first job, the school trips.

How it works

You set the book up in a few minutes and share one link with your family. People write a memory, record one if they’d rather talk, and add photographs. Nobody needs an account. If a grandparent won’t go near a link, you can add their memory for them.

The book lays itself out as a first draft, chapter by chapter, with each person’s name beside their words. You move things, take things out and choose the cover, and nothing is printed until you approve it. The board is private unless you open it, so it can stay a surprise. More on how it works

Help with the speech

If you’re the one standing up to say a few words, we can help you get started. Using only the contributions in the book, we’ll pull together the stories, memories and lines worth including into a first draft. You’ll see whose words each part came from, and you can change as much or as little as you like.