Storyworth review: best gift for parents, grandparents, loved ones

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Last year, we gifted my parents and my in-laws Storyworth, and it has been something they’ve talked about all year long.

It’s something we’ve all talked about all year long.

Storyworth is the BEST gift for parents, grandparents, and loved ones.

Storyworth is the easiest way to record family stories and print them in beautiful hardcover books.

Every week, Storyworth asks your loved one a question about their life. They simply reply with a story via email or the website, and at the end of a year, all of their stories are printed into a book.

How cool is that?

We are all about this kind of thoughtful, personal gift: photo books, handmade gifts, anything fun and memory-making.

Storyworth: best gift for parents, grandparents, loved ones

Why we gifted Storyworth

We knew our parents had stories to tell. And we knew that we had not heard all of them.

We also knew that our parents had time (now that they’re all retired!)) to tell them.

Our Storyworth gifts were given during the 2020 holiday season, a time of chaos and uncertainty. It was a time when most house projects were completed, most every jigsaw puzzle had been done and re-done, and pretty much everyone needed something to do.

However, even if we had not be in this midst of an unprecedented and isolating time, we would have gifted Storyworth to our parents.

It’s just that awesome of a gift.

Because we gave Storyworth to our loved ones last year, their books are not yet completed. However, we are counting down the days until their stories hit the presses!

Already, we’ve learned things about our parents that we never knew. And at a time when we’ve felt so disconnected from the people we love the most, reading these stories has been such a gift.

Right now, you can get Storyworth for $10 off through December 31. It’s honestly the best gift you can give.

What is Storyworth?

Storyworth helps people record family stories all year long and then preserve them in a beautiful book.

That’s it.

The standard Storyworth package includes a year’s worth of story prompts for one storyteller, unlimited recipients (people with whom the storyteller’s stories are shared), and one hardcover book with a black & white interior (and a full color cover).

Super simple concept, right? But it’s a really powerful gift.

How does Storyworth work?

Essentially, once you get started with Storyworth, it’s really easy to keep going.

Here’s what happens:

1. You purchase a Storyworth gift for someone (or for yourself).
2. The buyer is invited to customize a card that will be sent via email to the recipient.
3. The buyer is invited to add others to the account who can help choose the questions that are emailed to the recipient each week. (Though you do not need to do this–it can happen automatically with no customization).
4. The recipient is emailed a question each week, and that person may choose to write to that topic (or any other that he or she chooses!) that day or another time that they log into the Storyworth platform.
5. Once all of the questions are answered, the recipient has the opportunity to “submit” and have the work published. There is time to edit, revise, and refresh before publishing if that’s desired.
6. Ten days after the book is published, it’s shipped and on its way to whomever wants one!

They make it super easy for even the most non-tech-savvy person to handle the platform for Storyworth. All folks have to do is reply to an email.

Why Storyworth is the best gift for parents, grandparents, and loved ones

I wish, more than anything, that Storyworth was around while my grandparents and my husband’s grandparents were alive. 

They would have LOVED this, and our kids would have had family memories tucked safely between the covers of a hardcover book forever and ever.

However, it’s never too late to start a Storyworth subscription.

Consider these out-of-the-box ideas:

• use Storyworth to recount all sorts of family stories and traditions, told to and shared by one person;
• include famous family recipes with photos and reviews;
• chronicle family vacations or moves from home to home with Storyworth;
• share a close-up biography of each family member using Storyworth;
• have one person be the family ‘historian’ and ask each family member the same question. Then include all answers in one book;
• use Storyworth for church history, club member get-to-know-you, or scouts;
• have an entire family–aunts, uncles, cousins, all ages, everyone!–take one week out of the year to answer one of the system’s questions. One person gathers the answers and shares them with Storyworth, and then the next year every family member gets a book –and they learn about their whole family along the way!

If a family member or loved one is not able to type, don’t stress.

That person can orally share their answers and then a young and fast-typing family member can transcribe them. Really–there are ways to do this!

What we love

There’s a ton that we love.

Essentially, we love:

• the ease of purchase — simply click, customize a greeting card, and your gift will be sent!
• that there’s no shipping fees or hidden costs — it’s $99 for a year of writing prompts and one hardcover book.
• the simple platform makes storytelling easy and stress-free;
• that you can add different users to the accounts so siblings or friends can help choose questions each week;
• that storytellers can include photos–or not!–and can write as little–or as much!–as they want!
• that families will grow closer thanks to shared stories;
• the fact that this book will be a family heirloom for years to come;
• that this is a super meaningful gift for the storyteller and the rest of the family;
• the closeness that this brings us during a time when we are far apart;
• the conversations that the stories evoke at family events;
• that this gift gives so much longer than just one day — the writer gets a prompt each week, and the book is published after a year!
• the variety of questions really helps cover a ton of topics;
• the way that you can customize questions for each storyteller;
• that family memories, traditions, and stories will live on forever!

What we wish was different

We honestly had planned to gift Storyworth to our parents for quite a while, so at this point it’s all that we thought it would be.

I will update this section once our books arrive. Ideally, if our parents finish writing by the end of January, their books will be finalized and printed by the end of February 2022.

Some final thoughts

A few things that I researched before buying Storyworth:

Are there hidden costs? Like if I want to purchase an extra book, will it break the bank?

You can order additional books at the end of the subscription year. The pricing for additional copies of your book is as follows:

• Black and white interior, up to 480 pages: $39
• Color books, up to 300 pages: $79:
• Color books above 300 pages, up to 480 pages: $99

Can grandparents really handle the tech with Storyworth?

Yes, they really can. They just hit “Reply” to the question email, and compose their story in the new email. When they’re done, they just send the email, and the story is posted to their account.

Right now, you can get Storyworth for $10 off through December 31. It’s honestly the best gift you can give.

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