Just over a year ago my wife and I were trying to figure out what to get our parents for Christmas. The truth is, none of them really need anything. They are at the point in their lives where pretty much anything they need they already have. Either that or they have the freedom to go and get it. In the past we have done trips, gift cards, little things like that.
Honestly, I'm almost positive at one point both sets of parents told us that they didn't want Christmas presents from us anymore. Like I said, there was nothing they really needed and they would rather see us spend our money on ourselves.
Of course that never really deterred any of us and we continued to get presents for them none the less. Looking for something different last year, my wife came upon an advertisement in one of her social media apps for this place called Storyworth.
Started by a husband and wife, Storyworth is a service where you pay a fixed amount of money for the year. I think it was right around $100 per person for the year for us. Each week, Storyworth sends the person you bought the subscription for an email. The email contains a question that the receiver can reply to via email.
After a year, Storyworth should have just about 52 questions and answers that they then compile into a book, bind it, and ship it out to the person who the subscription is for. In turn, the person who bought the subscription can order extra copies of the book for themselves.
Make sense?
I've seen similar things to this on a more homemade level. For example, I know some people who have created email addresses as soon as their child is born. Then they email the address through the next 18 years and when the child becomes and adult, they give them the credentials to the account.
I think @nuthman is doing something similar here on Hive for his son. I could be wrong though.
In any event, the concept is kind of the same. You get to have a book of all the stories you heard (or didn't hear) growing up.
I will admit, it is a bit pricey at $100 per person. If you are from a split family whose parents have remarried, you could be in for a hefty bill. Can we really put a price on having those memories to treasure though?
My wife and I just finished up the ordering process for our parents books and the books that each of the siblings are going to get. We got notification that they were shipped out yesterday.
One of the cool things about the service is the fact that you can pick the questions if you want. If you are doing two parents (or grandparents), you can also clone questions from one user to another so they are on the same page.
You just have to be careful, if you don't go in and setup the questions ahead of time, it will just pick random ones. Sometimes the questions don't really apply to the person the subscription is for. For example, there were questions about college. Neither of my parents went to college, so that would be a moot point.
The good (or bad) thing is, if the person answering the questions doesn't like one, they can go into the system and change the question. As you can imagine, this could cause problems if you are trying to keep things symmetrical across two accounts.
Additionally, you have to be very sure you want to hear the answer to some of the questions. I think we can all agree that we don't always share the same beliefs as our parents as we get older. Knowing a question could lead to a long rant about something you feel differently about could be better left unasked.
Then again, maybe you want to keep it for posterity.
Although we got an email recap each week, my wife and I made a point of not reading our parents "stories". We wanted to save them all for when we get the book and then go through them.
You should also be prepared for not every answer to be a long story. I noticed some of the questions I asked my parents only offered a single sentence answer.
That's okay though, sometimes you don't need a lot of words to get your point across.
With that in mind, I just crossed 750 words on this post, so I am going to wrap things up.
If you are looking for a cool unique gift that will provide you with memories to last a lifetime, I highly suggest you check out Storyworth. If you have seen advertisements for it and you were wondering if it is legit, I can assure you it is. The process and their customer support is top notch when you do need help.
I should get going, I have a lot of reading to do!
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