Guides and ideas
Practical help with capturing someone's story – and with telling your own – plus gift ideas, and the case for doing it at all.
Gifts & occasions
Ideas for birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas, when the usual presents will not do.
The most meaningful 80th birthday gift ideas (that aren't things)
Meaningful 80th birthday gift ideas for a parent or grandparent turning 80 — why the usual options fall short at this milestone, and what actually lasts.
Read article →The most meaningful Christmas gift for an elderly parent who has everything
The most meaningful Christmas gift for an elderly parent who has everything isn't something you can wrap. Here's what actually works — and why it lasts.
Read article →Grandparents' Day gift ideas that last longer than the occasion
Grandparents' Day gift ideas that go beyond flowers and chocolates – and one category of gift that keeps meaning something years after the day itself.
Read article →The most meaningful 70th birthday gift ideas (that aren't things)
Meaningful 70th birthday gift ideas that go beyond the usual. Why the best gift at this milestone is the one that lasts – and what that actually looks like.
Read article →The best gifts for elderly parents who have everything
Gifts for elderly parents who have everything tend to fall flat. Here's what actually works – and one category of gift that outlasts everything else.
Read article →Father's Day gifts for the dad who says he doesn't need anything
Father's Day gifts for a dad who has everything tend to fall flat – flowers wilt, gadgets gather dust. Here's the one that grows in value every year.
Read article →The most meaningful birthday gift for a parent over 70
When a parent reaches a milestone birthday, the usual gifts fall short. Here's why preserving their life story is the one gift that grows in value every year after.
Read article →Capturing their story
Practical help with asking a parent or grandparent about their life.
How to ask your grandparent about their wartime memories (before those stories are gone)
Wartime memories are the family stories most at risk of being lost. Here's how to ask your grandparent about theirs — gently, and while there's still time.
Read article →The 20 best family history interview questions
Family history interview questions that unlock the stories most families never think to ask – grouped by theme, with guidance on how to make the interview feel like a conversation.
Read article →The Summer to Record Your Grandparents' Stories
The school holidays are the best window all year to record your grandparents' stories. Here's how to make it happen without it feeling like a project.
Read article →How to Interview Your Parent Without It Feeling Like an Interview
How to interview your parent so it feels like a conversation, not a Q&A. The technique most adult children get wrong on their first try – and how to fix it.
Read article →20 Conversation Starters to Ask Your Dad This Father's Day
Twenty questions to ask your dad on Father's Day – grouped by theme, with guidance on how to make them feel like a conversation rather than an interview.
Read article →10 questions to ask your grandparents while you still can
Questions to ask grandparents about their life – ten prompts that open real conversations, grouped by theme, with notes on how to make them feel natural.
Read article →Why your parents' voice is the most irreplaceable thing you'll never think to save
Recording your parents' voice creates a keepsake no photograph can match. Here's why voice is irreplaceable – and how to start before it's too late.
Read article →A memory book for someone with dementia: how to help them tell their story
A memory book for dementia preserves who someone is before the words become harder to find. Here's how to create one – and why starting now matters.
Read article →Before it's too late: how to record your parent's life story
Most of us know we should do it. Fewer of us do — until it's too late. Here's how to actually capture your parent's life story, and why the hardest part isn't what you think.
Read article →Writing your own story
Where to begin when the story is your own.
How to Write a Memoir: A Beginner's Guide
How to write a memoir when you don't know where to begin. A practical guide for first-time memoirists – starting with one memory, not your whole life.
Read article →How to Choose a Memoir Writing Service: What to Look For
Choosing a memoir writing service is harder than it looks. Here's what to ask, what to avoid, and how to tell the right service from one that isn't.
Read article →How to write your life story for your grandchildren (even if you've never written anything)
You don't need to be a writer to leave your grandchildren something extraordinary. You just need to start — and this guide explains how.
Read article →Why it matters
Why families lose these stories, and what it costs when they do.
After the diagnosis: recording a life story while there's still time
A serious diagnosis changes the timeline, not the story. Here's how to start recording a life story after a diagnosis – and why now is exactly the right moment.
Read article →What Is a Life Story Book – and How Do You Make One?
A life story book is a printed record of one person's life, in their own words. Here's what it is, who they're for, and the four ways families make one.
Read article →Preserving family history in 2026: what actually works
From VHS tapes to WhatsApp voice notes, most attempts to preserve family history fail quietly. Here's an honest look at what works, what doesn't, and why.
Read article →The stories we risk losing: why every family needs a memoir
Each year, the generation that lived through the post-war decades, the social revolutions, and the great migrations of the twentieth century grows smaller. Their stories — the actual texture of those years — are going with them.
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