Christmas book,
Every grandchild, aunt and cousin, a page each, gathered over a few weeks without anybody letting it slip,
Who it is for, and the year. Christmas does the rest.
Occasions
Only the title changes,
The book is the same every time — same paper, same binding, and less than five minutes for everyone who writes in it. What changes is whose name is on the front, and what you ask people for,
Who is the book for,
wewrote this
Christmas book,
Every grandchild, aunt and cousin, a page each, gathered over a few weeks without anybody letting it slip,
- Your favourite Christmas with them,
- Something they taught you that you still do,
Every occasion,
birthday book,
Thirty people who knew them at different times, in one book, in the order they arrived in their life,
The name and the age in words, never the numeral alone.
retirement book,
Thirty-one years is too long for a card and too much for a speech. It fits in a book, one page per person,
Lead with the span, not the leaving.
wedding book,
Given on the morning, or left on the table for guests to fill and handed over at the end of the night,
Both names, and the day. The one case for rosewater boards.
anniversary book,
Children, grandchildren and the friends who were there on the day, a page each, for a ruby, a golden or any year worth marking,
The years, in words, and both names.
hen or stag book,
Filled on the weekend itself, one page each, and handed over before anybody goes home — or collected quietly in the weeks before and given on the Friday night,
Address the weekend, not the marriage — the wedding book is a different book.
yearbook,
Thirty children, a page each, put together by one parent or one teacher in the last few weeks of term,
The year group, the school and the year. Not “Class of” — that is an American film.
thank-you book,
A page from every child in the class, gathered by one parent in a fortnight and handed over on the last day of term,
The teacher's name as the class says it.
leaving book,
The one everybody signs is a card that gets recycled. This is the version people actually read on the train home,
Say it to them, not about them.
anything,
No birthday, no leaving do, no date on the calendar. Just a book from everyone, because they deserve one,
Their name, and whatever you want to say. There is no wrong title.
New arrivals and no reason at all are in the list too when you start a book. These are simply the ones people ask for most,