Making the book
30 questions to ask your family for a photo book
Ask someone to "write something for Grandad" and you get a blank stare. Ask them "what was the best bit of your year?" and you get a paragraph. A good question does the hard part of writing for them.
Four that fit any book
These are the four the Paper Chain iPhone app asks, one at a time. Each answer is printed under its own small heading on that person's page.
- What have you been up to lately?
- What was the best bit?
- What are you looking forward to?
- Anything else you'd like to tell them?
For a birthday book
- What's your earliest memory of them?
- What did they teach you?
- What do they always say?
- What's the best meal they make?
- What's something they did for you that they've probably forgotten?
- What do you hope you've inherited from them?
For children
- What's your favourite thing to do at Grandma's house?
- What's Grandad really good at?
- What should we do next time we visit?
- What would you like to show them?
- If you could send them one thing in the post, what would it be?
- What's the funniest thing that happened this year?
For a year-in-review book
- What changed for you this year?
- What are you proud of?
- What was harder than you expected?
- Where did you go?
- What did you read, watch or listen to that they'd like?
- What's the plan for next year?
For a retirement or leaving book
- What's your best story about working with them?
- What will the place be like without them?
- What did you learn from them?
- What should they do first, now they have the time?
For a memorial book
- What's one memory you'd like the family to have?
- What did they say that you still hear?
- What did they love?
- What will you carry on doing because of them?
How to ask
Send one or two questions with the link, not all thirty. "Add five photos, and tell Nana what the best bit of your year was" is a complete instruction. The answer goes in the note box on the family page, and it's printed in large type on that person's page in the book.
For someone who won't type, ask the question on the phone, write down what they say, and add it for them under their name.