Christmas Ideas #6: First Time Books Personalized Children Books Review

When I first found out about First Time Books, I was incredibly excited! This is such a wonderful present, whether its for Christmas, birthdays, other holidays, or even for learning their A, B, C's! Not only is it something personal that can make your little ones feel special, but it also inspire them to learn.


Here's a little background information about them from their site, written by John Burke, the mind behind this creation:

Our Story

Welcome to First Time Books, an interactive web site that lets you personalize and order children's books. Below is our story on how First Time Books was created.

My wife and I were having trouble potty training the youngest of our three daughters, Molly. With 25 years of printing and book binding experience, a light went off in my head one night. I devised a potty training book that represented the characteristics of my daughter, such as ethnicity, gender, and hair color. My business partner, Chad Kase, and I created and programmed a distinctive, unique and special storybook about Molly and her potty training adventure. Needless to say, after receiving her own potty book, Molly never entered the bathroom without it. Within 2 weeks, I was living in a diaper-free home.

We set out to create a new frontier in children's books. The goal of our company since inception is to offer an array of personalized products that excites children and motivates them to learn. We believe a customized, personalized product can have a significant positive impact on a child's development - from potty training and learning ABC's to reading in general. As our company and product offerings continue to grow, as more creative ideas begin to develop, our goal of servicing the development of children will never cease. We hope you enjoy what we have to offer, and that our ideas and products excite you as much as they do us.

With Christmas coming up, I chose a Christmas book for my SO's nephew. I have to say, I really enjoyed the fact that you could personalize the book to match the gender, hair color, ethnicity of the child and the parents. You could also choose the friend's names that you wanted to use in the book and even the Christmas present the child gets from Santa! Its actually quite quick and fun in its own way. This will be his first Christmas and I'm sure this will become one of his favorite stories for a while to come!


When the book first arrived, I was very happy with its quality and colors. Everything looked terrific and the storyline was good. Actually, the funny thing was, the cover picture of the child seems to resemble my SO. We had quite a few laughs over that and I'm sure the family will as well because it seems my SO has the face that represents the Asian boys out there. ;)


First Time Books has such a wide range of ideas and products that I think it was truly an innovative idea. They have personalized ABC books and workbooks, birthday books, halloween books, zoo books, potty training books, coloring books, I spy books, journals and even personalized family notepads. Definitely a great idea to keep learning fun.  


My take: 10 stars out of 10. Awesome gift idea and I'd love to get one for my own little ones when the time comes but for now, our nephew gets this sweet present.


Buy It: Get your own personalized book for your little ones at First Time Books. They come in a variety of versions and prices ($5-7 PDF, $15-30 soft cover, $30-40 hardcover). You can print off your book yourself if you choose the PDF version.

Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above have been provided free of charge from the manufacturer or PR firm for the purposes of this review. Opinions expressed belong to Whirlwind of Surprises and are NOT influenced in any way. Please view my full disclosure.

Until next time,

Like what you see? Follow me on GFC and twitter (@CinnyBBS) to get the latest updates. Like us on facebook or join us through Network Blogs. Leave me a comment if you'd like me to follow back on any of these.