Personalised colouring book FAQs

You can use between 8 and 20 photos, and each photo becomes its own full colouring page. If you upload an odd number of photos (9, 11, 13, 15, 17 or 19), your book also gets a bonus “Our family tree” page to fill in together. With an even number of photos it isn’t included, because your pages fill the book exactly. A mix of close-ups, small groups and favourite places usually makes the most interesting book.

Clear, well-lit photos where faces are large and in focus work best. Avoid very dark, blurry or busy shots, and crop out distant crowds if you can. Our guide to choosing the best photos shows which kinds of photo work best.

Yes, old prints work well once you have scanned them or photographed them flat in good light. Scan at 300dpi or more if you can, or take a straight-on phone photo without glare and crop off the border, so the file is at least 500 pixels on the shortest side. Very small, faded or creased prints can give a page with less detail, so check it in your free preview and swap the photo if you’d like a different one. As with any photo, you must own it or have permission from the people in it.

You can upload JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP files of up to 25MB each, at least 500 pixels on the shortest side. Photos straight from a phone are ideal; screenshots and pictures saved from social media are often too small to make a sharp page.

Yes, pets are very welcome. Fur and animal faces can be harder to turn into clean lines than people, so look closely at those pages in your preview and swap the photo if you are not happy with the result.

You can swap any photo before you pay, and we make a new page from the replacement. Up to 10 replacements are included with every order. Our team also checks every page after you order and will contact you if one needs a different photo.

Your free preview is usually ready within about 10 minutes of sending your photos, and we email you as soon as it is. It can take longer when lots of books are being made at once. You can close the page while you wait, and looking through the preview and swapping photos costs nothing.

Yes, we don’t make pages from photos that aren’t suitable for a children’s book. That includes any nudity (including bath-time photos), violence, and photos of celebrities or branded characters. You must also own the photos or have permission from everyone in them. If a photo can’t be used we’ll ask you for another one, and the unused photo is deleted when you replace it.

Your photos are stored encrypted, used only to make your book, and deleted 14 days after your book is dispatched. We remove location details as soon as a photo is uploaded, and your photos are never made public. Our privacy policy has the full details.

No, your photos are never used to train AI, and we don’t use face recognition. They are used only to make your book. Our privacy policy names every company that handles your photos and why.

Only the people and services needed to make your book: the image service that draws your pages, an automated safety check, and our small team, who check every page. We print your book in-house, here in the UK, so no outside printer ever receives your photos.

Yes, you can delete your photos at any time with the “Delete my photos now” button on your order page, or by emailing us. Before you pay, everything is deleted straight away. Once you’ve paid, we still make your book (a paid order can’t be cancelled), so we delete your photos within a day of it being posted.

Yes. We built the service around keeping children’s photos safe: they’re stored encrypted, never shown publicly and deleted on a fixed timetable. If you don’t order, your draft is deleted after 30 days without activity. Our guide on keeping children’s photos safe online explains what to look for with any photo service.

You get your personalised colouring book, made from your photos and posted flat in a plain brown, board-backed envelope. There is no price anywhere in the parcel, so it can go straight to the person it’s for. Colouring pencils and pens aren’t included, so children can use their favourites.

The book is A4 portrait (210 × 297 mm), with a saddle-stitched (stapled) binding. Every photo gets a full page of its own.

Your book has 10 to 22 pages inside, depending on how many photos you use. There is one colouring page for each of your 8 to 20 photos, plus a colour-reference page of your original photos and a “Draw your own family” page. If you upload an odd number of photos (9, 11, 13, 15, 17 or 19), your book also gets a bonus “Our family tree” page to fill in together. With an even number of photos it isn’t included, because your pages fill the book exactly. Each page is printed on one side of its own sheet of 150gsm paper, and they sit inside a 300gsm card cover, with the dedication page at the front and the felt-tip guard at the back, both on 300gsm card.

The colouring pages are 150gsm paper, printed on one side only, and the book has a 300gsm card cover. The dedication page at the front and the felt-tip guard at the back are 300gsm card. Because every picture has a blank back, a felt tip that soaks through never spoils the next picture.

Besides a colouring page for every photo, your book has a personalised cover, a dedication page with tips for using it, a colour-reference page, a “Draw your own family” page and a felt-tip guard. In order:

• a 300gsm card cover with your chosen title, such as “The Patels in Colour”
• a dedication page on 300gsm card, with your message if you add one and tips on how to use the book
• your colouring pages, one for each photo
• a colour-reference page showing small versions of your original photos, so children can match real colours
• a “Draw your own family” page
• a bonus “Our family tree” page, only when your photos leave room for it (see below)
• a felt-tip guard on 300gsm card at the back: cut it out and slip it behind the page you’re colouring

If you upload an odd number of photos (9, 11, 13, 15, 17 or 19), your book also gets a bonus “Our family tree” page to fill in together. With an even number of photos it isn’t included, because your pages fill the book exactly.

Yes, you write the cover title yourself, so it can be your child’s name or anything you like, such as “Asha’s Colouring Book” or “The Patels in Colour”, up to 60 characters. You can also add a dedication of up to 200 characters, printed on the dedication page at the front with “With love from” and your names. You see both in your free preview and can change them before you pay.

No, we only sell the printed book. We print it ourselves in the UK, bind it and post it to you, and we don’t sell PDFs or files to print at home. The preview you see before you pay is watermarked and isn’t print quality.

Choose Little Hands for younger children and Detailed for older children and adults. Little Hands uses bold, simple lines (ages 3–7); Detailed is aimed at ages 8+ and adults. You can see your pages in the preview before you pay.

Yes, you see a free preview of every page before you pay anything. The preview is watermarked, and you can swap any photo or change your mind at no cost.

No, each page is drawn by computer software from your photo, not by an artist. Every photo and page is also checked automatically for anything unsuitable, and then a member of our team checks every page against your photos before anything is printed. If a page doesn’t look right, we’ll ask you for a different photo, and you can swap any photo in your free preview before you pay.

Yes, a member of our team checks every page against your photos before anything is printed. We also check the cover spelling and the page count, and we’ll contact you if a page needs a different photo. We print every book ourselves in the UK and check it against your order again before the envelope is sealed.

No, the book comes on its own, so you can use the pencils, crayons or felt tips you already have. Our guide to pencils versus felt tips helps you choose.

Yes, felt tips are fine. Every picture is printed on one side only, so ink that soaks through only reaches a blank back. For extra protection, cut out the 300gsm card guard page at the back of the book and slip it behind the page you are colouring; the dedication page at the front explains how. Paints are not recommended: the pages are paper, not watercolour card.

The book suits any age that loves colouring: choose Little Hands for younger children, or Detailed for older children and adults. The book is stapled, so please supervise very young children, and keep scissors for a grown-up when cutting out the felt-tip guard.

We print and post your book within 3 working days of your order, and Royal Mail Tracked 48 usually takes a further 2–3 working days. That covers checking every page, printing in-house in the UK and packing. In a hurry? Choose express printing (+£10, printed the next working day) or Royal Mail Tracked 24 (+£3) at checkout.

Order by Saturday 12 December 2026 for Christmas delivery. Your order is placed when you approve the preview and pay, so leave a little time before then to choose photos. If you choose both express printing and Royal Mail Tracked 24 at checkout, you can order up to Monday 21 December 2026.

You haven’t missed it yet: order by Saturday 12 December 2026 for Christmas delivery. After that, you can still order by Monday 21 December 2026 for Christmas delivery if you choose both express printing and Royal Mail Tracked 24 at checkout. Later orders are welcome too, but we can’t promise delivery before Christmas. Our guide to Christmas order dates explains how the dates add up.

UK delivery by Royal Mail Tracked 48 is included in the price, and extra copies travel in the same parcel at no extra cost. Need it sooner? At checkout you can add express printing for £10, so we print your book the next working day instead of within 3 working days, and Royal Mail Tracked 24 for £3, which Royal Mail aims to deliver the next working day after posting. Both are per order, not per copy.

Yes, every book is sent tracked, and we email you the tracking link when it is dispatched. You can also see your order’s progress from the link in your order email.

Not yet, we only deliver to UK addresses. You can order from anywhere, though, so family abroad can send a book to someone in the UK.

Yes, just enter their address on the secure payment page. There is no price anywhere in the parcel, and your dedication at the front of the book can carry your message.

One personalised colouring book costs £29.97, with Royal Mail Tracked 48 UK delivery included. More copies of the same book cost less: 2 copies £40, 3 copies £45 or 4 copies £50. You always see the exact total before you pay, and there’s no VAT to add: children’s colouring books are zero-rated, so the VAT on the book price, delivery included, is 0%. The Royal Mail Tracked 24 upgrade and express printing are standard-rated, so their prices include VAT at 20%. Every price we show is the price you pay.

You pay only after you have seen and approved the full preview. Making pages and previewing them is free, and an unpaid draft is simply deleted after 30 days without activity.

You can pay by debit or credit card on a secure checkout page. We never see or store your card details.

No, there are no accounts or passwords. We email you a private link to your order, which stays valid for 30 days, and you can ask for a new one at any time.

Go to Find my order and enter the email address you used. We’ll email you a fresh link for each of your recent orders, and older links keep working until they expire after 30 days. If nothing arrives within a few minutes, check your spam folder, or email us at help@colouryourfamily.com with your order code if you have it.

Yes, you can order up to 4 copies of the same book in one order, and each extra copy costs less: 2 copies £40, 3 copies £45 or 4 copies £50, delivery included. Choose the number at checkout. They travel together in one parcel, so they’re ideal for grandparents.

If your book arrives wrong, with a printing fault or damaged in the post, we reprint and resend it free. We also check every book against its order before the envelope is sealed, so the right book goes to the right family.

Because every book is made to order from your photos, we can’t accept returns if you simply change your mind. That doesn’t affect your legal rights: if anything is faulty or wrong we will replace it or refund you. See delivery and returns for details.

Email us at help@colouryourfamily.com as soon as you can after it arrives with your order code and a photo of the problem, and we will put it right. That usually means reprinting and resending your book free of charge.

Email us at help@colouryourfamily.com with your order code as soon as you can, and we’ll change the wording or the delivery address if your book hasn’t been printed yet. That covers the cover title, the dedication and the address it’s going to. Once your book is printed we can’t change it, and a paid order can’t be cancelled because every book is personalised. If we make a mistake, or the book arrives faulty or damaged, we reprint it free.

Before you pay there is nothing to cancel: an unpaid draft is deleted automatically, and you can change any photo in your free preview. Once you’ve paid, your order can’t be cancelled, because every book is personalised. If you need to change the wording or address, email us before it is printed. If it arrives faulty, wrong or damaged in the post, we reprint it free or refund you.

Yes, write it as your dedication. It is printed on the first page inside the cover, so your message stays with the book for good. You add it when you start your book, can change it before you pay, and see it in your free preview.

Yes, place a separate order for each book with its own photos. If you want the same book for more than one person, order extra copies in one order instead: they cost less.

It is most often given at Christmas, on birthdays, for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as a present from grandparents, and to welcome a new brother or sister. Our gift ideas pages have dates and suggestions for each.