Personalised colouring book buying guide: what to look for

Personalised colouring books made from photos are easy to find now, and they vary a lot. Two books that look alike in an advert can be very different when they arrive: thin pages or thick, a careful conversion or a rushed one, a clear privacy promise or none at all.

This guide sets out what to check, roughly in order of importance. It is deliberately general, so you can use it to compare any service, including ours.

1. Can you preview every page before you pay?

This is the single most useful thing to look for. Turning photos into line art is impressive but not perfect, and faces, hands and pets sometimes come out oddly. A full preview lets you spot a weak page and swap the photo before anything is printed.

Find out whether the preview is free and whether it shows every page or just a sample. Can you replace a photo and see the new page? And do you pay before or after previewing?

2. How heavy is the paper?

Paper weight is measured in grams per square metre (gsm): the higher the number, the heavier and usually thicker the paper. Ordinary printer paper is light, which is fine for pencils but lets felt tips soak through and can tear under heavy colouring.

See whether the paper weight is stated, and whether the paper is uncoated (better for pencils) or glossy. Ask whether felt tips can be used. If a seller doesn’t say what paper they use, ask them.

3. Printed on one side or both?

Printing pictures on both sides of a sheet means more pictures per book, but if a felt tip bleeds through it spoils the picture behind. Printing on one side, with blank backs, avoids that. Think about which suits the art materials your child likes best.

4. How is it bound?

The binding changes how the book feels and how easy it is to colour. Stapled (saddle-stitched) binding is simple and durable for books of modest thickness and opens reasonably flat. Spiral or wire binding lies completely flat and folds back on itself, which is handy for colouring, though the wire can catch. A glued (perfect-bound) softback looks like a paperback but doesn’t lie flat easily, so colouring near the spine is awkward. A hardback feels like a keepsake, but is usually more expensive and may not open flat.

Whatever the binding, the question is whether the book opens flat enough to colour the whole page.

5. How many pages, and what counts as a page?

Compare like with like. Some books count every page, including covers and blanks; others count only colouring pages, and some charge for each extra page. Work out how many colouring pages you get and how many photos you can use, and whether there are extras such as a title page, a dedication, a colour-reference page or pages for free drawing.

6. Is the line style right for the child?

Younger children need bold, simple outlines with large areas to colour, while older children and adults enjoy more detail. A good service offers more than one line style and shows you an example of each before you choose.

7. What happens to your photos?

You will usually be uploading photos of children, so this matters. A trustworthy service tells you clearly whether photos are encrypted and kept private, whether they are used only to make your book (or also for marketing or training AI), which other companies receive them, how long they are kept, whether you can delete them, and whether location data is removed.

Read the privacy policy, not just the marketing, and look for specific retention periods. Our guide to keeping children’s photos safe online has a fuller list of questions.

8. Does a person check the pages?

Fully automated services are fast and cheap, but nobody looks at the book before it is printed. A human check catches odd conversions, spelling mistakes on the cover and missing pages. Ask whether anyone checks the pages before printing, and what happens if a page isn’t good enough.

9. What’s the guarantee if something goes wrong?

With a personalised product, the worst outcome is receiving someone else’s book, or your own with a printing fault. Look for a clear promise about what the seller does if the book is wrong, faulty or damaged, and an explanation of how they make sure the right book reaches the right family.

10. What comes with it?

Some books arrive on their own; others come with pencils or crayons, or in gift packaging. A book on its own lets you choose colouring materials the child already loves, and is usually cheaper; if colouring materials are included, check they are labelled as meeting toy safety standards (look for UKCA or CE marking and EN71). For gifts, it also helps if the book arrives well protected and can be sent straight to the recipient without a price inside.

11. When will it arrive?

Personalised books are made to order, so they take longer than off-the-shelf products. Look at the whole timeline, from making and checking the pages to printing and delivery. Find out the dispatch time, the delivery service and whether it is tracked, and check the last order date for Christmas or any other occasion you’re buying for.

12. What’s the total price?

Compare the price you will actually pay, including delivery and any extras such as additional pages, upgraded covers or extra copies, and watch for charges that only appear at checkout.

A note on returns

Personalised goods made to your specification are exempt from the usual 14-day right to cancel online orders in the UK. That makes the preview and the guarantee even more important. Your legal rights still apply if an item is faulty or not as described, so a reputable seller will replace or refund it.

How Colour Your Family answers these questions

Here is how our own book measures up against the checklist.

You can read more about what is inside on our photo colouring book page. Whichever book you choose, use the checklist, look closely at the preview, and you’ll end up with something the family keeps.