Table of contents
Valentine’s Day: love it or hate it, it’s a great opportunity to celebrate love and show your partner just how much they mean to you. If you’re anything like this author, the only thing that can compete with your partner’s love for you is their love for books. If that’s the case, then a custom-made book might just be the ultimate V-Day gift–and it’s much more affordable than you think!
There are an ever-growing number of ways to create, print, and publish books; too many to cover in this article if we also want to actually talk about the aforementioned gift ideas. So we’re going to be biased and talk about how to create these using Bookmundo. You are of course welcome to scroll through the article, nab the ideas, and go create them in your preferred way.
Here we go: 4 ways to create the perfect book for your lit-loving significant other on Valentine’s Day:
1. Design a Custom Agenda or Bullet Journal
Does your partner love staying organized? Or maybe they’ve been talking about getting into journaling? If so, a custom-made bullet journal or agenda might be just the ticket.
Pick a format
To create a custom planner, you’re likely going to want to go for a small to medium size, so the end product is nice and portable. Consider looking for a size that fits easily in a purse or bag. If you’re creating your book on Bookmundo, we’d recommend using one of the following templates:
Or, if you’re planning on making a bullet journal, you might want to use our handy bullet journal template instead! It comes with a single blank page at the beginning that you can use to include a romantic quote or dedication for your partner.
Choose a layout
From there, you’ll want to decide on the layout of your planner. Do you want daily, weekly, or monthly spreads? Maybe a combination of all three? There are loads of options here, so you may want to do some research to figure out how best to format your partner’s ideal planner. Canva has a bunch of interesting templates that you can browse for inspiration.
Whip up a cool design
Next comes the fun part (unless you really enjoy formatting Word documents)–personalisation! This is the most important step, as it’s where your gift actually becomes something uniquely tailored to your partner’s preferences.
Most importantly, you’ll need a stunning cover design that speaks to your significant other. There are a few ways to go about this. You can either make use of the Bookmundo cover designer, or you can create one using a freemium tool like Canva, or even “proper” design software InDesign if you’re comfortable using it.
But why stop at a personalised cover? You might also want to add some custom pages to cater to their interests and needs. These can be practical, decorative, motivational, or whatever you think they might like. These personal touches can take the form of entire pages, or simply be thoughtful details. Here are some examples:
- Monthly poems or quotes
- Fitness tracker pages
- Doodles or blank pages for them to doodle on
- Motivational pages
- Mood trackers
- Love notes
- Goal pages
- Gratitude pages
- Inside jokes
Remember: a personalised journal isn’t just functional—it’s a daily reminder of your love. Each time your partner opens it, they’ll think of you.
2. Create a Custom Edition of Their Favourite Classic Novel
If your partner has a favorite classic novel, you can give it a romantic twist by creating a personalized edition just for them. Keep in mind that this is something that you can only do for works in the public domain, such as Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre.
Steps to Make It Special
- First you’ll need your book, or more specifically, the manuscript. We simply cannot recommend Project Gutenberg enough. In fact, you should check them out even if you’re not planning on making a custom book for your loved one(s). On their website, you’ll be able to access and download thousands of public domain works, including classics like Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and Crime and Punishment.
- Add a Personal Dedication: Write a loving message on the first page. For example, tell them why this book reminds you of your relationship or add some playful commentary about the characters. Maybe you both enjoy it and have shared anecdotes or jokes that you can put down in writing?
- Customise the Cover: Just like with the planner, you’re going to want to make a gorgeous custom cover. Incorporate elements like their favorite colours, characters, or maybe even fan art, if applicable.
- If you want to take the customisation even further, you could substitute the names of the main characters (or those of your partner’s favourite couple) with your own—if your partner would enjoy that sort of thing!
If done right, you’ve got yourself a thoughtful, unique Valentine’s Day gift that will serve as a reminder of your bond for years to come.
3. Write or Curate Your Own Collection of Love Letters or Stories
If you’re looking for something even more personal, you could celebrate your love by curating a collection of texts directly related to your relationship. This can take the form of love letters or poetry you’ve written for each other, stories you’ve written or read together, or any correspondence related to your relationship. You can even write something completely new, if you feel inspired. As long as there’s an emotional connection, it’s sure to be appreciated.
For this type of project, you’ll need to do the following:
- Gather Your Materials: Collect past love letters or text messages you’ve sent each other. Combine them with new ones you write specifically for this book. Consider the order in which you include your materials. A chronological documentation of your relationship is always a safe bet.
- Share Your Memories: You might want to add commentary to the entries to add more depth to your project. Write about why each entry in the text is important to you, or share contextual memories that aren’t included in the text.
- Layout and design: Just like with the previous book projects, the design will be a key component of your gift. We’ve talked about how to approach this aspect, and the cover design in particular, earlier in this article.
Remember that the contents don’t have to be perfect. The most important aspect of this gift is the sentimental value of the book’s contents, and the work you do to collect them. Your partner will love the time and effort you’ve dedicated to celebrate your bond.
4. Make a DIY Photo Album of Memories
This one’s a classic gift on Valentine’s Day, and for good reason—it’s timeless, emotional, and tangible.
Here’s how to make it your own:
- Organize Your Photos: Choose a theme or timeline for the album. This is vital; anyone can throw a bunch of photos together and call it a day, but for a gifted photo book, you’re going to want to tell a story. You might sequence the book chronologically, highlight a specific trip or event, or go with a heartwarmingly silly theme if that’s something your partner would appreciate.
- Add Personal Captions: Include little notes on each page describing why those moments were special to you. This is a must! The style in which you write these notes is of course up to you.
- Complete the Look: Again, a good design will make or break gifts like these. Canva has a great selection of templates you can use for the layout of your photo book, and as mentioned previously, the Bookmundo Cover Designer is a great, user-friendly tool that is free to use.
One thing to keep in mind when creating photo books is using the right kind of paper. Printing photos on regular paper isn’t going to do your pictures any favours. You need a thick paper, ideally with some gloss, to get the best result. If you opt to use Bookmundo when creating your photo book, we strongly recommend using our semi-gloss white paper, which is similar to what you find in most magazines. Furthermore, square or landscape formats tend to work best for photos. You can use our price calculator to explore formatting options if you’re interested.
Turning Your Design into Reality
Once you’ve decided on a gift and gotten your materials ready, it’s time to turn it into a finished book. That’s where Bookmundo comes in. While we don’t like to outright brag, its ridiculously easy to create professional quality books with minimal hassle on our platform. Creating an account is free, and our printing prices are hard to beat–see for yourself!
Even if you don’t end up using Bookmundo to create the ideal Valentine’s Day gift (😭), we hope this article has provided you with a few good ideas. Happy Valentine’s Day!