Wunderli

    5 minutes read · October 2026

    A personalised Christmas story for your child: how to make one, and how to give it

    Raluca Baciu

    By Raluca Baciu

    Co-founder of Wunderli

    Updated

    A personalised Christmas story works best when it is built from your child's own ideas, not just their name. Pick the character together, choose where the adventure happens and decide how it ends, and the story becomes something they recognise as theirs. You can make one in a few minutes, listen to it with the screen off, and keep it for the journeys and bedtimes of the holidays.

    Name in the text, or ideas in the story?

    Most personalised Christmas books swap a child's name into a story someone else wrote. That is a lovely keepsake, and it works best for the youngest children. From around school age, many children care less about seeing their name and more about seeing their ideas: the reindeer who is afraid of heights, the snow globe with a secret door, the elf who would rather be a pilot. A story built from those ideas gives them a reason to listen again and again.

    How to make a personalised Christmas story together

    1. Collect the ingredients. Ask for one character, one place and one small problem. Keep it playful: a penguin delivering the post, a sledge that only goes uphill, a gingerbread house with a creaky door.
    2. Choose together in Wunderli. In six steps you pick the characters, the theme, the mood, how the story unfolds and the ending. Then choose the length, the language (English, German or French) and the language level.
    3. Listen together. Wunderli writes the story and tells it as an audio story. The screen stays off while you listen, and nothing plays automatically when it ends.
    4. Keep it for the holidays. Stories are created online and then play offline, so they are ready for the car, the train or the plane to see family.

    The first story is free, so you can try it on Christmas Eve. If you are choosing between apps, our checklist for picking a bedtime story app covers ads, data and endings.

    Giving it as a present

    For a niece, nephew or godchild, the most memorable version is to make the story with them on Christmas Day, so they hear their own ideas come back as a story. If you want to give more than one story, a subscription cannot be wrapped like a parcel, but an App Store gift card for the parents can do the job: according to Apple, the balance can also pay for app subscriptions from the App Store. Add a note saying what it is for, such as "for your bedtime stories together". On Android, Google Play gift cards add a balance for apps and digital content.

    More for December

    For ready-to-read stories, see our bedtime stories for kids. If the family already owns a story speaker, the comparison Toniebox vs Yoto also explains the option without a box.

    Sources

    1. Apple Support: What you can buy with your Apple Gift Card or Apple Account balance (2026)

    Frequently asked questions

    It is a Christmas story shaped around one child. The simplest version puts the child's name in a ready-made text. A deeper version is built from the child's own ideas: the characters they pick, the place, the mood and how it ends. That second kind is the one children ask to hear again.

    Ask your child for the ingredients: a character, a place, a little problem and the kind of ending they want. In Wunderli you choose these together in six steps, then pick the length, the language and the language level. Wunderli writes the story and tells it as an audio story. The first story is free.

    Yes. The nicest way is to make it together on Christmas Day or during a visit, so the child sees their ideas turn into a story. If you want to give more than one, an App Store gift card for the parents works: according to Apple, the balance can also pay for app subscriptions from the App Store.

    Yes, if the screen stays off while listening. With Wunderli the story is created online, then plays offline with the screen off, and nothing starts automatically when it ends.
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