Christmas
You already know what they're getting. Socks, a candle, another scarf. You also know it's not what you meant.
A personalized Christmas song with their name in it
Holiday playlists repeat the same songs every year, so add one that is about your family. A personalized Christmas song starts from the traditions, the ornaments and the people around the table, and comes back as an original song that sings their name, ready to hear before you pay.
Hear the second a name lands
Claire, you make the season feel so bright,
You wrote“She makes hot chocolate with way too many marshmallows.”
The song singsNow you make cocoa with marshmallows piled high,
From a real song made here: “Sweeter Than Cocoa”, for Claire, from what her husband typed.
The moment you give it
Hand them your phone before the first present gets torn open. The tree lights are on, the coffee is still too hot, and the song starts with their name. The presents can wait two minutes.
Christmas morning, before the wrapping paper
Before you open anything else,
press play on this one.
Start with one memory
Pick a question. The form opens with your first line already started.
Real Christmas songs made here
Unedited, with the brief under each: a country song for Waffles the corgi, and an upbeat pop song for Claire, who puts the tree up the day after Thanksgiving.
How it works at Christmas
Nothing is shipped, so December post and courier cut-offs do not apply. The song lives on your phone the moment you unlock it.
- Type their first name and tell us who they are to you. If the name is unusual, add how it is said; the lyric sheet keeps the real spelling.
- Write up to three lines about Christmas with them: a tradition, a funny disaster, who is home this year. Then pick one of seven styles and a female or male voice.
- About two minutes later you hear the first 60 seconds. Keep it for $12.99 and the whole song is yours at once; walk away and you pay nothing.
What you get for $12.99
You pay once, after you have heard the preview. There is no subscription and nothing renews in January.
- The full song, about two minutes long, as an MP3 you keep.
- The lyric sheet, ready to save as a PDF and tuck into a card.
- A private link they can play without an account, which you can switch off any time.
- A photo video: your Christmas photos set to the song with the lyrics on screen, made in your browser.
- One free re-record if the name does not sound the way your family says it; once paid, a wrongly sung name gets a free remake.
- A 15-second teaser link before you pay, for a hint on Christmas Eve.
- Grandparents in another country can have it sung in German, French, Spanish or Japanese instead of English.
Christmas song ideas by person
- Your wife or husband: the first Christmas you spent together, the ornament you fought over, the gift that went badly wrong.
- Mom: the dish only she is allowed to cook, the carol she sings off-key, the stocking she still fills for grown children.
- Grandparents: the house everyone drives to, the story Grandpa tells every year, the card game nobody can beat Grandma at.
- Kids: what they asked Santa for, the school play, a first Christmas as a big brother or sister. Upbeat pop keeps it singable.
- The dog: the socks stolen from under the tree, the wrapping paper shredded by seven in the morning.
- A colleague or a Secret Santa match: one office joke and one genuine thank-you are enough.
Holiday details to include
Three lines are plenty. A tradition, a bit of chaos and a milestone give the verses something to tell and the chorus something to come back to.
For example: "Every year Grandpa reads the same story and falls asleep before the end." "We burn the first batch of cookies on purpose so the dog gets a treat." "This is our first Christmas in the new house."
- A family tradition, like matching pajamas or a late drive to see the lights.
- An ornament with a story behind it.
- The dish only one person is allowed to make.
- A Christmas that went wrong in a funny way.
- Who is home this year, or who is far away.
Ordering between 20 and 24 December
A song takes minutes, so none of these dates is a deadline. They are the days that leave room for the parts people like to take slowly: hearing the preview twice, a re-record if the name is off, and the photo video.
| When | What it leaves time for |
|---|---|
| Sunday 20 December | Everything: two styles to compare, the re-record, the photo video and a lyric sheet to slip into the card. |
| Monday 21 to Tuesday 22 December | Sending the link to family abroad before their own Christmas Eve, and a quiet listen before you wrap anything. |
| Wednesday 23 December | The last calm evening: make it, unlock it, and save the MP3 to the phone that will play it. |
| Thursday 24 December | Still fine. The preview arrives in about two minutes and the full song right after you unlock, so a Christmas Eve idea works, even after the shops close. |
Family abroad: a Christmas song in their language
Our pages read in six languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. Songs are sung in five of them. Open the German, French, Spanish or Japanese site and the whole song, verses and chorus, is written and sung in that language by a native-sounding voice; the Chinese pages translate the form, and the song is sung in English.
Timing differs by country. In Germany presents are opened on the evening of the 24th, so the song should be ready by Christmas Eve morning. In France the réveillon dinner is on the 24th and many presents wait for the 25th. In Spain the family meal is on Nochebuena and the big present day is 6 January. In Japan, Christmas Eve is a night for couples and for families with small children.
Send the private link the evening before their Christmas so it is waiting when they wake up, or play it on a video call so the whole table hears it at once.
Picking the sound for the season
Upbeat pop gives a bright, festive sound for the morning the presents are opened. A piano ballad works for a quiet Christmas Eve after the children are asleep. Country suits families who spend the holidays on a farm or in a small town, and acoustic pop sits nicely under a slideshow of the year.
The song has its own melody and lyrics, written from your lines. It does not borrow the tune of a classic carol, so it still sounds new on the hundredth play of the season.
Ways to give it on the day
Whichever you choose, play it once before the day so you know where the name lands, then let it run to the first chorus before anyone talks: that is where their name arrives, and where a carol playlist would have stayed anonymous.
- At breakfast: play it from a phone on the table before the first present is opened, and watch who recognises their name first.
- In the card: write the private link under your message, with the lyric sheet folded inside, for the person who likes to read along.
- On a video call: share your screen and press play, so relatives in another time zone hear it at the same moment as the table.
- In the family group chat: post the photo video of the year with the song under it; it plays on every phone without an app.
- In the car: on the drive to the grandparents’ house, when nobody can leave and everybody has to listen.
For someone who is away this Christmas
If someone cannot make it home, a song with their name and the family's traditions is a way to put them at the table. Mention where they are, or why they are away, in one line: a deployment, a hospital shift, a first year at university on the other side of the world.
Making one for a child? Keep the lines about what happened this year: the first tooth they lost, a school play, a new baby brother or sister.
More song ideas
Questions
A new song for an old tradition.
Start with your family's favorite ritual.