How to Make a Family Recipe Book in Time for Christmas

This is for the person who decided, somewhere around the end of October, that this year the present is the family recipes, all in one book, for everyone. Maybe a grandparent is getting older, maybe the cards are scattered across three kitchens, maybe someone keeps asking how Aunt Carol made the rolls. The idea is easy. The hard part is that it depends on other people sending you things, and December is when nobody answers messages. So the plan below puts the asking first and the printing last.

The schedule, working back from December 25

If you only have time for a smaller book, cut the number of recipes, not the checking. Twelve recipes that work are a better present than forty with a wrong oven temperature in one of them.

Getting the recipes out of your relatives

“Send me your recipes” gets silence. A message that names the dish and says exactly what to send gets answers. Something like:

• Name the recipe. “Could you send me your cornbread dressing for a family recipe book I’m making for Christmas?” One or two dishes per person, not “everything”.
• Ask for a photo, not a typed copy. A photo of the card or the cookbook margin is less work for them, and the handwriting is half of what makes the book worth keeping.
• Ask for one line of story. Who it came from, when it gets made, who always asks for it. That line is what turns a recipe collection into a family book.
• Give a date. “By November 20 if you can” is enough.

Handwritten recipes nearly always leave things out, because the person who wrote them knew. Ask about these while you can: the oven temperature, the pan size, how many it serves, and what “bake till done” actually looks like. If an old recipe uses raw eggs, eggnog especially, fix it before it goes in the book: cook the egg base to 160°F or use pasteurized eggs. Thanksgiving is the best day of the year to ask, because the cooks are all in one room.

Copying the cards without damaging them

Photograph each card flat, in even daylight, without flash, from straight above, filling the frame. Our guide to scanning handwritten recipe cards goes through the details, including cards written on both sides and ink that has faded.

Then put the originals back the way the National Archives suggests for family papers. Its advice is simple: don’t eat or drink around originals, wash your hands first (and skip the hand lotion, which can stain paper), and store them somewhere cool and not damp: below 75°F and below 65% relative humidity, not in a damp basement, garage or hot attic. If cards are stuck together or tearing, the Archives says to ask a conservator rather than fix them yourself. In other words: cook from the copy, keep the card in the box.

Recipes from cookbooks and websites

Some family favourites started life in a cookbook or on a website. For a book you are giving to your family, the U.S. Copyright Office’s position is useful to know: in Circular 33 it says “a mere listing of ingredients or contents, or a simple set of directions, is uncopyrightable.” What can be protected is a creative written explanation, and any photographs or illustrations.

So the practical rule is: keep the ingredients, write the method in your own words, leave out the author’s photos and stories, and credit where it came from (“adapted from Betty Crocker, 1969 edition, with Mom’s changes”). That is also simply the nicer thing to do. This is general information, not legal advice; if you plan to sell copies, check with someone who knows publishing.

How to print it

Choose this early, because it sets your deadline.

• Home printer and a binder. The latest deadline and the easiest to add to next year. Page protectors make it kitchen-proof. Best when you only need a few copies.
• Copy shop, spiral or comb bound. Bring a PDF in letter size. Spiral binding lies flat on the counter, which is what a recipe book actually needs. Usually same day or next day, but ask how busy they get in December.
• Print-on-demand book. Looks the most like a real cookbook. These services have their own page sizes, margin and bleed rules and cover templates, so read their file requirements before you lay anything out, and check their posted holiday order cutoff. Order one proof copy first if you have time.

Where RecipeScan helps, and where it doesn’t

What it can do: photograph a handwritten card in the Scan tab (the Recipe tile) and RecipeScan turns it into an editable recipe, keeping the cook’s wording and flagging words it couldn’t read so you can check them against the card. Relatives with iPhones can join a shared cookbook with a share code (My Recipes, the … menu, Shared cookbooks) and add their own recipes, which saves you retyping. When everything is in, Export cookbook in the same menu makes a PDF with a cover page, your title, a contents page with page numbers and each recipe starting on its own page, in US Letter or A4, with or without photos and nutrition. You can export everything, only favourites, or only recipes with a tag you choose, such as “Christmas book”.

What it can’t do: it doesn’t print or bind books, and the PDF has no bleed or print-shop templates, so it suits a home printer, a binder or a copy shop better than a print-on-demand book service. The PDF lays out each recipe as typed text with its title, times, servings, ingredients and numbered steps; there is no separate field for a story or dedication, so put “Grandma Jean’s” in the title and the story in a short first step, or add those pages yourself. Shared cookbooks need each relative to have an iPhone, RecipeScan and iCloud; anyone else can just send you a photo. Scanning with the camera is a Premium feature, and making a book of family recipes realistically needs Premium for whoever is putting it together, because the free plan holds only a few of your own recipes.

Frequently asked questions

Is it too late to make a family recipe book for Christmas?

Not if you start in early November. Collect recipes by Thanksgiving, finish checking them by about December 6, and print in the week after. USPS recommends mailing Ground Advantage packages by December 17, 2026 for delivery before Christmas in the lower 48 states.

Can I put recipes from a cookbook in a family recipe book?

The U.S. Copyright Office says a mere listing of ingredients or a simple set of directions is not copyrightable, but creative written explanations and photos can be. Keep the ingredient list, write the method in your own words, leave out the author’s photos and stories, and credit the source.

What should I ask relatives to send?

A photo of the recipe card or page, one line about where the recipe came from, and anything the card leaves out, especially the oven temperature, the pan size and how many it serves.

Should I laminate the original recipe cards?

Keep the originals in a box in a cool, dry place and cook from a copy instead. The National Archives advises keeping family papers below 75°F and 65% relative humidity, away from damp basements and hot attics, and asking a conservator about damaged items.

Your next step, this weekend

Write the list: every dish your family would miss, and the name of the person who makes it. Then send each of them one message that names their dish and asks for a photo and one line of story by November 20. That is the step with the longest wait, so it is the one to do first. If the first card that comes back is in faded cursive, start with how to scan handwritten recipe cards.

Sources: USPS, 2026 Holiday Shipping Deadlines (contiguous U.S.; “actual delivery date may vary”); U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 33: Works Not Protected by Copyright (Recipes); National Archives, Handling, Storing and Repairing Damage (How to Preserve Family Archives). The schedule dates are our arithmetic from those deadlines. RecipeScan features checked against the current app. Checked October 30, 2026.