Different Ways To Connect With Family This Holiday Season

Wrap up this year with the most meaningful gift and share joy with the people who matter most to you. For today’s blog, we’ve invited Nick and Krista Baum, founders of StoryWorth.com, a service that helps people record their family stories and print them in beautiful hardcover books.

What do you think is the value behind preserving people’s memories?

A lot of people think the value of preserving memories is in passing them on to future generations, and that’s certainly true. But in our experience, it’s just as important as a way for family members to connect and get closer. These days, we are all so busy and preoccupied with everyday life. Sharing a family story or remembering a moment captured in a photo can help us slow down and feel grateful for the ones who love us.

Where do organizations like Nixplay and StoryWorth come in?

It’s easy to think of technology as something that gets in the way of real relationships, but Nixplay and StoryWorth both use technology to help bring families closer together. Because StoryWorth makes it easy to share family stories, it inspires all sorts of fun conversations when family members meet in person–conversations that otherwise might never have happened. Similarly, the latest family photos shared through a Nixplay frame are sure to be a talking point for the next phone call!

What inspired you to start StoryWorth?

We started StoryWorth because we wanted to record Nick’s parents’ stories. They live thousands of miles away from us, so we don’t often get the chance to sit down with them in person. We knew that if we asked them to write their biographies, they would never have gotten started. So instead, we asked them to write one story a week, and now we have several hundred pages of their stories to share with our children when they’re older.

How does StoryWorth work?

It’s incredibly simple. You invite a loved one, for example, a parent or grandparent. Each week, we email them a question about their life. All they have to do is reply with a story. At the end of the year, we take all the stories and print them in a beautiful hardcover book.

What are StoryWorth’s plans moving forward to enrich customers’ storytelling experience?

I think one of the things that have made StoryWorth so successful is that we haven’t added a ton of features. Instead, we’ve stayed focused on making the experience as simple as possible, so people of all ages can enjoy it–we even have a couple of storytellers who are over 100 years old!

One of the great joys of working on this product is that we get lovely emails from our customers every single week, but the most touching [messages we get] come from customers whose parents have passed away. One customer recently told us he would be quoting from his grandmother’s stories in her eulogy.

“Just wanted to let you know that the work you all do is so important and touches the lives of both grandparents, children and their grandchildren. My memories of my grandma are forever held because of her writing. Thank you.“

We encourage you to make it more meaningful for your family this holiday season. StoryWorth is offering $20 off for all Nixplay followers through December 31, 2018!