Birthdays and milestones
Everyone who loves them knows a slightly different person.
A childhood habit. Something they did for a friend. A story their family still tells. Together, those stories show sides of them you may never have known.
Start with the person, not the party.
Everyone knows them from where they stand. Their parents knew them first. A brother or sister knew them at the kitchen table, and their friends know someone the family has never quite met. Each of them is holding stories nobody else has.
Ask all of them and you hear how people first met them, the funniest thing they ever did together, and the small kindness they have long since forgotten.
Write your own sections or keep the ones we suggest. Anyone can also just tell a story and say roughly when it happened. Nobody needs the exact year.
An illustration with the characters of The Hangover, an affectionate parody not affiliated with Warner Bros
How I first knew him.
Alan's fiftieth
California · Stories collected for Alan's fiftieth birthday · 6 people · 15 memories
15 stories
he wanted a look first
Linda, his mom · 1971
Alan was born on the hottest day of that August, and he did not cry. The nurse said some babies just like to have a look first. Sid held him like a parcel he'd been told was fragile and asked the nurse twice whether he was doing it right. He carried him out to the car the same way, very slowly, with his elbows out. On the way home the radio was on low and Alan was quiet the whole drive. Sid turned it off in case it was bothering him. He started crying the moment it went quiet.
the pothole on alder street
Sid, his dad · 1978
Alan was seven. Wrote to the city about the pothole on Alder Street. Three pages, with a drawing and measurements. He asked me to drive him down so he could hand it in himself. The woman at the desk read the whole thing while we stood there. Said it was the best letter they'd had all year. They fixed the pothole in 1989. He'd left home by then. I called and told him. He asked if they'd used the right depth.
the rabbit and the post office
Tracy, his younger sister · 1992
Alan taught me to tie my shoes when I was six. Mom had been trying for weeks with the bunny ears thing. Alan's method had a rabbit too, but the rabbit had to go to the post office, wait in line, forget its form, and come back. It took about four minutes per shoe. I was late for school a lot that year. I still do it in my head. I'm thirty-five, and every time I tie my shoes, a rabbit forgets its form.
the lighthouse documentary
Doug, his brother-in-law · 2006 · How I first knew him
Tracy brought me home for dinner and Alan shook my hand for a long time. Long enough that Linda took my coat off me while it was still going on. At dinner he told me about a documentary on lighthouse keepers. He knew the director's name and how many steps each lighthouse had. I went home and found it, so I'd have something to say next time. It was three hours long. Next time, I mentioned it. He said he'd moved on to bridges.
Share a story. A small moment is enough.
Three first meetings with Alan: a handshake that outlasted a coat, a middle name used all afternoon, and a steak cut into squares nobody asked for.
How it works
Free to collect. Free to read. No accounts for anyone you invite.
- 1
Start a collection
Give it a name and say who or what it is about. It takes a minute and it is free.
- 2
Send the link
Share it however your group already talks: WhatsApp, a text, an email, or a QR code on the table.
- 3
Everyone adds what they remember
Written down, or simply spoken aloud and written up for them. Photos too. Nobody needs an account; a name is enough.
- 4
Read it together
Every memory, in each person's own words, kept privately for you and whoever you choose to share it with. Collecting and reading is always free.
Questions that help
You don't have to start with a blank page.
People freeze when asked to "write something nice". Ask them how they met and the stories arrive on their own.
- How did you first meet them?
- What's the funniest thing you've done together?
- What's a story they might have forgotten?
- What's something you've always admired about them?
- What's the first thing you remember?
- Was there a moment nobody else noticed?
- What would you never want to forget?
Every question is optional. Anyone can skip straight to writing, or talking.
Questions people ask
Can we keep it a surprise?
Yes. The person you are celebrating never needs to know. Send the link only to the people you are inviting, and ask them to keep it quiet until you are ready.
Some of the family are not confident with technology. Will they manage?
It is one link and one box. If writing is a struggle they can tap record and simply talk, and it is written up for them. Someone can also sit with them and type what they say.
Will it be ready in time for the party?
Give people a week or two to add their memories. Once you are ready, the finished story is written and ready for you to read and approve shortly after you request it.
Does it cost anything?
No. Starting a collection, adding memories and reading them is free for everybody.
Who can see what people write?
Only the people you invite. Every collection is private when it is created, nothing is listed publicly or shown to search engines, and you decide whether contributors can read each other's memories.
Is the finished story written by AI?
Yes, and it is held to what people actually said. It works only from the memories you include, quotes people in their own words, and says so plainly where two people remember something differently. It does not invent events, dialogue or feelings. The original memories are always kept underneath, and you can edit anything before it is shared.
Ask everyone for one story about them.
Start a collection, send the link round the family and their friends, old and new, and see who they have been to all of you across the years.
Other kinds of shared experience