Personalised Recipe Book Gift Idea DIY

What do you give the dad who has everything?

Ok so he doesnt have everything. But a Porche Carrera isnt really in the budget this year, and Mr PSGC doesnt “want” anything, which makes gift giving very ~~annoying~~ difficult.

Abbi would never be content with giving him a chocolate orange and a few pairs of socks, so 2 years ago, she decided to give him a personalised recipe book. We have a weekend house on a lake outside London, where Mr PSGC likes to cast a net for crayfish (…..and make a huge mess cooking and serving them). This would be fine, but his repertoire is a little limited. Can’t do much about stopping the mess, but we can drop some not so subtle hints about other recipes he may wish to try!! So our crayfish recipe book was born……

We googled lots of awesome recipes and ahem…. stole them. Abbi illustrated them in her own unique fashion, and ta da…personalised recipe book…..

We just need a TV deal, some annoying Londonisms, and we’re the next Jamie Oliver.

I cut and pasted the recipes onto word documents, and reformatted so they would all look a similar style, then I printed them out, and Abbi drew her illustrations. You could get fancy, and scan them in, but we were happy with this homespun look. We made a cover, and put all the recipes in a ring binder. We chose a ring binder rather than fixed binding, so we could add to the collection over the years. The gift was a huge hit (though maybe not as much as a porch would have been).We chose around 30 recipes. I’m not sharing them all here, but a few of my favourites (mainly for Abbis illustrations) are:

Tempura Crayfish…..

Boiled Crayfish

Crayfish Cocktail

I mean who wouldn’t love a crayfish with a glass in its hand.

Crayfish Kraftor

My final favourite (but as yet untried recipe) is

Rabbit and Crayfish Stargazy Pie.

note: The recipes are a bit splashed/marked…..at some point I will get round to laminating them.

Obviously crayfish recipes are a bit “niche” for most people, so theme the recipe book to reflect the recipient:

A grandparent or parents favourite recipes
A collection from a particular country / region that means something special
Recipes that mirror a holiday or trip
Or just a bunch of your favourites that they would like.

Illustrate like we did with kids drawings, pics from the internet, or photos of the finished dishes. I’d love to hear some suggestions about what you would give (or like to receive!).