The short answer: choose one Christmas theme, make 8 to 12 pages, print them on one side of thick paper, add a cover and bind them. A stapler or a ribbon is enough. The part that takes longest is the pages, and there are three ways to get them, below.
1. Choose a theme for the child
One Christmas world for the whole book: a snowy village, Santa’s workshop, Christmas animals, gingerbread. Then make it theirs — the dog in a Santa hat, the snowman they built, a sledge on the hill near their house. There are twenty-five starting points in Christmas coloring book ideas.
2. Match the pages to their age
| Age | What works | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Under 4 | One big object per page, very thick lines, nothing small | 6–8 |
| 4–8 | One clear subject per page with a simple background | 8–12 |
| 8–12 | Whole scenes with a few characters and more to color | 10–15 |
| Teens and adults | Fuller scenes or fine detail, whichever they enjoy | 12–20 |
3. Make the pages
- Draw them yourself. The most personal option. Use a black fine-liner or felt-tip, close every shape so it can be colored in, then scan or photograph each page in good daylight.
- Trace them. Lay paper over a photo of their pet or their house on a bright window and trace the outlines. Simple, and surprisingly effective for young children.
- Describe them to a coloring book maker. In BookArc you type the theme in a sentence, choose who it’s for (Kids 4–8 or Kids 8–12 for children) and a style (Bold & easy for big, easy shapes), and edit the page list before anything is drawn. Each page comes out as clean black line art at 300 dpi, the resolution printers need. A book can have as few as 5 designs.
4. Print them properly
- Thick paper. Ordinary copy paper is thin enough for markers to soak through. A heavier paper — around 100–120 gsm (24–32 lb) — holds up to felt-tips and feels like a real book. Check what your printer accepts first.
- One side only. Print each design on its own sheet with nothing on the back, so colors that bleed through spoil nothing.
- Full size, no scaling surprises. Print at “actual size” or “fit to page”, and look at the first page before printing the rest.
- Black only. Line art prints in black ink, so set the printer to grayscale or black to save the color cartridges.
5. Add a cover
A cover is what turns a stack of pages into a present. Print it on card if your printer takes it, and put the child’s name on it: “Emma’s Christmas Coloring Book” is the line they will show everyone. A colored cover with line-art pages inside looks like a shop-bought book.
6. Bind it
- Staples: two staples down the left edge, covered with a strip of washi tape or ribbon. Quick and tidy.
- Ribbon: punch two holes and tie a ribbon through. Pages can be taken out to color flat or hung on the fridge.
- Ring binder or folder: the easiest to add pages to later — print a few more over the holidays.
- A print shop: most copy shops can comb-bind or wire-bind a small book while you wait, for a few dollars.
Wrap it with a box of crayons or felt-tips and it is a complete gift. For more than one child, print a copy for each and swap the name on the cover.
Describe the Christmas they’d love in one sentence. BookArc plans the pages and draws every one, ready to print at home.
See the Christmas coloring book maker