Hardship and Growth
A story by Elizabeth & Danny Stone
Give someone you love the one gift no store can sell.
Everyone who loves them adds a memory, and you gather them all into one book. Free to build.
Start their Memory Book
Free to build and read online • Print from $59 • No account needed
Now showing: Stories in New York
Real sample Books — page through one, then open it to read.
Your words, unedited — no AI rewrites a line.
One price, no subscription.
Ask us to remove anything — we delete it. No account needed.
A real person answers your email.
One gift. Everyone's stories.
Anyone can buy a gift. No one else can gather what you're about to.
Most memory gifts ask one person to write their whole life down. TreeTales asks everyone who loves them for the one story only they carry — the funny one, the one they've never said out loud — while they're all still here to tell it.
- Unlimited contributors
- Stories and photos
- Voice recordings
- No account required
- Contribute from any device
Perfect for life's biggest moments.
Birthdays
Fill their day with the voices of everyone who loves them.
Retirement
Send off a whole career with stories from the people who lived it alongside them.
Anniversaries
Honor a lifetime together with memories from everyone who was there.
Parents & Grandparents
Gather their stories in their own words — while they're still here to tell them.
Graduations
Send them into the next chapter with words from everyone who got them here.
Memorial Tributes
Gather the memories of a whole life into one tribute the family can hold.
This is what they'll read.
One page from a 70th-birthday Memory Book, gathered from the people who know the guest of honor best. Every Book fills with pages like this one — in the family's own words.
· Illustrative example
Saturday mornings in her kitchen
Every Saturday started the same way — flour on the counter, the radio turned low, and her hands working the dough like they had a hundred times before. She never measured a thing. She just knew, she said, when it felt right.
I didn't realize I was learning something I'd want to keep forever. I only knew the kitchen smelled like home, and that she was happiest there, teaching me to be patient with the rising.
— a niece
Gathered from 26 people · 89 memories · 47 photos · built in 10 days
An illustration of what's possible — not a specific customer, project, or claimed result.
How it works
No chasing people. No complicated setup.
- 1
Start a project for someone you love.
Create a Memory Book centered on the person you're celebrating — and the Occasion you're marking.
- 2
Invite everyone with one link.
Family, friends, and coworkers add their memories — no account, no chasing.
- 3
Everyone answers a few guided prompts.
Each person shares the stories, photos, and voice recordings only they can — one gentle Prompt at a time. Never a blank page, never writer's block.
- 4
Read your finished Book online — free.
TreeTales organizes every memory into one clean, readable Memory Book you can read and share online at no cost.
- 5
Print it as a keepsake when you're ready.
Order a softcover ($59) or hardcover ($99) to give and keep. Print isn't live yet — join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment it opens.
Start their Memory Book
Free to build and read online • No account needed
When it's ready, hold it in your hands.
Every memory your family gathers becomes a page — everyone's own words, kept exactly as they wrote them. Read the whole Book online, free. When you're ready, hold it as a printed keepsake: softcover $59 or hardcover $99.
Reserve a printed copy →
Print isn't live yet — join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment you can order.
A Life in Stories
For Grandma Rose
A memory to keep
The Kitchen Table
as told by Priya
Every big decision in our family got made at that kitchen table — chipped edge and all. Dad would pour the tea, and somehow the hardest news always landed softer once we were all sitting around it.
When they finally replaced it, we kept a corner of the old one. It still smells faintly of Sunday mornings.
How your Book reads online.
Easier than organizing a group card.
- Setup takes minutes
- No writing skills needed — every prompt does the asking
- Everyone contributes on their own schedule
- We organize it all for you
Why I Created TreeTales
TreeTales began with a question I wish I had asked sooner. After my grandfather passed away, I found myself thinking about all the stories I never had the chance to hear. The details of his childhood. The challenges he faced. The moments that shaped the person I knew as my grandfather.
I realized that while we often inherit photographs, heirlooms, and family records, the stories behind them can quietly disappear.
Around the same time, one of my closest friends was watching his mother battle dementia.
As her memories faded, it became clear how fragile our stories can be.
Not because they're unimportant. But because life moves quickly, and we rarely think to preserve them until we wish we had.
Yet I also learned something important. Many people aren't looking to write a memoir. Families don't always have the time, comfort, or desire to sit down and document an entire life story. What they will do is share a memory. A funny moment. A lesson they learned. A story they've never forgotten.
That's the idea behind TreeTales. Instead of asking one person to tell their entire story, TreeTales brings together the people who know and love them. Family members. Friends. Coworkers. Children. Grandchildren. Each person contributes a small piece of the story. Together, those memories become something bigger than any one person could create alone — a keepsake filled with the voices, experiences, and moments that make a life meaningful.
My hope is simple: that TreeTales helps people celebrate someone they love while they're still here to enjoy it. And that it helps preserve the stories we never want to lose.
Oscar Garcia
Founder, TreeTales
Questions families ask
The things people wonder before they start
What if barely anyone contributes?
Even a few stories make a real Book — you don't need a crowd. The prompts do the asking for you, so people just answer a question instead of facing a blank page. And you can add your own memories too, so there's always something on the pages.
Can I keep it a surprise?
Yes. Plenty of families do — simply don't invite the person the Book is about. Everyone else gathers their memories quietly, and you share the finished keepsake when the moment is right.
Will my 84-year-old aunt be able to manage it?
Almost certainly. Contributors don't create an account or install anything — they tap one link and share a memory, right in their web browser, on a phone, tablet, or computer.
How much does it really cost?
Building and reading the whole Book online is free, with no page limit — write as many memories as your family fills. You only pay if you'd like it printed: a softcover keepsake is $59, hardcover $99. Print isn't live yet, so we're taking names — join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment you can order.
Is it right for a memorial?
Yes. A memorial is one of the occasions TreeTales is made for — a gentle way for family and friends to gather the stories of someone you've lost, in their own words. There's no rush; add memories whenever they come to you.
Start it today. Give it when it matters most.
Birthdays end. Retirement parties end. The stories people share last forever.
Free to build and read online • Invite contributors with one link • No account needed