Are you looking for something really special to give a loved one? Does it seem like the occasion requires more than just a card or a gift in a box? From a Birdie is neat service that makes it easy to commemorate these special occasions by collecting personal letters to your loved one from friends and family all over the world.

Here’s how it works: From a Birdie lets you create a private, password protected website to hold your album of letters. You also provide the email address of the person the letters are intended for, and choose the date that you want them to receive their letters. Then, you distribute the URL and the password to friends and relatives. They use the information to sign in, write a letter, and upload pictures.

On the date you selected, the person gets an email with a link to the album.  The album stays up for 60 days by default, although you can ask the From a Birdie crew to keep it up longer if necessary.

This is a great way to do something special for a friend or relative.  Of course, they will probably want a permanent copy of the letters, too, and you certainly don’t want all the effort involved in creating the album to disappear into the ether after a couple of months. From a Birdie will put them into either a paperback or a hardback book if the recipient requests it and pays for it, although if you have the URL and password, it seems like you could also order a copy yourself to give to the recipient.

Using the service to create an online album is free, but the price of an album depends on how many letters, pictures, etc are included.  I understand it’s hard to predict that ahead of time, but it would be nice if there were some guidelines on the From a Birdie site, like an average price per page, to give you an idea of what you’re getting into if you intend to purchase a hard copy. Some other options for saving the letters (downloads, CDs, etc) would also be nice, I think.

The other downside is that the delivery method is by email, so older relatives might not get it (then again, they might-my grandfather checks his email pretty regularly. My husband’s grandmother, not so much).  I suppose you could get around this by listing your own email address as the recipient’s, setting the delivery date well in advance of the special occasion, and then ordering a hard copy to give to them.

Other than that, the concept is innovative, the user interface is nice and the service could be quite useful if you need to do something special for a loved one.

What do you think of  it?

Our Rating of From a Birdie

Tags: Lifestyle

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