The Short Years alternative: The Short Years vs Kiddings for a baby book

A guided first-year book and an ongoing childhood journal solve different jobs

By Kiddings • Facts checked September 29, 2026

Disclosure: Kiddings wrote this comparison. We reviewed public official information from The Short Years and Kiddings on September 29, 2026. Prices, shipping, features, and availability can change.

Methodology: We compared official public information about prompts, age range, media, multi-child use, keepsake output, and advertised pricing. We did not use private accounts, paid plans, sponsored placements, or invented keyword-volume data.

The Short Years and Kiddings can both help an unfinished baby book become something more useful than a decorative source of guilt. They take very different routes.

The Short Years combines an app with a physical binder. Weekly reminders prompt parents to answer questions and add photos; completed chapters are printed and shipped as pages for the book. Kiddings is an ongoing structured childhood-story journal: Quotes, Questions, Moments, and Milestones are first-class entries tied to the child, exact age, and date, then selected later for a print-ready PDF if wanted.

One begins with the book. The other begins with the living archive.

The short answer

Choose The Short Years if your main goal is a polished physical baby book, you want guided first-year prompts, and you like receiving printed pages as chapters are completed.

Choose Kiddings if you want to keep structured stories beyond the first year, include multiple children in one family system, backdate older memories, search and curate entries, or choose your own printer and format rather than begin with one physical-book service.

If you want a book on the shelf by the first birthday, The Short Years is unusually focused. If your seven-year-old is currently explaining the legal framework for bedtime, Kiddings has the longer runway.

What this comparison covers

• The main difference
• Where The Short Years is strongest
• Where Kiddings differs
• Feature comparison
• Pricing
• Which one to choose
• Frequently asked questions

The main difference

The Short Years is a guided baby-book service. Its app sends weekly reminders, asks questions, collects photos and even links videos through QR codes on printed pages. After each three completed chapters, the company says it prints and ships the pages for the binder at no additional cost.

Kiddings is not centered on a fixed first-year book template. Parents can add a Quote, Question, Moment, or Milestone at any age, backdate older stories, keep separate child profiles, and view entries together or by child. Each entry retains the child's exact age and can later be searched, filtered, tagged, favorited, and selected for a keepsake. Photos, video, and voice can support the story when useful.

The Short Years turns a defined set of answers into a defined object. Kiddings keeps an evolving story and lets the parent decide what belongs in the keepsake.

Where The Short Years is strongest

The Short Years offers a clear finish line. Its public site says the baby book contains 119 pages and space for more than 350 photos from the first year. Weekly prompts and sample answers reduce the blank-page problem, while progressive page shipments let the book take shape before every chapter is done.

Its official strengths include:

• Weekly reminders and guided questions
• A purpose-built first-year baby book
• Photos placed into designed printed pages
• QR codes that link to videos
• Pages printed and shipped after each three completed chapters
• An optional Toddler Years add-on extending coverage to age five
• A physical, handcrafted binder made in the United States

For a parent who wants one specific heirloom and does not want to design it, this focus is valuable. There are fewer decisions because the product has already made many of them.

Where Kiddings differs

Kiddings is more open-ended. There is no requirement to complete chapters or follow an age-based book sequence. A parent can record one line today, add an older story with its original date tomorrow, and ignore the app for a week without leaving a designed spread visibly unfinished.

It is also intended for a broader range of childhood stories and ages. Quotes, Questions, Moments, and Milestones remain searchable first-class entries rather than inputs to a fixed layout. The child and exact age stay attached; multiple children can appear in combined and per-child views; and parents can invite selected relatives as viewers or contributors. Those relatives see only entries explicitly marked Fam.

Kiddings is currently free and ad-free. Parents curate selected memories into a print-ready PDF, download it, and can choose an online printer or neighborhood print shop. That gives them control over printer, paper, format, quantity, and timing and may influence cost. It is not a guarantee of a cheaper result: price and quality vary by printer, region, paper, format, binding, and shipping. Kiddings does not order or ship a physical book.

The Short Years vs Kiddings feature comparison

The Short Years facts are from its official home page, FAQ, product page, and Google Play listing.

Pricing checked September 29, 2026

The Short Years listed its Baby Book from US$129. Its site says the app is free and that printing and shipping completed chapter pages are included after the book purchase. Optional add-ons, accessories, replacement items, and international arrangements can cost more.

The public offer is strongly US-oriented: the books are described as handcrafted in the United States, and price and fulfillment details may differ outside the US. Confirm shipping eligibility, taxes, delivery costs, and current package contents before ordering.

Kiddings was free and ad-free. Parents receive a print-ready PDF rather than a physical book and shipped pages.

Which one should you choose?

Choose The Short Years if

• A finished physical first-year baby book is the main outcome.
• Weekly prompts and a fixed chapter structure will help you finish.
• You value designed pages and progressive printing.
• The upfront price and shipping terms work in your region.
• You prefer not to arrange printing yourself.

Choose Kiddings if

• You want an ongoing story journal rather than a first-year project.
• Quotes, Questions, Moments, and Milestones should remain distinct.
• Multiple children, exact-age context, and combined/per-child timelines matter.
• Search, filters, tags, favorites, backdating, and later curation matter.
• You want a free app and the freedom to choose how, where, and when the PDF is printed.

Who should not switch

Do not abandon The Short Years if the physical binder is exactly the object you want and the guided workflow is helping you complete it. Kiddings does not ship an equivalent book.

Do not move from Kiddings expecting The Short Years to function as an open-ended, searchable journal for every age. Its strength is its defined baby-book outcome.

There is no verified automatic migration between the services. Preserve original files and confirm what remains accessible before changing any workflow.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kiddings a free alternative to The Short Years?

Kiddings is free and ad-free, but the output differs. The Short Years sells a physical binder with printed pages. Kiddings lets parents select childhood stories and export a print-ready PDF for an online printer or local shop. Kiddings does not order or ship the book, and independent printing is not necessarily cheaper because specifications and local costs vary.

Can I use The Short Years after the first birthday?

The Short Years says parents can complete a baby book later, and it offers a Toddler Years add-on to age five. Check current compatibility and ordering details for your situation.

Does Kiddings send weekly baby-book prompts?

Weekly guided prompts are not a verified Kiddings feature. Kiddings instead provides four entry types for self-directed capture.

Can both products include video?

Yes, differently. The Short Years says printed pages can include QR codes that link to videos. Kiddings supports video within digital memory entries.

Which is better for siblings?

The Short Years produces a separate physical book workflow for each child. Kiddings supports multiple child profiles in one app with combined and per-child views. The better option depends on whether you want matching individual books or a shared family archive.

Start with the thing you want to hold onto

Choose The Short Years if the desired object is already clear: a designed baby book you can lift from the shelf.

Choose Kiddings if the desired habit is clearer than the final object: keep the stories now, then decide what to print later.

You can download Kiddings and save one memory before it becomes “something funny they used to say.” If the baby-book backlog is already staring at you, read how to catch up on a baby book when you're behind and how to turn family memories into a keepsake book.