Coming up with new bedtime stories is harder than I thought

Not sure if anyone else runs into this, but bedtime has become surprisingly repetitive for us.

After a long day, our kids often ask for “a new story,” and most nights we end up reusing the same few or making something up on the fly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

We’ve been experimenting with different ways to make this easier, including using AI, but we’re still figuring out what actually feels right for kids at bedtime.

Curious how other parents handle this.

Do you reuse stories, make them up, or stick to books?