I’m a sucker for anything personalized, I think it’s because I grew up with such an unusual name, I could never find anything with my name on it in the stores. I think back in the Eighties, personalized barrettes, stickers, pencils, notepads, keychains etc. were really popular, more so than they are now (or maybe that’s just my perception of it). I don’t know why I bothered to even look for my name, but I think I secretly hoped it would magically appear – but it never did.
It seems that nowadays it’s easy to have any number of items personalized with not only your name but your likeness or anything else you can design. With digital printing (versus offset printing) making the production of single pieces reasonably priced, we don’t have to order 100 mugs if we only want one. Some of the photo book companies have other custom photo gifts in their product lineups. Shutterfly and Snapfish in particular have lots of photo gifts to choose from. The prices I’ve listed are full retail before discounts, so please note that both sites have been running lots of deals on these gifts recently and you can pay considerably less. In fact Snapfish is running 50% off sitewide for only two days through 12/11/12 (11:59pm PT). Coupon Code: JOYOUS. So that’s going to drastically increase savings on many of these “can’t miss” gifts! CHECK HERE FOR THE LATEST DEALS
I recently ordered two custom mugs from Shutterfly for my folks, featuring photos of Photo Book Baby (their first grandchild) and them. Grandma got one with “I love Grandma” and Grandpa’s naturally says, “I love Grandpa”. I like items that are utilitarian and Grandpa especially enjoys his morning tea, so I thought mugs were a good choice. The images printed out bright and true to color as you can see from the shot I took above. They haven’t been used, since I haven’t given them yet, but I hope they hold up well with use (image on mug by Moonhouse Productions). Stainless steel commuter mugs are also an option for about $20.00.
For those of you who are running short on time and need to get your gifts by Christmas, custom photo gifts that only require one or a few photos are likely easier to complete. I’ve also ordered custom ornaments before – one for a good friend who collects ornaments and decorates a lovely real tree every year.
Besides mugs, some of the favorite items I’ve been contemplating are below.
Let’s not forget the little ones! The following gifts would be great for kids.
Hope you like my picks!
I did not know about these pillowcases! Very cool! And reasonably priced.
How do you order the pillowcases?
Hi Patricia, companies like Shutterfly, Snapfish have pillowcases. You would just upload your jpeg photos and design from there. It’s pretty easy to do and quick.