Personalized gifts

by Eszter Hargittai on February 5, 2006

I have a piece over at Lifehacker on unique photo gift ideas. I covered personalized gift cards, movie posters and magazine covers, a memory game from photos, magnets and a few other ideas. I have already given some of these as gifts, not all. I’d be curious to hear what personalized gifts others have given or received that were especially big hits. I enjoy giving gifts to people – and have a bunch of gift-giving occasions coming up -, but prefer the personal touch to the off-the-shelf options. Budget-conscious solutions are especially welcomed.

{ 5 comments }

1

Yaron 02.06.06 at 12:06 pm

It’s also possible to somewhat personalize gifts by inscription/engraving. I gave a few friends wooden chopsticks (not the disposable kind, of course) that had the friend’s name laser-engraved along the sticks, for example, and which were very well received.
In my case I had access to a laser machine at work, but there are plenty of places like novelty shops which carry them and can do this for you.

2

Ketzl Brame 02.06.06 at 1:30 pm

This past Xmas I gave family members a photobook I’d made from my photography and everyone absolutely loved it. My family also makes a family calendar with collages of birthday photos for each month and everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries marked. This calendar has proven to be a key element in preventing disputes over forgotten occasions. I highly recommend it.

3

Eszter 02.06.06 at 1:59 pm

Yaron, thanks. I definitely wasn’t only looking for photo-related ideas. For example, I once gave some personalized wine charms as a wedding gift. I had them created based on things that characterized the bride and the groom and how they met.:)

And yes, personalized calendars can be great. I’ve given those in the past.

4

M. Gordon 02.06.06 at 2:17 pm

I gave my sister and my mother one of these photo personalized “bagettes”, with some of my sister’s artwork on it. Of course, that happens to work well if your sister is an artist. But, if anybody else would like to use her art on a bag, I’m sure we can work something out.

5

kaw 02.06.06 at 4:33 pm

We gave photo magnets this year as stocking stuffers. However, instead of putting photos in magnetic frames, we had them printed onto ceramic tiles: 2 by 2 for a magnet, 4 by 4 for a cork-backed coaster. There’s no real reason why you have to use a photo — any digital art would work.

We used a local printer, http://www.loudeacstudio.com/, but there are probably others that provide the same service.

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