Everybody loves photos and photo gifts! But there’s always that one person on your Holiday shopping list that REALLY loves photos. Grandparents especially want photos of their kids and grandkids, and the Under 21 crowd loves photos of their friends!
Here’s some of my favorite photo gifts:
Digital Photo Frame
This could quite possibly be the best gift ever. I personally gave this to my ex-husband and his wife last year, and they absolutely positively LOVED IT (and still do!). While parents and grandparents do have lots of STUFF hanging around, this is NOT something that gets put away in a closet – it’s out all the time, on the table besides the couch, perhaps – always being enjoyed.
I made a video review of it and how it works, check it out:
Here is a link to the exact one I purchased on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xjeBfd
Mixtiles
I discovered these this year (probably a Facebook ad LOL) and decided to try them out. They are square format 8 inches x 8 inches, are very lightweight, and they just stick to your wall (no nails needed!) and they’re small, so cell phone photos print out great on them. I’ve also found that they stick pretty well to slightly textured walls, too. And they come off with no wall damage (sort of like Command strips). They kind of have a ‘cheap’ feel to them; definitely not a high-end product. But still look really cool in groupings!
The colors are beautiful and true-to-life. They’re not printed on real photo paper, though, more like on cardstock, so they’re probably not archival. You can get them in white or black frames, with or without a mat. I personally love the white frames with no mat.
I think these would be perfect for college students or apartment dwellers or anyone who can’t put holes in their walls to hang up photos! Create a gallery for someone as a holiday gift, or they are selling gift cards for the holidays! Their usual price is $11 each.
Ideas for collages: vacation photos, friends and family, sports or other activities, holidays
Pro tip: Get on their mailing list and you’ll get emails for discounts all the time. I’ve seen them for as much as 60% off! Their Black Friday special is 16 tiles for $109.
Their website shows lots of ideas on arrangements and style. Here’s a wall that me and my fiancee created with Mixtiles in his Bermuda apartment (with crappy textured walls) of scenes from Bermuda (mostly cell phone photos!)
The Heart Snapshot from Minted.com
This website has really beautiful art and unusual products for photos. One of my favorite products is their “Heart Snapshot Mix“. I think this would be a lovely gift for a family with young kids. It holds about 30 photos. The images are small in the artpiece, so cell phone photos should work great. A whole bunch of photos like this can look ‘chaotic’ so make sure they’re all exposed properly, clear and sharp, and with good contrast, and I would even suggest going all black & white. If you do go with this product, go as big as your budget will allow since the photos are all so small in it.
Of course there’s lots of other products you could make with photos on Minted, too! Check them out!
Books
I came across this book while in Bermuda last month. I was checking out the new St. Regis Hotel, and wandered into an ‘office’ that is for guests, with an iMac sitting on a desk and the walls covered with bookshelves and books. I only wish my office was like this! I was struck with how the books all blended in with the decor and color scheme of the hotel. But this particular book caught my eye – called “Beaches” – it’s a photo coffee table book of aerial photos of beaches from around the world. Pretty cool! It’s really beautiful, graphic and nice eye-candy – and it’s a gift for the person who loves to vacation at the beach, and who already has pretty much everything. Do you know anyone like that?
Gift Certificate for a Photo Session
You knew this was coming, right? 😉
This is a way to make a promise to a loved one who is always asking for a family photo, or even a gift for a soon-to-be high school senior. I offer eGift Certificates for Dollar amounts, or a custom certificate that could say, for example, “Family Beach Session and 16×20 Wall Portrait” if you want to really be specific on what you’re giving.
You can email the eGift Certificate to yourself, or I can email you a certificate (or mail you one), then you can frame and wrap it, or put it in an envelope and put inside a stocking.
Right now eGift Certificates are 25% off (no code needed!) through Cyber Monday (November 29th).
I hope this gave you some ideas or sparked some different ideas for your holiday gift-giving this year, or any time of year!