Christmas is rapidly approaching and everyone is starting to feel the frenzy of gift buying.  What do I get my parents?  Do I send out cards this year?  If you are looking for some 2020 photo Christmas gift ideas, look no further!

Have you recently had family photos taken and now you don’t know what to do with them?  You have already done all of the hard work in picking out outfits, location, photographer and more so let’s use those photos to make gifts for your family.  Parents and grandparents especially love getting photo related gifts for Christmas!

Christmas Cards

This is the age old problem.  We have photos taken so we can send out Christmas cards and then…..it takes forever to design them and it is overwhelming and expensive and we give up.  Been there!  Done that!  I have two solutions for you.

1. Have me design them for you!  Send me the photo you want to use and the information you want included and I will mock up 3 different designs for you.  Then we can tweak it to make it exactly what you want.  I order them and they are shipped to your house in 24-48 hours.  Easy peasy.  Here is the one I designed for my family last year.

2. I have found a new company that allows you to design your own cards cheaper than some of the bigger internet sites and they have so many designs that are easily customizable.  I ordered some samples so I could ensure the process was easy and had plenty of options to choose from and it was amazing! All 5 of these cards were designed in less than an hour and they were shipped to me in less than 4 days!  So if you are looking for a Christmas invite template, personalized holiday cards or cheap Christmas cards you might want to look into Basic Invites.  Their holiday cards are 30% off right now!  Check out the cute samples I ordered!

Canvas

A canvas is always the first thing I order after I have my own family pictures taken.  Personally, I order 20×30 canvases for our house and they bring me joy to look at EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Seriously, it is the best investment.  There are a lot of canvas companies out there that are really cheap and I realize that not everyone can afford a really nice canvas.  However, the cheap ones….you can tell they are cheap.  If you are spending less than $100 on a canvas you probably shouldn’t be.  The canvas is more like fabric and it often looks really “holey” and you can kind of see through it.  Also, often they aren’t finished on the sides and/or back leaving plain wood showing.  So just beware when you are ordering.  If you are looking for a canvas for your wall, think of it like a piece of art with your favorite people on it and it will be worth the investment. I would be happy to help you out if you need someone to order you a professional canvas that will last for years without breaking down or fading.

Photo Books

Everyone loves photo books.  They are the scrapbooks of 2020.  However, if you have ever tried to design a photo book, you know that it takes FOREVER.  Then when it comes time to order, it is appalling how much they cost (even with a discount).  Again, let me encourage you that they are worth the effort and cost!  My kids love to look at themselves when they were younger (as do most people) and look at all of the fun things we did when they were kids.  Places like Shutterfly and Snapfish are good options although I have found their designing process a little difficult.  As a professional photographer, I have designed tons of books for clients for weddings, babies, mother’s day gifts and more.  So if you want to hand the designing part over to a professional, I would be happy to help you out!  The quality is much better, it is more professional and they make for fabulous gifts that will help make memories live on forever (and often they are the same price as one you would design yourself).

Brag Books

Brag books are my most popular order from senior sessions.  These adorable little books are only $40 and you can’t really find them anywhere else.  They are perfect gifts for grandparents or for your shelves at home!  Here is one of my family (circa 2015).  They are double sided 3″ by 3″ accordion books that close with a magnet and can include 5-10 photos.  The covers come in tons of colors and I hand design them for you.  Once they are ordered, they ship directly to you within 24-48 hours!

Prints

Raise your hand if you had photos taken in the last year and they are just sitting on your hard drive.  Don’t let this happen to you!  Print your photos!  Professional prints are so important as they perfectly match what you see on your screen.  Have you ever printed photos at Walgreens or a one hour photo and they have a weird green, red or yellow tint?  Professional printers are color calibrated so that doesn’t happen!  They also have UV coating so they don’t fade over the years.  Trust me, they are worth a little bit of extra money especially if you are going to display them in a frame or on your walls.  My prints are only $20 for any size up to 8×10.  Want a really easy gift idea that is sure to be a hit?  Get a professional print and then pick up a cute frame for 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  Done and done.

Yard Signs

2020 brought us so many challenges including how to honor big accomplishments.  It looks like 2021 might be the same!  Last spring, I made over 600 yard signs for local graduates.  If you have a 2021 graduate, you might think about getting them a sign!  My new signs are slightly larger (18″x27″) and are double sided!  Click here if you want to order one.  I can ship them all over the country with ease.  Here is an example of the sign (and the sign that started it all).

Other Ideas

For as long as I can remember, I have designed photo calendars for our moms for Christmas.  It is always their favorite gift and as soon as it is opened, everyone wants to take a peek!  Again, it takes time to design, but it is well worth it!  Other photo gift ideas might include ornaments, mousepads, digital frames, coffee mugs and more!

We still have a few weeks until the shopping frenzy begins so start now and get something that will make your wife, mom, kids and the rest of your family smile!  Let me know if I can help you in any way!

*This is a sponsored post but the content is based on my honest opinions.