Tuesday, May 6th, 2008...10:12 pm
Mother's Day Gifts Are a Snap(fish)
One of my favorite go-to gifts for a parent is a picture of that parent’s child, or in the case of grandparents, their grandchildren. These make perfect gifts for Christmas, birthdays, and occasions like Mother’s and Father’s Day.
In fact, on many a Mother’s Day, our gift to my mother in law was a sweatshirt with a picture of my daughters on the front, affixed with an ironed-on decal. I’d print the picture out from my computer onto special iron-on-transfer paper that I’d put in my color printer. Then, when the ink was dry, I would literally iron-on the picture to the front of the sweatshirt. Note: the decal stays longer if you wash the sweatshirt before the ironing-on process. (I learned this the hard way.) Bottom line: this was a personal and frugal gift to give.
If we left gifts to the last minute, a kid’s picture in a nice frame was always the perfect gift. I’ve been on the receiving end of photo gifts as well. One Mother’s Day I got a coffee mug with my kids’ mugshot on it–something I have on my desk to this day.
I just got this press release from the folks at Snapfish about creative photo gifts you can get this Mother’s Day through the company’s website. Here are two nifty ideas from that release, each under $50:
* Sterling Silver Jewelry
Put a smile on Mom’s face by combining two of her favorite things–family photos and jewelry! Snapfish users can easily and affordably turn family photos into wearable art by personalizing a sterling silver bracelet or necklace with photos that will warm her heart for less than $40 (a great project dad and child can do together). Additionally, the custom jewelry comes beautifully packaged in a presentation gift box.
* Photo Books
What better way to make Mom feel special than to create a photo book full of favorite snapshots capturing your family’s memorable moments? Snapfish offers a full line of photo books in a range of sizes, covers and designs to celebrate Mom. Photo book prices range from $4.99 to $49.99. These professionally-bound books let you tell your stories by using your personal photos to illustrate all the special memories made with Mom. Snapfish’s latest additions to its line of photo books include Signature Photo Books – 12 x 12-inches starting at $49.99, and Storybooks with personalized dust jackets – 8 x 8-inches starting at $24.99.
I order my holiday cards from Snapfish, so I can vouch first-hand how easy the service is to use. Plus, keeping my photos organized online or turning them into a memory book like the one mentioned above (which, by the way, looks like something a professional photographer would have produced without the professional photographer’s price tag) is way better than the shoeboxes of photos I’ve got around the house and which I’ve yet to put into albums.
What I also like about Snapfish is, unlike photo services from the past, where you’re developing rolls and rolls of film with tons of outtakes that just end up in the trash, you can pick and choose only the photos you like and avoid waste. And by ordering online, you’re saving yourself the gas you would spend driving to a place like CVS to print out photos.
So here’s some good news: if you think you might want to order a gift from Snapfish in the near future, they’ve given me 10 “gift cards” to give away. Each gift card, which I will have to snail mail to you, is worth 50 free prints. (I realize that the cards won’t get to you in time for Mother’s Day, but maybe you can try them out for Father’s Day?)
I will give them away to the first 10 people who post comments below on their favorite gift either given or received. I will need to be able to email you for your snailmail address so, if you’re comfortable doing so, include it in your comment as “john dot doe at email dot com” (or whatever your name and address are) so spam bots can’t get it, or email me privately after you’ve posted your comment.
Can’t wait to read about your past gift successes, and hope this Snapfish giveaway helps you to have future gift successes this year as well.
A favorite gift of mine was a card from my mom telling me what a great mom she thought I’d become.
Well, I have to say that my favorite gift I’ve ever received was a gift certificate for a local Bed & Breakfast. It was given to my husband and me right after our second child was born. It’s taken us two years, but we’re finally ready to leave our kids for the night and enjoy a quiet evening. But a gift like that is out of our budget to give for Mother’s Day for the 5 or 6 mothers, grandmothers, godmothers that we celebrate. So I generally like to give consumable gifts. This year it’s homemade granola. I’ve also given potted herb gardens, bath scrubs, fancy cookies, or specialty sauces/salsas. A little creativity, online searching, and time in the kitchen (with aforementioned kids) goes a long way! (I’m at kerimiddaugh(at)hotmail(dot)com.)
My absolutely favorite Mother’s Day gift was a home-made breakfast given to me by my husband and two little boys several years ago. They all worked so hard on it and were SO proud to present it to me in bed……..stuffed french toast from a recipe found in
Family Fun magazine and my morning-favorite, diet Coke on the rocks!
I am amygdunn at gmail dot com. Happy Mother’s Day to all.
Not a parent myself, but my favorite gift to my mom was a canvas bag that my sister and I painted with hideous neon flowers and a mother’s day message in very shaky handwriting. It’s still floating around my parents’ house somewhere, and now I think it’s really cute, if, um, ugly.
Email is black.violet, using g.m.a.i.l. Thanks!
My favorite gift to give from sites like Snapfish are Photo books. Most sites have program, where you upload the photos, arrange them on the page, add captions or text. They let you choose all the small details too, like the front cover color and texture. I’ve given several of these of gifts, and have always brought a tear to the receiver’s eye.
You can reach me at jahankin at “gmail” dot com.
The Mommy:
That’s an awesome gift. I’ve heard that at the end of the school year, a card to your child’s teacher telling him or her what a great experience your child had that year is the best gift you can give a teacher.
Leah
Amy:
Can you send your family around to my house this Sunday? I’d love to be served stuffed French toast in bed!
Leah
Violet:
One of the best gifts I ever gave to my husband was a t-shirt my daughter and I had painted for Father’s Day. It included her little foot prints and “My daddy lets me walk all over him” written on the bottom. 12 years later he still has it, though it’s starting to fray.
Leah
Secret Agent:
I’m glad to hear that you’ve had a positive experience with these photo books. I think they’re awesome, too.
Leah
My little girl is only 9 months old, so I don’t have a lot of experience with receiving mother’s day gifts. But what I tend to give my mother is help with something – like a gift certificate for an hour’s worth of housework or something similar. I agree with the previous commenters that gifts that mean something are better than “just more stuff”.
I’m inkirbrown at gmail.