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.

I suppose that it should come as no surprise that a recent survey from iCongo and Harris Interactive revealed that one-third of Americans are turning to online shopping instead of heading out to the stores themselves. When you think about it, this makes perfect sense. If it costs $3.75 to put one gallon of gas in your car–and online retailers like Overstock charge about $3 for shipping–why would you ever get in the car? (Note: Overstock is offering free shipping for orders placed before May 6th!)

Other surveys have shown the other kinds of effect rising gas prices have had on Americans. We are eating out less, combining trips instead of doing back-and-forth errands, and we’re spending less overall.

It dawned on me last week that I might have to give up my ShopRite at Home habit now that gas prices have shot through the roof. For awhile I was saving $20 to $30 on groceries by ordering my groceries online via ShopRite.com and then driving to pick them up, instead of going to my local Giant supermarket. Sure, I was driving 15 to 20 minutes to get to ShopRite, versus the five minutes it would take to get to Giant, but the savings more than made up for the convenience.

Now, I’m not so sure. I spend more than those savings in gas.

I think it’s time to look into supermarkets that will deliver groceries for me (ShopRite doesn’t to my area), or whether I should just plan on shopping locally for the time being. At least my CSA opens for business next week so I can plan on not having to shop for produce for the next 12 weeks. In between, perhaps I’ll just walk to the supermarket every day and shop European style–where I pick up just what I need for that night’s dinner with each trip. That shouldn’t be too heavy to schlep home. And I know it will be good for the environment.

How have the rising gas prices affected how you shop?

By all estimations (and the IRS website), my husband and I should have received our economic stimulus check direct-deposited into our account yesterday. So far, my bank balance hasn’t changed.

Regardless of when the money shows up, here’s my quandary: I’m uncertain how I’m going to spend that money. In fact, I’m a bit annoyed that it’s assumed that I will spend the money at all. I realize that the reason the government is issuing these checks is to stimulate the economy, but I feel a bit like a sheep cowering inside the fence, with retail wolves waiting with forks and knives at the ready to dig in to my money.

According to a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey, these checks should bring $43 million into our stagnating economy–with four out of 10 families spending the checks immediately. The rest? Here’s what people will be doing with those rebate checks: “to pay down debt ($30.0 billion), saved ($19.8 billion), invested ($4.4 billion), and used to pay down medical bills ($4.6 billion),” so says the NRF.

From what I can see in the news, retailers are jockeying for position to get their share of our rebate checks like those aforementioned wolves. I just found out that ShopRite will give you a 10% “bonus” if you cash your stimulus check at the store and redeem it for ShopRite gift cards. In other words, if you get a $1,200 check and bring it to ShopRite, you’ll get a ShopRite gift card worth $1,320. The store will offer a similar deal if you bring in a regular old tax refund check.

Not a bad idea if you’d like a little extra help buying your groceries but not completely fair–we get our tax refund checks direct deposited into our checking account. I’m assuming the stimulus check will show up the same way. So what’s a direct-deposited family to do? Bring in a bank statement for the same deal?

Other retailers that aren’t interested in getting into the stimulus check-cashing business are “coincidentally” dropping their prices in hopes that you’ll come in with your check and shop. This CNN story tells how Home Depot is going after “green” consumers by offering discounts on energy-efficient supplies purchased with an economic-stimulus check. Hmm, that’s might be worth looking into…

Truthfully, we will probably fall into one of two categories once we have our check in hand–or in our bank account: we’ll use it to pay down debt (we’re so close to being able to pay off that new car we bought last summer) or will just roll it over into savings.

What about you? What are you considering doing with your stimulus check?

One of the ways that I keep my family on track is with a giant family calendar. It’s actually one of the oversized, at-a-glance calendars that fit inside a desk blotter and which are meant to be used, well, on a desk. I have mine standing upright in a cookbook holder and in a prominent place where everyone can see it–by the entrance to the kitchen.

Last year when I need to buy a new calendar for 2008, I made the decision to purchase a “green” one of these desk blotter calendars, and what I ended up with was actually green (and color) and green (made from recycled-content paper). I didn’t care which company made it or how much it cost–what I was looking for was a product that I needed and which I could feel good about purchasing.

Turns out I’m not alone in making these kinds of decisions. Recently, I read about a new survey of consumers and their purchasing habits, and it showed this: more than eight times out of 10, people like myself will choose to buy the product that is somehow eco-friendly, even if it’s a brand we don’t normally choose or it costs a bit more.

The report went on to say that this is why that companies that want to avoid charges of greenwashing would be smart to put information about their “green” connection where consumers can see them. (This goes along with why I was disappointed that Seventh Generation cleaning products didn’t clearly label that their containers were made from recycled plastic, yet if you search the company’s website, you find out they are. Consumers shouldn’t have to work this hard to find out this information.)

Another report showed that because “green” has become such a saturated term, marketers and product-makers do better reaching consumers if they specify their so-called green product’s connection–using terms like made from recycled products, biodegradable or locally grown.

All of this should bode well for the newly announced partnership between TerraCycle (a company grown from worm poop, literally) and OfficeMax. Together, they will be offer office and school supplies made from recycled materials. Some of the first of these products to hit Office Max shelves include binders made from recycled goods (below) and pencil cases made from recycled juice pouches (above).

Though I try to be as frugal as possible with school supplies, especially during the back-to-school season, I might just have to spend a little bit more for these eco-friendly products the next time we need something from a store like Office Max.

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Starbucks “net income fell 28 percent during the second fiscal quarter,” leading the company to reduce the number of stores it will open in the coming years. This link to a Financial Post story (since I don’t have an online Wall Street Journal subscription and can’t provide a link to the story I’ve mentioned above) shows that though net income is down, it still was $108.7 million for this coffee giant.

That’s why it’s not all “don’t cry for me Cafe Estima (blend)” for Starbucks. The company currently has 1,800 locations in the U.S. alone and a robust business overseas. (Full disclosure: I’ve been a spokesperson for Starbucks in the past, during national media tours.)

But you just have to wonder if the green movement, coupled with the impending recession, has had something to do with customers turning elsewhere for their java jolt. Here’s some food for thought on that topic:

* A person who brews her own large cup of coffee at home instead of ordering a tall regular coffee at Starbucks, costing about $2.05 before work each day, saves, on average, about $533 a year. And that’s assuming that she doesn’t choose any of the fancy-schmancy lattes or whatever that cost upwards of $3.

* If you can’t give up your Starbucks habit but want to avoid using disposable cups, bringing your own mug for coffee each day will allow you not to throw out something like 260 cups in a year. (I wonder how tall a tower of 260 cups would be?) Starbucks offers a discount to those who come in toting their own mugs.

* Unless you live within walking distance of a Starbucks, which is likely possible for most New Yorkers, since there are 171 Starbucks in Manhattan (see how one filmmaker attempted to visit all of them in a single, 24-hour period), you have to drive to it. If you cut out that trip each morning (assuming that it’s not on your way to work), you’ll not only save money on the coffee you didn’t buy but also on the fuel you won’t have to use.

* Speaking of fuel, coffee is more expensive than gas. Where I live a gallon of gas costs $3.69. A Starbucks medium sized, er, venti latte, is about $4. But that’s $4 for 16 ounces. To get a gallon, I’ve got to get up to 128 ounces (16 oz. X 4=128) , which means I have to multiply $4 by 8, giving me a $32/gallon coffee habit. No thanks.

Perhaps Starbucks’ allure has finally started to wane. I mean, New York magazine recently asked a panel of “coffee geeks” what they would do to fix Starbucks. Nonetheless, I’ll have to admit that if I’m traveling and desperately need a cup of coffee in the airport, I’m going to head over to Starbucks because of the convenience and reliability factor.

ADDENDUM: On May 2, 2008, Wawa, the local coffee purveyor and convenience store in my area, announced that it was raising coffee prices by $.06. Doesn’t sound like much, but considering that Wawa says it sells 165 million cups of coffee each year, that $.06 is going to add up to an extra $9.9 million in Wawa’s coffers.