17 Unique Personalized Photo Gifts Anyone Will Love

Ordering personalized photo gifts online doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it should be one of your go-to gifts every year. Anyone can give a new skillet, cashmere sweater, or tea pot—anyone. The most special gift you can give are creative gifts with photos.

A favorite vacation, an anniversary dinner, a grandchild’s best drawing all make for great pictures to put onto unusual photo gifts. By giving a unique photo gift, you’re essentially giving two gifts: the item that has the photo on it, as well as the special memory.

Here are 17 ideas for unique personalized photo gifts anyone will love.

1. Easel calendar

Everyone gets a wall calendar from their alma mater or a charity they gave to, but an personalized easel calendar is truly special. A working mom or dad or college student can enjoy their favorite memories on their desk or on the window sill above the kitchen sink. Shutterfly offers a wide variety of design styles for their photo easel calendars. Make one here.

2. Tote bag

It can go with you everywhere—the bookstore, the farmers’ market, yoga—so why not a tote bag into something personal? This is a gift that’s especially great for friends, teens, or couples with a special trip to remember. Make one here.

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3. Socks

Sentimental but funny photo gifts are possible: make custom photo socks as a gift. Siblings, friends, and pet lovers will appreciate this the most. Just pick the best (or funniest!) picture of each friend or sibling’s face or of the family pet, and follow the customization instructions to have your photo socks made. Make them here.

4. Canvas collage

A photo print as a gift goes from standard to special when you style it into a big square collage on canvas. This is a moment to tell a photo story, using four photos that evoke a moment or memory. The best photos from a special vacation, a girl’s trip, a 10-year relationship—this set of photos tells a story. And printed on canvas, it’s big and professional-looking enough to be featured in a home. Make one here.

5. Mug

A custom photo mug is a great gift, especially during these times: everyone is drinking their coffee and tea at home! Put on a photo of the family dog, a favorite vacation together, or a goofy photo of the grandkids. Make one here.

6. Wall display

Perfect for kids, teens, college students, and recent grads, a cool photo wall display makes for a great gift. It’s versatile enough to go in any space, and they can change the photos as they continue to make memories. Go ahead and print out the first set of photos for them; ask for photos from parents or siblings as well to get a nice variety of captured moments. Order one here.

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7. Photo book

The most unique, personalized photo gift you can give to anyone is a photo book. A photo book isn’t an album—that’s just a compilation of photos in order. A photo book tells a photo story;  it describes an event or series of events or a chapter of one’s life with photos, memorabilia, and words. Learn more about photo books and photo stories here, and give the gift of a photo story with a Pixorium gift card here.

8. Film canister keychain

There are photos that you keep in your wallet, and then there are photos that you keep in a film roll on a keychain. This little film canister contains a roll of film with 15 photos and sentence of your choosing on it. It’s a unique photo gift and a cool keychain gift all in one. Make one here.

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9. Daily calendar

The ambitious version of the personalized photo desk calendar, you can make a personalized photo daily calendar out of 365 days of photos. This unique photo gift is the answer to the problem of what to do with all those vacation, family, and pet photos: use 365 of them in a daily photo calendar. Make one here.

10. Ceramic tile coasters

Lots of people have those cork coasters with photos on the top, but it’s not a particularly unique gift. For a unique version of the photo coaster gift, use ceramic tile coasters instead. They’re more durable, have a nice white frame around the edge of the photo, and will definitely be beloved and cherished by anyone who receives them. Make them here.

Credit: Shanecraftyosities on Etsy

11. Stickers

Another funny, unique personalized photo gift is stickers. Use a photo of yourself, a sibling, a pet, or a grandkid to create this fun photo gift. Or, for a more sentimental and useful version, make stickers with a photo of the newlyweds together; they can use them on their wedding thank-you notes. Kids especially will love this gift. Make them here.

Credit: DesignsbyStaceyLynn on Etsy

12. Blanket

The funniest personalized gift of all: the photo blanket. Photos of pets, family, and friends will lay nicely on these personalized fleece blankets from Shutterfly. Just make sure you have a camera at the ready for when the person receiving this gift realizes there are memories and smiling faces all over it. Make one here.

13. Puzzle

Photo gifts for kids can be hard to come by, but a custom photo puzzle is the perfect choice. (And parents will appreciate that you gave a kid something to do during COVID-19.) Family photos or photos of pets are great when you make a photo puzzle for a kid. If you’re gifting a personalized photo puzzle to someone a little older with more fine motor skills, a shot from a favorite vacation might be the most enjoyable photo to use. Make one here.

14. Organization

No, you’re not gifting an organization related to photography. This would be the gift of organizing someone’s photos. Photos can’t be enjoyed when they’re disorganized in buckets and there are just too many to look at. We offer photo organizing services and can help get photo collections in order, or you can offer a “good for one photo-organizing day” coupon. It’s likely that you’ll find some gems and keepers worth displaying! Learn more about our service here.

15. Tea towel

A favorite landscape, a child’s best drawing, or a graduation pic all look great on a tea towel. And, it can be combined with other kitchen and cooking gifts, but it’s the added personalized touch a good gift needs. Make one here.

16. 50 States Photo Collage

Perfect for the traveler, this photo collage lets you put a photo in the place of each state to commemorate that visit. You can have the collage come with whatever photos of your travels you have now already inserted, then add more yourself as you visit more of the 50 nifty states. Make one here.

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17. Scrapbook

There are a few ways you can do this. You can print out photos and get a book, paper, and stickers, to give as a photo activity—great for kids and teens. You can also make the scrapbook yourself. If you’ve got kids, have them make one as a gift for the grandparents or an aunt or uncle. It’s a special, personalized memory with a handmade touch. Get scrapbook materials from Michael’s here.

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash