The Perfect Gift For Everyone

What’s the one thing everyone loves? Great memories! But how do you give those as a gift?

Now’s the time to start planning your holiday gift list. The sooner you start, the more creative and personal you can be. One gift that almost everyone likes is one that evokes good feelings, and one of the best ways to turn feelings into gifts is through photo books.  If you have a pile of photographs in a shoebox or a disc drive, you have all you need. Here are the steps to making the ideal gift:

1. Sort: Sort through you photographs and discard any that are blurry, poorly lit, uninteresting, or otherwise not worth keeping. Now sort again and put the photos in piles that would make a cohesive photo book. These can be either physical piles of prints or folders on your computer. Examples might include “Times With Grandma” or “I Love Lacrosse” or “Our Trip to The Wine Country”. Keep in mind that you do not need to have your photos in chronological order – think topical. If you don’t have enough photos for a book, you can do a calendar or another gift with a photograph on it.
2. Digitize: If you have physical prints, you will need to scan these in. This can be done either on a printer (with scanning capability), or through a photo scanner. If both of these options seem too technical for you, take your photos to a store which has a photo department (e.g. Walgreens, CVS, Costco, or a photo store). They can upload for you and give you a disk. [Note: If you are making multiple books, keep your images separate so you don’t get confused.]
3. Choose: Choose a company through which to make your book and upload photos. If you have an Apple computer, you can produce a book through iPhoto on your computer. If you use a PC (or don’t have/prefer/know how to use iPhoto), you can use a site such as Shutterfly or Mixbook or others.
4. Enhance: Consider including extra images that would enhance your book. For instance, you might want to include images such as ticket stubs, menus, or letters. You can simply photograph these items and upload them right along with the photographs you already have.
5. Design:
   1. Begin by selecting a template that fits your theme. (Again, there are many photo gift options, it doesn’t have to be a book!)
   2. Drop and drag the photos you wish to use.
   3. Select photos for the front and back covers.
   4. Be creative! Perhaps type in lyrics from a favorite song on the back. [Note: You can save a design at any point, so you don’t feel pressured to finish the whole project at one sitting.]
6. Order: Order the book when you are happy with the design. Many sites offer promotional pricing so keep your eyes open!

A photo gift can cover a span from as little as one day to as long as a lifetime, with endless possibilities. There really is no “wrong” theme. Even in this day of digitized images (perhaps especially so), a hard-copy photo is the best record we can have. So if you’ve been meaning to tackle a pile of photos, now may be the ideal time to turn them into the perfect gift.

For more information, contact The Seana Method at the tab above.