I know that trying to find the right gift, no matter what time of year or occasion, can sometimes be a huge challenge. We all have at least one or two of those “hard to buy for” people in our lives. I have a few of these in my own immediate family. However, I think I have come across a perfect “go to” gift idea that anyone can appreciate and cherish.
This past year my parents went to Portugal, their homeland, to visit with family and to start working on a house renovation. As we all do when we go away, they took many photos. However, I would not say that they look at them that often. In fact, now that we have hit the digital age, how many people really sit at their computer and go through a 2 hour slide show from a 2010 trip they took to Bermuda? Not many I suspect.
Although I really do appreciate the ease and instant gratification of downloading photos from the camera onto a computer, I truly do miss the old fashioned albums. That is why I decided to use one of the online photo storage websites to create a photo book documenting our family’s 2013 trip to Portugal and our house renovation project.
Surprisingly, it was an extremely easy process and took about 2 hours to place the photos into the pages and write short descriptions for each one. The most challenging steps I thought were choosing what photos to include in the limited space, and making sure the resolution of the picture was good enough to produce a high quality print. The website I used actually indicated when a photo would not look appropriate in the size I had selected. After these details were addressed, at the press of a button, my order was placed and the books arrived less than a week later.
At $35 for one lovely hardcover book of 26 pages, I think this makes a very economical gift. Needless to say my father, who never wants or likes anything, really loved it. I think what makes them special is that they are extremely personal and document memories like vacations, family gatherings and milestone events. I especially feel this is a lovely memento for older family members who may not be computer savvy.
If you have hundreds of photos on a camera or smart-phone of friends and family from the holiday season, perhaps now is the time to create a photo-book as a thank-you to your hosts.
As always, I wish you all the happiest of travels and remember to take lots of pictures on your next journey!
