Happy holidays, y’all! Okay… So if you’re anything like us, you may be sitting there, thinking to yourself, “Ugh… I don’t have any Christmas ideas and I’m just stuck!” Well… You’re in luck! Today, we’ll be detailing all things gift giving when it comes to photos: What’s the best way to go about gifting photos to someone? Can I gift a photo session to someone? Why should I gift someone a photo? In this blog post, we’ll answer all these questions and so much more! So don’t fret; before you know it, you’ll be on your way to print all of your photos and the gift giving anxieties will all float away!

So You Want to Gift Some Photos for the Holiday Season?

We may be biased but photos are some of the most heartfelt, meaningful gifts to give someone! Because what’s more personal than a gift of you and someone you love in a frame?! But seriously, there’s magic in printed photos and it’s an even more magical thing to be able to share that magic in a gift!

Gifting someone photos is a very intentional, conscious form of a gift! If you are thinking of gifting someone photos this season, we challenge you to ask yourself why you want to do so! This is a great way to feel out those intentions and truly get to the core of WHY you want to give a gift like this! Now, there isn’t necessarily a BAD answer to this question! This kind of just helps you hone in on your personal gift and can help you choose what kind of photo you want to give!

For many people, the hardest part about gifting someone a photo is choosing what kind of photo you want to gift! We’ll tell you right now that the picture-perfect, posed, Instagram-worthy shot may not be the best photo. When you think deeply about your intention, you may uncover just what the perfect photo for your gift recipient is! That perfect, gift-worthy photo looks different for every recipient!

So if you’re looking for a little more guidance on what that perfect gift photo might look like, don’t worry! We gotchu!

Say your answer to the WHY of your gift-giving is something along the lines of “I really value the funny moments in my relationship with this person and I want to highlight that!” Well then highlight those funny moments by gifting a funny photo! If that’s you guys slapping each other’s ass or making silly faces for the camera, you want to make sure you can picture the recipient laughing as they unwrap this gift!

Say your answer to the intention question is: “I really love the feeling I get when I look at a photo of us and can just feel the love radiate through the screen!” Then, print off those cute faces and choose a photo that highlights that feeling!

Finally if your answer to the intention questions follows along the lines of “I want to gift a picture to this person that they can display for all to see!,” then we recommend that you slap that picture-perfect image into a frame, wrap that baby up in the most beautiful way, and place that present under the tree!

How Do I Go About Gifting Someone Photos?

Now, there are many ways to go about gifting someone photos as a present! It can feel a little overwhelming with all of the ways you can go about gifting your photos! We’re going to detail a little bit more about some of the ways to go about gifting your photos and provide some links to stores and sites that we recommend!

As we have mentioned in previous blogs: if you are printing photos from a gallery we have shot for you, we recommend printing your photos through the store linked through your Pic-Time gallery with us! This just ensures the best quality print to make sure you’re giving the best possible gift! However, we always understand that sometimes money can be tight and cheaper ways of printing that may be of a lower quality are what you have to do. We try to encourage everyone that it is 110% worth it to invest in a high quality print, especially for a gift! But we completely understand if that’s not in the cards!

So at a very traditional level, you can always simply print your photos on a basic print to put in a frame! Just because this way of gifting can be considered traditional, there’s something so powerful about gifting someone a printed photo! This can be a very inexpensive gift route to take and the value of this gift really comes from the thought! When you gift someone a framed photo, there of course has to be some sort of deliberation on what photo to include, what kind of frame you put it in, and finally that intention behind the gift itself. There’s even digital frames where you can upload your photos and have a slideshow run through all of your photos in a frame! Use this link here to see some of the digital frames we recommend!

Now a step up from a framed photo would be a photo album! Photo albums are a great way to go if you have A LOT of pictures with your recipient and you want to include a variety of photos in your gift! Of course within the subcategory of photo albums, there are so many ways you can go about building one! For a high-quality album, you can digitally build your own album and customize the layout of your album with your photos printed directly on the pages of your album! This can be a bit pricier than other ways of building a photo album but, in our opinion, is the best way to ensure high-quality resolution of your photos so your album can last a lifetime!

Another way of going about photo albums would be an infinitely customizable album with a scrapbook album! These are a bit less expensive than a printed album and can allow for a much more relaxed way of customizing! They may not be as high-quality as a printed album but they still get the job done! With this option, you can consistently swap out photos and write little notes in between them!

Outside of albums and framed photos, a great way to gift a photo that you plan on the recipient displaying is a canvas! If you think of the material a painted picture would be on, you are most likely thinking of a canvas! A canvas does a great way of blowing up an image with all of the little details and make for a great way to display your photos! There are some very cheap ways to go about printing your photos on a canvas while there are also some more expensive ways to print photos on a canvas; it really all depends on how much you are willing to spend on a canvas!

Ahead of the holiday season, one of our favorite ways to gift photos is an ornament! What better way to celebrate the holiday season than hanging those smiling faces on the Christmas tree?! This is such a special gift and is a great gift if you aren’t trying to hang your face on the recipient’s wall!

A few stores that we would suggest using (other than the one built directly into your gallery) are Smallwoods, Artifact Uprising, and Indie Print Co. Be warned: there is always the risk of printing issues when using an external company to print your photos!

The Ultimate Gift: Gifting A Session

Now, the ultimate gift when it comes to photos has to be gifting a session! Maybe you have been friends with someone for YEARS and you look through your phone and barely have any photos together! Then let’s change that! We are always down for someone to gift a session! It’s truly a great gift and the intention behind it is amazing!

There are some other scenarios where you may want to gift someone a session! Perhaps you are a Mom who really wants to buy her daughter and son-in-law a couples session so they can have photos together! Maybe you’re a daughter who wants to buy a family session so the whole family has pictures together! Or maybe you’re just a caring friend who wants to see your bestie get all hot and heavy with their boo!

No matter the scenario, gifting someone a session is always a great idea! You can never go wrong with having some more photos and what better way to make that happen than gifting someone a session!

So Get Out There and Gift Some Photos!

So we hope by now you have a feel for just how awesome it is to give the gift of photos during the holiday season! A printed photo has sentimental value beyond comparison and we are sure that no matter who you are buying a gift for will love receiving a printed photo! Remember: be intentional and let those feelings say and do all the rest for you! And hey! If you’re willing to go the extra mile, gift someone a session! You surely won’t regret it! We can get you a little gift certificate that you can wrap under the tree!

Until December 12th, 2022, we are hosting a Holiday Prints Sale in our PicTime galleries! Use code WINSOMEXMAS at checkout for 25% off your entire order! Make sure to act fast before this deal slips through your hands! You can access your customized store through the gallery link you received with your photos!

If you’re looking to buy some printed photos or want to gift a session to a loved one, reach out here to get in contact with us! While we’re on the topic of printing photos, check out our blog on The Importance of Printing Your Photos! And if you want to see more content from us, check out some of our other blogs about various weddings and engagements we’ve shot!

Peace and blessings, y’all! xoxo