Sending a Christmas card is something that’s been done for hundreds of years. Acknowledging your loved ones, or those closest, during the festive period is a long established tradition that harks back to the 1800s. Nowadays cards of all shapes, sizes, colours and styles are available – so much so that they seem to have lost a degree of impact.

The way to regain this thoughtful sentiment is to use an image and design that’s thoughtful and linked to the recipient. Adding borders, text and customising your colour options keeps your creation on point and in keeping with the time of year.

Including a familiar image gives your customised Christmas card an exclusive feel and makes it something that people will want to keep hold of for posterity. When designing your card, remember to keep the colours bold, but not garish, and the design uncluttered. Cards are usually observed from afar and a confused scene will turn people off. Simple is always the best route to take.

Just as with Christmas cards, stamps can also be personalised to reflect the time of year and an individual’s personality. In many ways a personalised stamp is more valuable than anything else over the course of a few years.

The idea though isn’t to come up with something that’s timeless and will turn a profit. The point of any well thought out gift is to show affection. Just because a stamp is small doesn’t mean it’s any less heartfelt.

When designing your stamp make sure that it’s a simple layout as too confused an image will lessen the impact. If possible use a bold photo and make sure your masterpiece is tasteful. As these go through the postal system it’s worth keeping in mind that others will see your creation. Lastly, your photo stamp will need to be in landscape format only. Portrait images aren’t really suitable.

Calendars are an easy way to extend the shelf life of your personalised Christmas gift. By their very nature they will last through the entire year. By customising your design and adding your own personal images, the sentiment will be leant more feeling.

Each month the recipient will get to unveil a new image that has some personal meaning. They could be family orientated shots, the story of someone’s life or any other subject matter.

If you’re thinking of designing a 2014 photo calendar then it’s worth considering each month and trying to tie in the images you choose. For instance it might look a little odd having a photo with snow for the month of August.

Whatever design you come up with, try and keep it simple but eye catching. And if possible, keep in mind that a gift such as this will most likely be held onto.

Notebooks are great as they’re both usable and personal when adorned with images and pictures that hold meaning to the recipient.

If you can, highlighting a purpose for the picture notebook is what will truly set it apart as a well-conceived Christmas gift idea. If you want to keep it on topic then you can always decorate the cover with seasonal images.

Don’t forget you can always amend and alter your design in Photoshop before uploading it to your chosen photo printing site.

A popular photo print keepsake and one which fits neatly in with a Christmas and/or wintry theme is a photo mug. What better gift than having a person’s favourite image on an item that’s used on a regular basis.

Christmas scenes can lend themselves perfectly to panoramic shots and with a mug you can design the cup to have a wraparound image which makes for a more interesting gift. If you’re feeling really creative you could choose a number of photos and design a photo mug set – great for telling a story based on a life event.

Whatever Christmas photo gift you plump for make sure you personalise it to give it that bit more appeal. Creating something appealing is easy as long as you stick to the tips suggested in each section on Freephotoprinting.co.uk.