A few days ago
, Kristi blogged about her favorite Christmas gifts. My daughter gave me one of mine: a digital photo frame.
Pictures that would’ve covered a wall now fit into a single frame. It’s refreshing to see the ever-changing collage of photos, and photo frames are great to keep for yourself or to load up and give as gifts.
If you haven’t yet purchased a digital photo frame, consider reading a review before you buy. How to Buy a Digital Frame from PCMag.com will give you a quick overview about various models and features. These days, many frames also support video and music. On the horizon is the Pandigital Photo Mail Frame that you can simply email your photos to – no more memory cards or cabling between the frame and your computer. If you have the frame in hand, what do you load into it? Of course, you can fill it with a hodge-podge of photos. But if you’re like me, you might want to approach it thematically. Here are some ideas:
1. Vacation – Load up a frame with your favorite vacation photos. Or, select photos from your trips through the years.
2. Relatives/Ancestors – Create a slide show of your relatives and ancestors. What an easy way to keep their presence in your life.
3. Graduation/Going to College Gift – Give the high school graduate a frame filled with photos through the years, snapshots of their favorite places around town, and of course a photo of mom and dad. When they move into their new apartment or dorm, they will still have a taste of home.
4. Grandkids – Make it a frame that is all about the grandkids. Include photos from their daily life, take pictures of their oversized artwork, or include milestones like a new driver’s license. A perfect grandparents’ birthday gift, particularly if they live out of town.
5. Hospital/Senior Living – A photo frame filled with family, friends, and beautiful scenes can make a lovely gift (and even serve as a memory tool) for someone in the hospital or in a senior living facility.
6. Hobby Frame – Have a hobby? Take pictures of your paintings, your quilts, your woodcarvings or your decorated cakes, and fill your frame. Then admire your handiwork, over and over.
7. Baby’s First Year – Load photos that highlight baby’s first year. Perfect for both parents and grandparents.
8. Our Love Story in Pictures – Track down the photos of you and your sweetheart. Take photos of your favorite places This would make a romantic Valentine’s Day, anniversary, or wedding gift.
9. Through the Years – What events in your family’s life bring out the camera each year? Is it the first day of school? Holiday parties? Blowing out candles on the birthday cake? Make a frame filled with all of those photos and relish your the chronology of the event.
10. The Year in Review – Load your best photos from the previous year, and savor the highlights all over again. This is the theme I chose for mine – I love watching my 2009 retrospective!
How about solving your 2010 holiday gift-giving dilemma now? Decide to give loaded digital frames to friends and family. Take lots of photos during the year and select older hard copy photos that need to be scanned. You will have plenty of time to scan them yourself, or you can have someone else do it for you, such as your local drugstore’s photo department or a company like Digitize & Organize. There! Your holiday gift problem is already solved – and it’s only January!
- Jennifer Sauers