Photo frames are given constantly and used less often than they should be, and there is one reason for it: most people give an empty frame.
An empty frame is not a gift, it is homework. The recipient now has to find a photograph, get it printed at the right size, and cut it to fit. Most never do.
The full range is in our personalised photo frames collection.
The rule
Put a photo in it before you give it. Everything else in this guide is secondary.
If you cannot get hold of a photo of them, you have chosen the wrong gift. Buy something else.
Choosing a size
The standard sizes are 6x4 and 7x5, and 6x4 is what most phone photos print to without cropping. Larger frames look generous but need a photograph good enough to stand being enlarged - a slightly blurry snap that looks fine at 6x4 will not survive at 8x10.
Portrait or landscape
Check before you buy. Many frames are fixed in one orientation, and the photo you have in mind may not fit it. If the photo is of one person, portrait usually works. Groups and landscapes need landscape.
Wood, glass or something else
Our wooden frames are the largest range and the most forgiving in most homes. If you want the photograph itself to be the object rather than the frame, glass photo blocks print the image straight into the glass, and photo albums are the option when there are too many pictures to choose between.
What to engrave
The engraving is what makes a frame a gift rather than a homeware purchase. The options that hold up:
- A date. A wedding day, a birth, a first Christmas. Dates do not go out of fashion.
- Names. Particularly for grandparents - all the grandchildren listed together.
- A place. Underrated, and lovely on a frame holding a holiday photograph.
- A short line. Two or three words at most. Frames have narrow borders and long text has to shrink badly to fit.
Who frames suit
Grandparents, above all - a frame with the grandchildren in it is close to unbeatable. New parents, for the same reason - see the baby gifts range. Couples marking an anniversary, or someone with a milestone birthday. Anyone who has just moved into a new home and has blank walls.
They also work as memorial gifts, where an engraved date and a photograph do something no card can.
Who they do not suit
Someone you do not have photographs of. Someone whose home you have never seen. Teenagers, generally. If the frame will not have a place to go, it will not be used.
Presentation
Give it with the photo in and the frame the right way up in the box, so that the moment they open it they see the picture rather than a piece of glass. It changes the reaction entirely.
Browse the full photo frame collection, or the home and keepsake range for other things in the same vein.