Personalised Christmas gifts: why to order them first
Named ornaments, engraved wood and photo books: the gifts families keep, and why they need ordering in October.
A name changes everything. The same bauble, the same book, the same wooden box becomes something nobody would ever give away, the moment a child’s name is on it.
That is why personalised Christmas gifts are the ones families keep. It is also why they cause more December stress than anything else on the list. Every one of them is made after you order it, often by a small maker with a queue, sometimes in another country, and always slower in December than the website suggests. The ornament with the name spelled wrong, or the one that arrives on the twenty-seventh, is a very common Christmas story.
This is our guide to personalised Christmas gifts: the ideas we think are worth it, why they need ordering early, and how to make sure the name is right. For the full calendar, see our timeline for when to order Christmas gifts.
Why personalised gifts need ordering first
Personalised things take longer for reasons that are easy to forget in October and hard to fix in December.
They are made to order. Nothing personalised is sitting on a shelf. It is engraved, painted, embroidered or printed after you pay, and the maker works through orders in the order they arrived.
Queues fill up. Small studios have a fixed number of hands. Many stop taking Christmas orders in November, and the ones still open in December are usually the busiest.
Proofs take time. Many makers send a proof for you to check before they start. Every day it sits unanswered in your inbox is a day added to the order.
Mistakes need remaking. A misspelled name can’t be fixed, only made again. Ordering early leaves room for a second attempt.
They often come from abroad. Many of the loveliest personalised gifts are made overseas, which adds shipping and customs to the queue. Our guide to ordering gifts from abroad covers that part.
They can’t be returned. A personalised gift is yours the moment it is made. Choose carefully, and choose once.
Idea 01
A named ornament for the tree
The classic, and our favourite. One ornament per child, with their name and the year, added to the tree each Christmas. A cut-out name in gold, a painted glass bauble or a little wooden disc all work, and by the time a child leaves home they have a box of Christmases to take with them.
Order these first, in early October. They are small and quick to make, but they are also what every maker is busiest with from November.
Idea 02
A bauble with a baby’s first Christmas
For a baby’s first Christmas, a bauble with their name and the year is the one decoration that will be brought out and held every December for the rest of their life. Glass baubles hand-painted with a name, or clear ones filled with a tiny photograph, are the most common, and the most fragile.
Ask the maker how it will be packed, and hang it high. The first Christmas bauble is always the one the second child knocks off the tree.
Idea 03
A decoration with a photograph in it
A painted or printed ornament with a family photograph inside is one of the loveliest things to hang on a tree, and one of the best presents for grandparents. In the one here, a name sits on a scalloped banner above a painted portrait ornament, both tied on with ribbon.
These need a photograph before they can be made, so choose the picture early. If the photograph is from a Christmas session, order the ornament the week the gallery arrives.
Idea 04
Engraved wood
Wooden boxes, boards and keepsake chests with a name engraved into them last for decades. A small box for a child’s treasures, a chopping board for a new home, or a wooden book for a baby’s first lock of hair are all lovely, and they don’t break in the post.
Engraving is permanent, so check the font, the spelling and the size of the lettering on the proof. Short names in simple type always look better than long names squeezed in.
Idea 05
A photo book of the year
The most personal gift of all is a book of your own family’s photographs. Thirty good pictures from the year, in order, with a few lines written in, is the present that ends up on the coffee table every Christmas afterwards.
Photo book printers are quick most of the year and slow in December. Build the book in October with the year so far, add the last few pictures in November, and order by the middle of the month. If you want your Christmas photographs in it, plan for a book that arrives in the new year, and call it a present for next Christmas too.
Idea 06
A framed family photograph
A framed photograph is personalised in the truest sense: nobody else in the world has that one. It is the gift we would give any grandparent, and the kind that stays on the same shelf for years.
Order the frame early and the print as soon as you have the picture. A good print lab in Dubai can print in a few days; a framer may need a week or two in December.
Idea 07
Names on the wrapping
Personalising doesn’t have to mean engraving. A name tag written by hand, a ribbon printed with a name, or the child’s initial stamped onto brown paper makes every present feel chosen, and it costs almost nothing.
Velvet ribbon with a paper tag in someone’s handwriting is our favourite. It photographs beautifully under the tree, and the tags are worth keeping; a few years of them in a box become a record of whose writing was on each Christmas.
Idea 08
A name at the table
On Christmas Day itself, a personalised place setting is a small gift of its own: a name card, a napkin tied with a ribbon and a sprig of pine, a little ornament at each place for everyone to take home. Children notice their names, and they sit at the table longer when it was laid for them.
These are the easiest personalised things to make yourself, the week before Christmas, with a good pen and a roll of ribbon. There are more ideas in our festive tablescapes.
Monogrammed pyjamas and stockings
A Christmas stocking with a child’s name embroidered across the top is a present you give once and use for twenty years. Monogrammed pyjamas, with an initial on the pocket, are the gentler version for the whole family, and they look lovely in photographs because the initials are small and the pattern stays simple.
Embroidery is the slowest kind of personalisation, because every piece is stitched one at a time. Order stockings in early October, and pyjamas soon after; check the sizes before you order, since embroidered things can’t be exchanged. For more on dressing the family for Christmas photographs, see our guide to what to wear for Christmas family photos.
Personalised gifts for grandparents
Grandparents are the easiest people to buy a personalised gift for, because the only thing they really want is their grandchildren. A framed photograph, a calendar with a family picture for every month, a mug or a tea towel printed with the children’s drawings, or a book of photographs from the year will all be used and treasured.
If the grandparents live abroad, order the gift to their address rather than yours, and do it in October. If they are coming to Dubai for Christmas, have it made here and waiting for them.
Or make it yourself
Some of the best personalised gifts are made at the kitchen table. A salt-dough ornament with a child’s handprint and the year pressed into it takes an afternoon, costs almost nothing and will be hung on the tree every year for decades. Mix two parts flour, one part salt and enough water to make a dough, roll it out, press in a hand, cut around it, make a hole for the ribbon and bake it very low until it is hard.
Handwritten tags, drawings framed simply, a recipe written out for a grandparent: none of these need ordering at all, which makes them the one personalised gift you can still start on Christmas Eve.
Getting the name right
Write every name out in full and copy it into the order, rather than typing from memory. Check spellings with a parent if the gift is for someone else’s child; there are many ways to spell Sofia. Decide on capitals, full stops and dates before you order, and read the proof on a computer screen, not a phone. If a maker offers a proof, always ask for one.
Keep the order confirmation and the proof together. If something arrives wrong, the maker will want to see exactly what was approved.
Let’s sum up
Personalised Christmas gifts are the ones families keep: a named ornament each year, a baby’s first Christmas bauble, engraved wood, a photo book, a framed photograph, a name on the wrapping. They are made after you order them, often by small makers with a queue, so order them first, in early October, and leave room for proofs, shipping and the occasional remake. Get the spelling right, keep the proof, and they will be on the tree for decades.
Questions about personalised Christmas gifts
In early October. Personalised gifts are made after you order, many need a proof approved, and small makers often close Christmas orders once their queue is full. Earlier still if the gift is coming from abroad.
A bauble with their name and the year, which will come out every December for the rest of their life. A small framed photograph from their first Christmas is the other one families keep.
Usually not, because they are made for you. That is why the proof matters: check the spelling, the dates and the layout carefully before approving it.
Contact the maker straight away with a photograph of the gift and a copy of the proof you approved. If the error was theirs, most will remake it. That is exactly why ordering in October matters: there is still time for a second attempt.
The Setup Collective builds three Christmas rooms in Dubai each season, The Forest, The Tree and The Kitchen, then photographs families in them. Candidly: nobody gets told to tuck their chin in. Who we are
