Photacular Review and Giveaway (Christmas Wish List 2010)

The one person that I always have a super hard time buying for during the holidays and for birthdays is my father. He is a man that is very simple and doesn’t ever say that he wants anything….every time we ask him what he wants it’s always the same answer “Nothing….don’t worry about getting me anything” but that just doesn’t happen so I spend weeks and sometimes months trying to find the perfect gift that is both unique and something I know that he would truly want. So when I had the opportunity to personalize a photo gift for him at Photacular I had a feeling that it was going to be perfect!

About Photacular (Taken from Website):

Photacular lets you create fun, unique products from your photographs with safe, secure, 24/7 online access. Our range of great products includes T-shirts, mugs, coasters, jewelry, holiday ornaments, ceramic tiles, and more — all custom-made and printed right here in the USA.

We want to be your gift headquarters, whatever the occasion. Visit us for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's and Father's Day, Graduation, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Winter Holidays. We're always adding new gift ideas, so please come back often.

Our Best Customer...
Is just like you. It's anyone who has great photographs that are destined for more than life in a box or on a hard drive; anyone who wants to make unique keepsakes to rekindle those precious memories. Our customers give gifts with meaning, gifts from the heart. Gifts that will be appreciated and treasured for a lifetime.

We love our families (pets included!) and so do our customers.
Show off how cute your pets are or create heartfelt memorials. Who doesn't want to show the world how great their cat, dog, rabbit, bird, horse, or reptile is? Turn that great shot into a heartwarming necklace, a photo coffee mug, a beautiful ceramic tile, a special holiday ornament, or any of our other unique gift items.

Create family fun. Creating gifts with your children using our easy online tools is like a day at a craft fair. But you get a real mug with a great photo, not a cracked one out of the kiln.

We're all about making terrific products from your photos. We have our own favorite photos of our pets and our kids — and we especially love the images of them together. We want to share that feeling and joy with you.
We make it fun and easy to take your priceless photos one step further. So why not create something very special to share with others? And maybe create a nice keepsake for yourself, too.

Worry-Free Guarantee
We offer a 90-day satisfaction guarantee on all of our products. If there's any problem with your order, let us know and we'll try to make it right. If we can't, we'll give you your money back. Since all products are customized with your own images, we can't reuse or resell the refunded products. But we'd rather take a loss on an order than disappoint a customer. It's just the right thing to do.

Associations and Partnerships
Photacular works with other companies and organizations that share similar values and interests, from photographers to dog groomers to charities and more. You can learn more on our partner page.

About the Founder
Darla is a San Francisco Bay Area native with a prior career as a software engineer. She's always had a passion for personalized products and has long dreamed of having her own business to help people share their family and pet photos in very special ways.

Her three cats, Smokey, Bandit, and Chloe, help inspire her with their constant companionship, devoted love, and unrelenting cuteness.

My Thoughts:

I was given a $20 gift code to use with free shipping at Photacular to create a custom one of a kind gift for my father and I had an idea of what I was looking to create when I went to Photacular but I have to say after spending some time browsing around their large selection of items that can be personalized it turned into quite a chore deciding on the perfect item….but after some time and discussing it with “Bug” we finally decided on a personalized coffee mug for a number of reasons…with number one being that both my father and “Bug” enjoy sharing a cup of coffee in the evenings and well it just seemed fitting.

Now, that the hardest part…or so I thought was over it was time to choose the photo to put on the mug and after some time we decided on a close up photo of “Bug” and the rest of the process was a piece of cake!!! All I had to do was choose the item to personalize, upload the photo and place my order….so quick and simple the whole process took less then 10 minuets and our order arrived in about a week so to me that was super quick service!!!

The mug turned out perfect!!! In every way it was perfect….I was planning on waiting until Christmas to give it to my father but “Bug” had a different plan and the same day it arrived my father had it in his hands! I have never seen my father get so emotional over a gift before and to be honest I felt really proud of giving him a gift that I knew that he would like but knowing now that he truly cherishes it really makes it that much more special to me!

Here is a photo of the happy grandpa and grandson showing off their new coffee cup:

My father has already warned everyone in the house and outside the house that no-one is to use the mug except him and “Bug” and it’s found itself a nice spot on his mantel so that it’s always displayed :0)!

Bottom Line:

I could not have chosen a better place to find my father such a special gift. Not only is the whole ordering process super fast and easy, the printing and shipping is lighting fast and the package arrived very secure and in one piece. Also the customer service is amazing and super nice to deal with and it made the whole process that much more special! I’m also very pleased at the prices on all the products that are offered at Photacular and I feel they are very reasonable and within any budget this holiday season!

If you are looking for a unique gift to give this holiday season, without breaking the bank I totally recommend checking out the personalized photo products available at Photacular!

Buy It:
You can purchase your very own personalized mug by visiting their website!

Win It:
Photacular has offered one of my readers a $20 Gift Certificate w/ Free Shipping to help out with their holiday shopping!

Mandatory Entry: Visit Photacular and tell me what item you would personalize if you won! Please remember to leave your e-mail address if it’s not visible in your profile.

Want or need extra entries? Check out how to grab em’ below! (Mandatory Entry must be complete for these to count)

1. Become a public follower of my blog (current follower count too)

2. Follow me on twitter @sgrant2005 and tweet this giveaway (can be done daily)

3. Subscribe to my feed via a reader

4. Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post and to Photacular be sure to leave me a link (5 extra)

5. Follow Photacular on Twitter

6. “Like” Photacular on Facebook
Giveaway ends Nov 21, 2010 @ midnight CST. Winner will be chosen at random, using random.org and contacted by e-mail and has 48 hrs to respond before a new winner is chosen.

This review is based strictly my opinion. Others may have a different opinion with the product listed above. I did receive the personalized photo mug mentioned above complementary for this review. No monetary compensation was received.