Finding the perfect gift for family and friends has always been a difficult task especially during the holidays. You can spend countless hours in a shopping mall looking for gifts and you'll still end up empty handed. We usually think that the best gifts are those expensive perfumes or branded cashmere sweaters but they are not.



A good gift does not depend on an item's price tag but on the thought put into it. The most treasured presents are not something you can just pick out in a catalogue or buy in a shop. The best ones can be those that can preserve your memories forever. The possibilities can be endless, from videos of a scene from your sister's wedding videography or your son's graduation photos. You just need to have a little bit of imagination and patience to come up with the perfect gift. Here are a few gift ideas using old photos and videos that might inspire you:

• Quilts using family photos

A photo quilt is an emerging trend in quilt making. This fresh idea of mixing design, color and pictures is an interesting deviation from the traditional way of stitching a bed quilt. Including pictures in quilt designs gives pieces a more personal and sentimental meaning.

Photo quilts are great graduation and birthday gifts. Pick unique photos of the celebrant and add this to the quilt design. You can also add a few memorable lines or sayings to make it more personalized.

• Home movies using old videos and pictures

You have tons of old videos and photos stored in your basement. They keep on accumulating every year especially during the holidays. Why not organize these photos and videos and create a home movie as a gift for your family. You may need a lot of time and persistence for this project so it's good you start early in the year.

Start by collecting videos and photographs from your family like birthdays and holidays. Organize all of these and come up with creative ideas for the videos for each member of your family. One example would be to create a photo and video slideshow of your brother during the different stages in his life, from his baby pictures to his recent wedding. His wedding videography will be a good source of some of these videos.

• Scrapbooks

Scrapbooks have always been a creative way of preserving personal and family history with photographs. It often serves as the storyteller of your life experiences using pictures and words.

A scrapbook contains photos, plane tickets, programs or anything that can be added to tell the story behind the pictures. There are usually two approaches to scrap booking. These are chronological and themed-based scrap booking.

• Customize calendars using photos

A photo calendar will be a unique gift for anniversaries, birthdays and other special events. Calendars are used in our everyday lives so there is no doubt it will be used frequently. The good thing about this gift is that you can customize the photos on each month the way you want them.

There are a lot more unique ways to come up with a meaningful present. Remember it is not the price that counts but the heart and thought that goes with the gift. You just have to spend a little time and effort to think of one.