Personalized Christmas Ornaments

While it is important to keep baby ornament ideas in mind, particularly for baby shower gifts, that highly popular niche is only a fraction of the selections that is on the market today. Christmas ornaments, back when Woolworth introduced them at the turn of the century in the US, were relatively plain affairs. They were blown glass from European cities, yet the designs rarely had more than 2 colors on them, and never had glitter. Later, more complicated molds were developed in the 50s, and science lent its hand to the development of glass glazes specifically designed to paint Christmas ornaments.

By the 70s, there was an explosion of creative designs, and meanwhile, China developed mass production machines so that "perfect" glass ball ornaments could be produced by the 100s of 1000s. Thus, in the 70s we see the co-linear development of both complicated designs, as well as simple and cheap ball ornaments. By the 80s, the newest trend was to have a local artist hand paint a name on a cheap Christmas ball. Kids everywhere went wild for this latest artisanal trend, and home makers made extra Christmas money by offering this cottage industry service. Soon, larger companies caught on and began to develop higher-end ornament designs specifically to be personalized.

Today, you can find Christmas ornaments personalized in 100s of design themes. Not only are baby ornaments popular, but sports ornaments have become all the rage. A football ornament might show a kid's name, jersey number, the year, and even the name of the team he or she played for. You can buy a Christmas ornament personalized for a new home; to mark the occasion of an anniversary or wedding; or even to show the growth of a family over the years from the first baby to a family of 5 or 6. Indeed, personalized Christmas ornaments have become all the rage as a intimately personal gift that shows you went the extra mile and really cared about what the recipient received for Christmas. Some companies even offer a little message on the back of the ornament. Inappropriate for the front side, you can personalize the back to tell the gift recipient who the ornament was from and how much they mean to you. Such an added touch really increases the perceived value of the personalized Christmas gift not only now, but 10 years from now.

Another popular use for those who have larger budgets is the tie-on. Let's say you have a special gift you've purchased for someone that isn't personalized. To make the gift even more special, you can purchase a personalized Christmas ornament and use that as a tie-on the outside of the gift, creating a truly unique and special presentation. In this manner, you've given something for now, and something that will become a part of the recipient's Christmas traditions for years to come. The tie-on is not only a special added touch, it is also the gift that keeps on giving.