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.

One of the simplest ways to recognize a graduate is with a graduation banner displayed on graduation day at a ceremony or party. And, while well disigned banners are reflective of the time and effort put into the recognition, you may be looking for a more polished and professional look. After the celebration, graduation banners are the perfect addition to a class time capsule or a class charity auction, or a graduate-s box of memorabilia. Other banners and signs perfect for students are college banners, college flags and banners, Greek banners, and any cool banners or cute banners that would be appreciated in a dorm room.

This article give you few advise  to create a graduation banner that will help you recognize the achievement realized by the special grad in your life.

Effective color combinations

Color schemes are as important to an effective banner as the message itself. Color combinations between the foreground. Good contrast makes the lettering and graphics stand out ensuring that your banner will grab the attention of the reader. Regardless of the color scheme you choose ensure that the contrast is drastic enough to ensure that your banner stands out to the viewer in a format that can be easily read.

Banners margins and white space

Margin widths are usually the most abused spaces on a banner. A general rule of thumb is to have the top and bottom margin be 10% of the height, and right and left margins be at least as wide as one of the banner’s main font character width. Avoid filling the empty spaces of the banner with graphics. White space helps keep the viewer’s eyes concentrated on the text.

Graphics

School Logos, photographs and other images can effectively be used to reflect your spirit, but should not overpower the intended message. To enhance your thoughts and ideas for designing an effective ad banner, we  suggest you to look at professional sign company graduation banner template. www.signazon.com has lot of professional designed templates. Notice the ones that stand our effectively conveying their intended message.

Font s

Avoid using more than two type styles. The more font the more difficult for people to read. Use Fonts like Helvetica, Futura and Ariel are more widely used because of their clarity at a distance. Fonts such as these should be used for the main premise of the banner. Secondary messages could incorporate a font similar to Goudy, Benguiat or Times giving your banner enough contrast in fonts to be interesting, yet at the same time be clear enough to be easily read. Refrain from using fonts such as Old English style text, script fonts or Engraved fonts if your intended audience could be at a distance. You could consider more complex fonts such as the later, if your audience is at a short distance such as a trade show or booth environment, but we suggest to not use harder to read fonts so that you can achieve success with both demographics.

A misconception of Graduation banner design is to use upper case fonts to grab attention. At times upper case lettering can be used for one word or a line of text for emphasis, but is should be stated that it takes the human eye longer to read and process upper case writing opposed to lower case.

· You can use a graduation announcement website. Even if you are not a professional web designer, you can always create a nice announcement website full of your child’s picture. You can take pictures of your child wearing a kindergarten graduation cap and gown even before the actual graduation. Make sure that you order your kid kindergarten graduation gowns earlier to make some photo shoot at your own house. Add the video of the actual graduation ceremony of your child wearing his kindergarten graduation gowns.

· A business card is also an effective graduation announcement. If you are going to invite a lot of people in a particular place this is the fastest and the easiest way to pass the information to all your friends and family. You can place a picture of your child wearing a kindergarten graduation gown. Put his name at the center and under the name is the information about the graduation. You should include the time, date and place.

· Magnet can be an effective way to use an announcement. There are many companies that produce these types of personalized items. They can print your child’s picture wearing his kindergarten graduation gowns in a magnet or button. This is a very creative and cute way of sending announcements to your family and friends.

· Personalized bookmarks can be use to create long messages with pictures. Include your child’s picture wearing his kindergarten graduation gowns. You might want to write a poem or a song that you want to dedicate for your child. This is a very sweet way of showing the world how proud mother you are.

· A very creative and cute way of having a graduation announcement is by the use of a candy bar wrapper. Download beautiful templates and put a cartoon character wearing a kindergarten graduation gown. Print this picture and tape then over your child’s favorite candy bars. Your child can also help you do this announcement. It is a fun activity for them.

By doing simple ways of having graduation announcements, you can show the world how beautiful is your child wearing his kindergarten graduation gowns. It doesn’t have to be very costly as long you use your creativity and imagination.

As an evil twist I gift wrapped it to make it all girly looking. Imagine pink giftwrap with cherries on it and pink bows glued everywhere.

I don’t want to just hand it to him and be like heres your gift! I want a good idea on how to really suprise him.

High school and college graduations are looming on the horizon. These are special and momentous events for both you and your graduate. Planning you graduation party should be a fun and exciting project. Don’t let your graduation party get lost in the crowd; with some early planning you can host a fabulous celebration. Here are some great tips to make your party one of a kind.

Having four children who graduated two years apart, I have been planning high school or college graduation parties for over a decade. The two most important pieces of advice I can offer is to set a budget and plan early. Figure out how much money you have to spend on your celebration. This is critical, as your budget will determine the number of guests you can have and the venue you will use to host your party. Many families have their parties out at restaurants, in halls or other locations. These will cost more money. With four who graduated within a 7-year span, we knew with our oldest that we couldn’t set a precedent that we couldn’t continue with the rest. So the idea of the “Backyard BBQ” took shape. It’s easy, casual and relatively inexpensive. Plus the outdoor theme allows for a larger guest list for your graduate. Our kids invited their friends, fellow grads, teachers, coaches, and of course, all the family. We ran our parties like an open house.

Once you have a budget and have decided on your venue, then settle on a date and do it early. You will be competing with lots of other parties this time of year and by getting yours on the calendar first you will avoid conflicts. Next decide on invitations. You can order them online or buy them in the stores. However to save money, you can make them yourself on the computer. There are numerous invitation products available in office supply stores that will give you templates to make your own. Be creative… add graduation clipart, a logo from the college or high school of your graduate or even inset a photo! Unless you have room in your house or are having it off site, ALWAYS plan a rain date. Also make sure you have an RSVP with a date deadline and add your email as well as your phone number. A ‘regrets only” RSVP system makes for tricky planning. Recently, I have even seen people use free online invitation services.

For food, your options are numerous if you are hosting your graduation party at home. You can have it catered, you can cook or our family favorite for our barbeque theme is hamburgers, hot dogs and heroes. Add some salads, fruit platters and a graduation themed dessert and you have an easy, inexpensive menu. We set up a “stadium” food booth near the grill. My husband and his buddies were grilling to order, with the condiments and rolls set out at the booth. You make a poster and name your area. For example, at our party for our youngest who was going to DePaul University in Chicago.. we set up the “DePaul Dug Out” and decorated the table with the school colors. For our son, who was headed to Rutgers University, we had a “Knight Stand” as their school mascot is the Scarlet Knight.

For your graduation themed dessert you can always make or order a sheet cake. However, I have received great kudos with my graduate cakes. I make dozens of cupcakes and make tags on card stock with the high school or college logo. When our daughter was headed to Chicago for college, I made tags with pictures of Chicago landmarks. I then tape the tags to a toothpick and insert into the cupcakes. Make sure your tags are small enough that they don’t cause the cupcakes to tip over. Display on a platter and you have a unique dessert plate. Or learn to make cake ball desserts and decorate in school colors.

One last area that I always budget for is graduation party favors. I have always felt like all the guests should take home a fun gift. There are some creative and unique ideas for making your own graduation party invitations and favors, a fun graduation party decoration and some suggestions for graduation gifts at Celebration Ideas Online. There is also an idea on how to host your college graduation party right on campus. These ideas are sure to make your party a one of a kind celebration for both your graduate and your guests.

1. Graduation Announcement Website.  You don’t have to be website designer to put together a simple page using a template and adding some photos.  You might even want to add a video of the graduation ceremony.   Or for an easier and cost-free route, consider using one of the free photo sharing websites to showcase your photos in your own graduation album.

2. Graduation Announcement Business Cards.  If you go to a big school, have lots of relatives and friends, and you need a low cost way to pass along your contact information to many people, this may be the idea for you.  Have your name printed in the center, followed by the school you graduated from and the date.  Include information that is not likely to change, such as your cell phone number and email address. 

3. Graduation Announcement Magnets.  There are tons of companies that will print your message on just about anything from coffee mugs to mouse pads.  One of the cheapest items that can be imprinted with your personalization is a magnet.  Other inexpensive imprintables are buttons, keychains and pens.  Put your name, school, class of (and year), and maybe even email address and/or cellphone number.  These are light enough to mail, easy to hand out to your classmates,  and make a great keepsake party favor.

4. Graduation Announcement Bookmarks.  Personalized graduation bookmarks can contain a longer message than a magnet.  You might want to add a favorite quote or poem or even a thank you for support and encouragement.  Some companies will even incorporate your photo into the design.  The ribbon or tassel could be in your school colors.  These are also lightweight for mailing and are unique graduation party favors your guests will be sure to treasure.

5. Graduation Announcement Candy Bar Wrappers.  If you’re creative and would enjoy making these yourself, it’s really easy.  You can download free templates and designs from the internet and personalize them yourself.  Then it’s just a matter of printing, cutting them out, folding and taping them over chocolate bars you buy.

6. Photo Graduation Announcements. The new trend in graduation announcements is to feature one or more photos.  You can use a current photo and one of yourself when you graduated kindergarten. Or you might decide to choose one in your cap and gown and the other in casual clothes.   You’re no longer limited to just a few companies that offer bland stock designs with little choice in wording. There is such a variety of sizes and styles available.  Whatever photo or photos you want to include, colors, graphics or words, you can find something that reflects your personality.

This is the time for you to shine.  So why not share the announcement of your accomplishment with creativity and style? You don’t have to settle for ordinary graduation invitations, announcements or favors. Make you’re graduation announcements as unique as you are!