When it comes time to buy someone in your life a gift for their birthday, wedding or the winter holidays, do you automatically resort to the simple solution of giving them either cash or a gift card? You’re hardly alone in your actions if you do. And you wouldn’t be alone if you admitted that you don’t really like doing this but that you never seem to know what to get the people that you love.

The answer is that you should consider trying to get them unique personalized gifts. These are gifts that take something special to them and make it even more special. For example, your sister’s favorite photos of your niece can be made into personalized blankets bearing those images. Or your husband’s much-loved military medals can be showcased in a shadowbox for display.

The great thing about these types of personalized birthday gifts and holiday gifts is that they don’t require a lot of thought on your part. They require you only to think about the things that are special to the people in your life. It’s usually easy to identify those things so then it’s just a matter of figuring out what to do with the items – whether it’s to create a blanket or to display the item in a new way.