It’s been a really crazy holiday season for me and despite lots of advance planning I’m still finding myself behind the ball when it comes to gifts and such. One of the things I wanted to have done by now was having sent out a holiday card. No such luck.

I thought that maybe a few of you might be in the same boat, so I wanted to share an idea with you. In years past I’d always take some time and create an online “gift” of some kind. It was always well received and was something that I could take my time with because delivery was almost instantaneous. This year, while I don’t have the time I used to, I can use this idea to make sure I’ve got something going out to friends in family that’ll get there before the season is too far gone.

Creating a holiday Web “gift” is easier than ever and I’ve got a few ideas for you:

* Create a special holiday Flickr photostream. This is something you can make private if you wish. You can include messages and captions with your photos and allow people to reply with holiday greetings of their own.
* Do a holiday blog post (or two, or three). Getting a blog is a piece of cake. You can use a hosted service like Blogger or WordPress.com or you can get your own domain and host it yourself. Dreamhost has good, cheap domain and hosting services with one-click installs of WordPress.
* Create a slideshow. I did this a few years ago and it was a big hit. It was a lot of work, but now with products like Slideshow Pro this kind of thing is pretty easy.

I’m still not 100% sure what I’ll do this year for friends and family, but I’m really glad I’ve got the WWW to help me out of a time crunch. Nothing like next-to-instant communication. Speaking of which – HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Feel free to share your own “Webby” holiday ideas in the comments, you may provide me with some creative energy to do something completely different this year.

22 Comments on DIY: Holiday Web Gift

  1. I’d give people Flickr Pro accounts as gifts. I’ve already bought two people pro accounts for their birthdays and they absolutely love it (as before they weren’t flickr users).

  2. Keith says:

    Daniel — Great gift idea, for sure.

  3. Adam Bramwel says:

    There’s a great little app that makes a calendar from your flickr photos, month by month. It sticks its thumb up at my efforts at making a calendar and rewrites the 80/20 rule to more like 90/10.

  4. Michael says:

    For the second year in a row I’m making a website for someone in the family – actually, for two people this year. One’s a family site with a goal to help my grandfather’s genealogy quest. Another’s a basic business site to coincide with a growing ebay presence.

    I like that Flickr Pro idea.

  5. I once though of getting my brother a domain name and a one-year hosting service, but then he would get stuck having to pay for it afterward and I’m not sure if that’s what I want. In the end, I think he can do a lot more with his My Space account.

  6. patRice says:

    Can’t decide whether I should say I’m ahead of times, or actually becoming old-fashioned, but: this year is the first time ever that I actually sent Christmas cards by snail mail – it just seems so much more personal. I’m sure my mother will be delighted, and many of my customers surprised (because my biz is an e-biz).

    And I agree, Alexandre: a present that involves follow-up costs is not such a great thing. (I know people who’ve had to deal with that, and they were far from happy.)

  7. slackah says:

    No Gifts Yet?

    No problem! Let’s see if slackah can help.
    To-Done! has done their part and written a article: DIY: Holiday Web Gift. Their tips are:

    Create a special holiday Flickr photostream. This is something you can make private if you wish. You can inclu…

  8. Alex says:

    I have previously bought a few family members their own domain name, literally theirname.com (whatever permutation was available). And although they were not as into compuetrs and the internet as I am, I think they got a kick out of it.

  9. Todd says:

    It’s a little late now, but Flickr also has integration with QOOP now that will put your photos on a poster or a book. You could make a poster or small booklet of all the pics you have in your flickr account w/ that friend/memories etc. – Or maybe just one w/ a bunch of artistic photos or photos of their favorite travel destination or something

    I just ordered my first one last nite, the prices seem decent, I can’t wait to see the quality

  10. motherduce says:

    I sent people iPhoto books. Easy to make, look great, and a lifetime keepsake. We will be doing family yearbooks every year now, both as gifts, and one for us to have for ourselves.

  11. Alan says:

    When you created your Hawaii Slideshow How did you create it – Thanks

  12. Hey, you have a great blog here! I’m definitely going to bookmark you!

    I have a holiday shopping site. It pretty much covers Christmas related stuff.

    Come and check it out if you get time :-)

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  15. cosmetic says:

    I love all the excitement when shopping for holidays, have a very good one. Nice site by the way, suttle colors

  16. Bmall Gifts says:

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  17. Sofia says:

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  18. Daniella says:

    I just ordered some stuff at KAZAM Natural Body Care , after all the cooking and working this is a great treat.

  19. More than just works of art, though, each holiday celebration also offers a wealth of information about the holiday, including its history and holiday-related activities.

  20. One of the more unusual hiliday gifts I’ve seen is a boxed set of 6 metal drinks mats printed in full colour with various holiday highlights which seemed to me to be rather unique.

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