Beginner's Guide to Personalizing Gifts with Printify for the 2024 Holiday Season

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Hey artists and creatives! Did you know that you can use print-on-demand to create personalized one-of-a-kind holiday gifts for friends and family at a fraction of the regular retail price?

Buckle up and get ready to get your creative juices flowing! I’ll be sharing some of my favorite items that can be personalized with your art (or curated / licensed art) using one of my favorite print on demand providers, Printify!

What is Print on Demand?

In case you're new to Print on Demand (PoD), let's cover some basics on how it works.

Print on Demand is an innovative business model that allows artists to transform their designs into tangible products, from t-shirts and mugs to phone cases and posters, without having to worry about inventory or order fulfillment.

It's a dream come true for artists and creatives like us looking to put our art on products and monetize our creativity while keeping our hands free from the hassles of shipping and stocking products.

But even if you're not ready to build a business around PoD, a great way to get familiar with it is to order items for yourself or for gifts.

In fact, when you order directly from a provider like Printify, you'll be purchasing the items at a deep discount off the suggested retail price!

Unwrapping Printify - My Favorite Platform for Holiday Gifting

Printify is a free-to-use print on demand service that offers over 900 items for you to customize.

Instead of being just one provider, Printify has actually gathered together the best-of-the-best print on demand providers under one roof and one ordering system.

It has an easy to use interface that’s perfect for beginners, the quality of the items is top notch, and to date - their prices have been the most competitive I’ve found. It’s a win-win-win!

Your First Steps with Printify

If you’re just looking to order gifts for yourself, friends or family, you don’t need to set up an elaborate storefront or profile.

Just 3 simple steps will get you started designing your personalized holiday gifts:

Step 1: Sign up for a free Printify account. You’ll find the interface is easy to use and beginner friendly!

Step 2: Select a product from Printify’s vast catalog. Choose from t-shirts or mugs, kitchen towels, and even custom ornaments! When you’ve found one you like, click Start Designing. I’ll highlight some of my favorite items for gifting below!

Step 3: Use Printify’s design interface to import your artwork and their built-in text editor to add your copy. When finished you can click on the Mockup generator to see just how your design will look on the finished product!

Are you an artist looking to grow your art business and sell personalized holiday gifts?

If you have your sights set on selling your designs, Printify interfaces with many e-commerce storefronts such as your Shopify or Etsy store.

If you’d like help on getting started, connecting your store to Printify, and selling your holiday gift designs to others, I’ve created a course for beginners that will take you step-by-step from account creation and preparing your art to creating mockups and publishing your first POD products:

CLASS: Artist's Guide to Printify Print on Demand with Shopify & Etsy

Class Thumbnail: Artist's Guide to Printify Print on Demand with Shopify & Etsy

Preparing Your Artwork for Digital Printing

In order to get the best results, you'll need to make certain that you're using artwork that will work well with the digital print on demand printing processes and avoid any unwanted surprises!

Most important is to start with a high-resolution file of 300 dpi or more. If you're creating physical art like watercolor, etc. you'll need to use a digital scanner to get it into electronic format. The scanner doesn't have to be fancy. I am currently using the scanner that came with my home printer, an HP Officejet 5252. Some of the items will only require a dpi of 150, but scanning it in higher will allow you more options when adjusting the size & scale of your work in Printify.

In addition to having a high-resolution file, you'll need to make sure you have the proper background for the product you're printing on. This would most likely be either transparent or white. If you use Canva to prepare your art files, there is an option to export your finished file as transparent, but at this time you need to have the Canva paid version to access it.

Lastly, be sure to avoid details and fine lines that are too small to be printed clearly. Printify's guidelines state, "Avoid small details (may come out blurry), for mugs especially. Artwork should be no smaller than 3px (otherwise known as 0.75pt, .25mm or .001inches)."

No Artwork of Your Own to Share Yet? No Worries!

If you don’t have any of your own artwork ready, but would like to design something special, you can use graphics resources like Creative Fabrica or Canva. Both offer low-cost ways to licence art that you can use in your own personalized print on demand designs.

Creative Fabrica - thousands of designs at your fingertips!

Creative Fabrica is a treasure trove of high-quality fonts, graphics, and design elements from artists all over the world that can add a distinctive touch to your artwork.

I like to use Creative Fabrica when I'm looking for inspiration or maybe a certain element to add to a design. You'll find a wide range of artistic styles there from watercolor to vector and everything in between. Some artists even offer seamless repeating patterns which can easily be applied to many PoD products.

At the time of this writing, you can get access to the entire CF library for as low as $4.99 / month. They also have some free options available as well.

As an example, here are some popular holiday graphics and fonts that could be used in your own holiday print on demand designs:

Canva - the perfect design tool, even for non-designers!

Canva offers a user-friendly platform that empowers artists and creatives to easily bring their designs to life. With an extensive library of templates, graphics, and fonts, Canva provides a robust toolkit that caters to both seasoned designers and those just starting.

Although I am proficient in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I most often find myself creating my designs for PoD in Canva first. There is a free option to get you started, but even the paid version is very affordable and will allow you access to premium graphics, fonts, and ability to export with transparent background.

*EXPERT TIP: If you look in the lower right hand corner of the Printify design interface, you will find the size of design file required for each product. You can then create the perfect-sized art file in Canva to get your designs started.

Popular Printify Products You Can Personalize for Holiday Gifts

Now that you know a little more about Printify’s print on demand platform, let’s dig in to some of my favorite items from Printify that you can personalize and gift for the holidays!

1) Festive Apparel: Personalize a T-shirt or Sweatshirt

Personalized holiday t-shirts or sweatshirts always make great holiday gifts. Printify has many styles and providers to choose from which can sometimes be overwhelming! The two featured here are some of my favorites. The sweatshirt is the Gildan 18000 (priced from $17.63). It comes in 8 sizes, 37 colors and is available from 18 print providers!

The t-shirt is the Bella & Canvas 3001 (from $10.87). This t-shirt is available in 9 sizes, 108 colors and from 21 print providers. A popular alternative to this t-shirt is the Comfort Colors 1717 which offers a more relaxed fit. I sourced the graphics and created the layouts in Canva.

2) Drinkware: Create a custom mug or personalized stainless tumbler

Do you have a coffee or tea drinker on your holiday list? Ceramic mugs are easy to customize. The mug featured here is the 15oz Ceramic mug from District Photo. They offer both an 11oz ($4.61) and a 15oz ($5.92) size. Stainless water bottles have also been popular for a long time. Adding a simple monogram as shown is an easy way to personalize. The bottle shown here is the 20oz Insulated Bottle by District Photo (from $19.81). The graphic is courtesy of Creative Fabrica.

3) Gifts for Kids: Personalize a Puzzle or Camping Cup

Printify even has items for the little ones on your holiday list! The puzzle shown is the Jigsaw Puzzle from Imagine Your Photos (from $17.13). It comes in 5 sizes (30, 100, 252, 500, 1000-Piece) so you can choose your difficulty. Another thing I like about this puzzle is that it comes packaged in a white metal tin box with the finished image on the cover. I used graphics from Creative Fabrica and arranged the design in Canva before uploading to Printify.

The mug is the Enamel Camping Mug from District Photo (from $10.39). It holds 12 oz and is made of lightweight stainless steel with rounded corners perfect for little hands. The design shown here is one-sided, but you can create a design that wraps around the whole mug. The space monkey graphic is from Creative Fabrica.

4) Commemorative Custom Ornaments to Hang on the Tree

Custom Christmas ornaments are a gift that will be cherished for years to come, and Printify has many types of ornaments including ceramic, metal, wooden and even pewter.

The ornament shown here is a Printify best-seller and is the Ceramic Ornament from Imagine Your Photos (from $6.03). This style of ornament is available in four shapes: snowflake, star, heart and circle. I personally like the circle as it has the largest printing area.

Printify suggests that because of the small scale it's better to avoid small text and high detail.

5) Custom Printed Gifts for the Home: Scented Candles, Throw Pillows

Printify also has some great gifts for the home such as these scented candles and throw pillows.

There are several candle styles available to choose from. The candle shown is the 9oz Scented Soy Candle by Lumient (from $12.50). It is available in 10 different scents including unscented! All fragrances are the same color. Eco-friendly, it is made of a 100% natural soy wax blend with a 100% cotton wick.

I created photo candle label in Canva (they have some great templates!) before uploading my design to Printify.

The pillow shown is the Spun Polyester Square Pillow from MWW On Demand (from $13.73). The price includes the printed outer cover AND the pillow insert! The outer cover closes with a nicely constructed concealed zipper. You can choose from 4 square sizes: 14", 16", 18" and 20".

6) Gifts to Inspire or Encourage: Spiral Journals & Notebooks

Do you have a friend or family member who likes to journal or could use some encouragement or happy thoughts? A custom spiral journal or notebook makes a great gift or stocking stuffer! The spiral notebook shown is the Spiral Notebook - Ruled Line from Spoke Custom Products (from $8.05) and is a Printify best-seller. It features a metal spiral binding and 188 ruled line pages printed on 90 gsm paper.

There are Many More Personalized Gifts to Explore!

I hope I've been able to shed some light and sparked some interest for using Printify print on demand to create some personalized and memorable gifts this holiday season! I've covered some of my favorites, but really I've just scratched the surface. There are so many more products in the Printify catalog that would make amazing gifts. You can learn more about Printify here.

Grab Your FREE Guide!

Kari Barnes

Kari is a mixed media artist and surface designer with a passion for print on demand living on a small farm in Wisconsin. After 22 years of growing a traditional online product-based company, she loves to teach and share with others what she's gathered along the way -- especially as she learns to apply her business background to her growing art business.

Art is energy and when you put your art on products and send them out into the world, you exchange this energy and bring joy to people you've never met before!

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