Personalisation Guide

Buying gifts for our loved ones can be quite a lengthy process. Finding the perfect gift for your friends or family that is high quality yet also unique can be a tall order. When trying to make a gift more memorable a great way to do this is to add an engraving. Whether it’s your loved one’s initials or an inside joke with your best friend, a special message can make all the difference when gift giving.

 

Here at Farrar and Tanner we have created this simple guide to the basics of personalisation to make sure you get the best results possible. Follow this guide, or go it alone and create a unique, memorable gift for the special people in your life. 

How to Pick the Correct Font and Message

Selecting the perfect gift is mostly down to who you are buying for. A great universal personalised gift for a loved one is a drinking glass. As the etching of a personalised message can look rather sophisticated on the side of a glass, it can make a wonderful gift for those that are harder to buy for. Another more unisex gift could be an engraved bottle of their favourite wine, or even some knives for their kitchen. The thing that all of these items have in common is that they are something that your partner will use every day. Engraving an everyday item is a lovely idea as it means that your loved one can see the message you write for them and smile every time, they use it.

For Him: Some great ideas for engravable gifts for men could be a leather belt or wallet. A hard wearing, versatile item such as a real leather belt or wallet makes a great gift for the men in your life. These leather goods from British heritage brands such as Barbour and Dents make the perfect luxury gift for your man. The great thing about these engravable leather goods is that they use them every day. Overall, these high-quality items make wonderful gifts for the man in your life, made even more memorable by an intricate engraving.

For Her: some great gifts for women could be things that they love but wouldn’t usually buy themselves like a jewellery box or a new leather bag. Both of these items are perfect for engraving and as they are everyday items your loved one can look at their unique engraving whenever they like. As both items are made from real leather, they are both durable and luxurious, making them practical yet stylish gifts. These high-quality items make wonderful gifts with an added engraving, creating a gift that she can cherish for a lifetime.

Content

The most important part of engraving a gift is the message you choose. The message on the gift is dependent on the occasion, the product, and the recipient. Although it sounds simple, make sure to check the spelling and grammar in your message. People often make spelling mistakes on their items, which can take away some of the magic from your sentimental gift. Starting simple, you could engrave your loved one’s name or initials. A classic way to add a unique touch to a gift, adding their name makes the item more personal to them and shows you were thinking of them when you chose it.

Along the same lines, adding a numerical engraving such as an important date or co-ordinates can be equally as unique and special for the recipient. Whether it is the date you met or a location of one of your favourite memories of them, this idea is a little more outside of the box than their name or initials.

Another equally popular choice for an engraving is a special message that you have created for the recipient. These can be both written by you or a maybe a quote from a book or film they love. Traditional ideas such as ‘Happy 50th Birthday’, ‘Congratulations on 20 Years of Marriage’, ‘Cheers to the Happy Couple’ are all great ideas that are tried and tested. You could also add the name of the recipient to the message for more dimension such as ‘Happy 50th Birthday David’. As for quotes for different occasions, here are some of our favourites:

  • ‘Another year older, another year wiser’
  • ‘The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it’
  • ‘Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.’
  • ‘Wishing a perfect pair, a perfectly happy day’

Fonts

The next step to creating a memorable personalised gift is choosing the perfect font. Here at Farrar and Tanner we have a large selection of fonts to choose from:

1.       Sans serif

2.       Serif

3.       Classic script

4.       Italic

5.       Handwritten

Each font is better for different products and occasions. Although there are better fonts for certain items, it’s important to trust your opinion as you know your loved on the best.

Sans Serif and Serif

For an all-round, easy to read yet still stylish font, a good option is Serif. Although typically Sans Serif can be easier to read, it can look quite clunky on certain products such as glasses as it is quite a thick font. Serif however is still easy to read but is a little bit thinner and elegant, perfect for engraving on a variety of products. Neither considered masculine or feminine, serif is perfect for most gifts.

Classic Script and Italic

Although many people love the intricacy of classic script, it can be hard to get clean lines on smaller products. Classic Script is better for larger items. Classic Script can be good for dates as numbers can be easier to read than words. Italic is a slightly clearer version of Classic Script and equally as romantic, often a good choice for bigger items.

Handwritten

The Handwritten font can look a bit less elegant as it is supposed to mimic someone’s own handwriting. However, this font can be good for a personal message for your loved one on the back of watch or pocket watch.

Make sure to keep to the character limit set on each product, it is there to make sure you get the best quality engraving possible. Despite it being important to choose the right font for the product, it is a good idea to simply choose the font that you like best.

The placement of your engraving can also play an important part in the gift itself. For example, on some of our knives you have the option to engrave on the handle or the blade itself. Engraving on the handle can be bolder and more noticeable, whereas engraving on the blade is more subtle and is something only the user will see. Both of these options are great, simply think of your loved one’s personality and pick the placement accordingly. Another item with a choice of engraving is whisky glasses. Very popular with the sophisticated gentleman, our whisky glasses can be engraved on the glass itself or on the metal base. The variety of options makes it easier to create a gift tailor made for your loved one.

We hope this guide has been useful and has helped you to create the perfect gift for your family and friends. If you have any further engraving queries, be sure to check out our Engraving Gallery, or call our customer service team for advice.