Personalised gifts have been around for almost as long as gift-giving has been popular. Aristocrats, in bygone centuries, would arrange personalised gifts for their house-guests. Sometimes rivals would compete with each other to out-do the extravagance of their gifts, meaning that their friends and loved ones enjoyed ever more lavish goodies until the feud burned itself out.

In modern times, personalised gifts are a great way to show love and appreciation to people. These can be close family members, or mere acquaintances, such as retiring colleagues or particularly successful workmates.

Gifts are easily found these days, with watches, plaques, picture or photo frames all being excellent ideas for gifts that will be useful and last a lifetime with care. But adding a personalised touch to such a gift is always a great way to add genuine value to it.

Personalisation does not have to be just a name – there are millions of pens, mugs and t-shirts with the name ‘John’, for example, emblazoned on them. This can mean that to someone with a common name, receiving such a gift will not imbue them with the gratitude that a personalised gift should provide. But if John is very interested in fishing, and has an enormous stamp collection, a personalised gift inscribed with the word ‘John’, and featuring an image of John’s biggest catch with his favourite stamps replicated around the edges – that would be a truly personalised gift that will mean a lot to John, showing him the thought and effort that has gone into providing him with his gift.

Of course, people with unusual names are always very grateful to receive a beautiful pen with their own unique name on it as they usually miss out on the gift shop named products! No matter who is on the receiving end, beautiful gifts into which thought has been put are a sign of care, and personalising that gift is a great way to demonstrate that thoughtfulness.

In the days before economical and quick engraving and etching, people were very lucky to own one or two items that were specifically personalised for them. These items were usually fine silver or gold bracelets, or necklace pendants. They were often fairly valuable, and spent much of their time locked up in safes and jewellery cases, rarely being seen and never worn.

Today, modern techniques and advanced manufacturing and mining processes mean that just about everyone can afford to personalise almost any gift they choose to. Photographs can be replicated on shirts, cushions and towels, names can be etched or engraved on any flat, smooth surface, and images and words can be beautifully embroidered into any fabric or textile. These processes have been perfected and made commercially viable so that anyone can easily personalise a gift to make it more thoughtful, bringing greater joy to the recipient.

Businesses can use personalised gifts to show their customers that they care about them. There are companies out there that specialise in personalised corporate gifts and Gift Delivery, offers a wonderful range of unique gifts to suit all tastes and budgets

While the history of personalised gifts is a long one, it is only fairly recently that the practice has become widespread, with anyone able to personalise a gift for another; no matter whether it is a mum for her children, a grandchild for a grandma, or a colleague to another on receipt of a happy occasion or good news. In short, it is easier to spread some love with a thoughtful, personalised gift than it has ever been.