The credit crunch need not affect your power to buy an special gift for your beloved person.

I you find yourself in a situation like this, and you would like your gift to have the personal touch, why not consider photo mugs. You may be surprised at how low they are in price.

So just how can they make good gifts? Gifts shops, both in the high street and online, can take any photograph and place it onto the mug. It could be a photo of you and that special recipient, a pet or a location.

It can be any photo that you think will bring happy memories to the person you are buying it for. Furthermore the gift shops can also take your own customised text and transfer this to the mug along with the photo image. Usually you can even select the font and colour of the text.

With the photo and the text you are able to make a truly unique personalised gift for a relatively tiny price: A tiny price that makes a big impact. The possibilities are endless. First of all you could decide on a theme. Will your mug be humorous, romantic, or maybe sentimental? This is a good starting point.

Once you have decided on your theme its quite easy to find the perfect photo or even take the photo especially for the gift. The final stage of your design is to create your message. And there you go a very special gift created by your own imagination.

Lets not forget that the photo mug is also highly practical and may even be used every time that special person makes a cup of tea.

The technical specification of the ceramic mugs that most gift shops use means that the photo and text will not fade, and the mug may be washed, even in a dishwasher and also be safe to use in the microwave.

There are many occasions that this type of unique gift could be sent: Valentines, Anniversary, Birthday, Retirement, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and Christmas. If you buy online you can usually expect to receive your photo mug within a couple of days or even less.

Many outlets will also gift wrap the photo mug and send it directly to your special recipient, along with a card. A bit like the florists do.

If you have a team event, from a football or other sports team to an office celebration then why not buy a set of mugs for the group and personalise with the team colours and logos.

Photo mugs make an ideal an inexpensive gift that can bring happy memories for years to come.