I have shopped at Personal Creations for years, but never purchased anything until 2006. The thing was, although the stuff I found was cute, I always found it when there were no reasons to buy it. So having the small amount of will power that I do have (sometimes) I would close the site and walk away! All that changed on 11/25/06 when I got sent yet another advertisement from Personal Creations and this time I had a great reason to shop there 🙂 It was almost Christmas time and they have lots of cute personalized ornaments!
Why do I love personalized items?
Well, my name is Suzanne. For some reason, stores make plenty of name plates and pencils and gifts that say “Susan” or “Sue” but it’s very hard to find anything that says “Suzanne”. Anytime I want something with my name on it, it seems I have to have it custom made. So if you are that person with the unpopular name, or you know someone with an unpopular name, than what better gift to get them than a personal creation! It will probably be one of few items they have with their name, and they will cherish it forever 🙂
Let’s start with what I got
For my younger cuz, I purchased a cheerleader ornament. It’s a cute little bear and I picked a blue outfit to match her school colors. There were 4 choices for color. I was able to print something on her belt, so I printed her name and 2006 so she’ll always remember her first year as a cheerleader.
For my friend, I got a cute little ornament with 2 bears standing behind a fence. I could customize it to say our names on the fence, and it also had a cute phrase “Friends are Flowers from the Same Garden”. I could have also gotten 3 bears if I wanted to add another name. Both ornaments are about 3″ tall so they are large enough to see clearly without being so big that they overpower your tree.
To continue, what else is there?
Tis the season for ornaments, but Hanukkah is also represented! Outside of holiday gifts, there are actually a whole lot of other items. The Special Occasion section is great for weddings (see below), new babies, grads, and of course birthdays. Ornaments and figurines are not the only things you can buy here, there are also plates, frames, bowls, mugs, wine glasses, blankets, boxes, street signs, banners, teddy bears, crosses, those glass blocks with text on them, boxes, calendars…. I could go on but I think you get the picture! All items can be personalized with text and some can even have photos. There is a limit to where and how much text you can put on each item (based on item size) but usually I can think of ways to make it work for me.
Get your Wedding stuff here!
After Christmas, I returned to the site for my wedding needs. I had seen wedding stuff on the previous shopping experience. I ended up finding a 20% off coupon in my mom’s Entertainment Book which is a great deal! I purchased 6 personalized toasting glasses for the bride, groom and wedding party. They are so cute! There are little cartoons of a wedding couple, a bridesmaid, or a groomsmen depending on who it is for. I also got a personalized unity candle, tapers and a holder. These items cost about the same as I’ve seen them at other stores, but they are personalized so they are even better. All this cost 140$ after shipping and the 3$ personalization fee. So if you are looking for cute wedding stuff, there is lots more at this store than the things I ended up buying 🙂
So, how does the site work?
The site is broken down to make things very simple. Since most people visiting this site aren’t looking for something they *need*, the site is set up to give you lots of ideas for gifts! Across the top they have main category links for Seasonal Celebrations, Special Occasions, Recipient, Specialty Shops, and Clearance. So if you are looking for Christmas gifts, just click on Seasonal Celebrations and get to work. The site will show you the best sellers for the category on the right, and break down the products into smaller categories on the left based on what type of product you want, and/or who the product is for.
My favorite way to shop is the Recipient section. Clicking this brings up links for “Gifts for Babies” all the way through “Gifts for Grandparents” and even includes “Gifts for Pets. Underneath each subheading are a whole lot of product types so you will find lots of good gifts for the person on your list.
Having trouble getting to what you are looking for? There is also a search box on the top of each page. So if you are looking for cheerleader items as I was, you can search the term and come up with all the ornaments plus some stuffed animals. The search works very well, but for me browsing is more fun b/c I come across more ideas that way 🙂
Once you find an item you like, you can click to enlarge it and see your personalization options. Some items will ask you to first choose how many names you need, or other choices like that. For the bear ornament, I could have chosen 2 or 3 bears, and I choose 2. Once you do that, it asks you to type in the text you want, if you want anything at all. They make you check a box to confirm your personalization is correct before you can add it to your cart. This is just an extra reminder to double check your typing b/c if it’s your mistake, you cannot get a refund. You can also preview the personalization on some items to see exactly what it will look like. Add the item to your basket, and checkout when you are all done shopping.
**Note: sometimes the personalization section can be confusing, especially if it’s an item with a lot of choices! If you read the screen carefully, you should be ok.
Checkout was quick and easy. I created an account since I knew I’d be back to the site in the future. The best thing about this is you don’t need to pay now, you can choose “bill me later”. I haven’t done this, but you should check it out if paying online concerns you. After a few steps I was checked out and ready to wait for my order. I was told it would be shipped within 7-10 days, and I had to give some leeway for personalization time. In the end, I ordered the items on 11/25, and received them on 12/4, so that’s not too bad at all.
Is all this personalization expensive?
I found the items themselves were very reasonably priced. The ornaments I bought were only 13$ for one and 10$ for the other. I was worried that when I checked out the personalization would be a rip off, but they only charge 3$ for the entire order! So no matter if you order 1 personalized item or 20, you will only be charged 3$. I encourage you to try and order everything you want at one time to take advantage of this.
Shipping, however, is a little pricey. This is one of those stores that base their shipping cost on PRICE instead of on WEIGHT… so if you spend more, the shipping is more. I didn’t find my final cost too bad so I accepted the shipping. Plus I was shopping through ebates and getting a huge 12% cash back so I was satisfied. I ordered it with the normal shipping, but you can expedite it if needed.
Would I shop there again?
No duh! I’ve been looking at the site while I write this review and I’ve already bookmarked a few gift ideas for the future 🙂 The items are all unique so most of the stuff you buy won’t look like the last gift you gave someone – there are just so many choices! I have fun shopping at the site and bookmarking items for the future – such as next time someone gets engaged, or a milestone birthday, I have tons of ideas just waiting to be purchased. Check out the link below to visit Personal Creations today and have fun surprising your friends and family (or even yourself) with personalized items. Don’t forget to shop through Ebates to get up to 12% cash back! Enjoy!!
