Personalized Gifts for Best Friends With Names

A personalized gift with a name works when the name is the one you actually call each other, it's on something your friend uses or sees every day, and it carries one more detail only the two of you get: a date, a nickname, an inside joke. A name on its own, on any old mug, feels generic even though it's personalized. Below: how to choose what goes on it, ideas with one name and with both, and the mistakes to check before you pay.

First: which name?

It sounds easy. It's where most personalized gifts go wrong.

• What do you call her? If you've called her "Jess" since seventh grade, a gift that says "Jessica" sounds like her dentist sent it. If you have a nickname nobody else uses, that's the name for the gift.
• What does she like to be called? Some friends hate their high school nickname. If you're not sure, ask someone close to her, not her.
• One name or both? With one name, the gift is for her. With both, it's about the two of you: every time she looks at it, she thinks of you. For a birthday, one is usually enough. For a long friendship, a move or a goodbye, both say more.
• The order. If both go on, hers goes first. It's her gift.

What to add besides the name

The name says who it's for. The extra detail makes it yours:

• A date: the year you met, not her birthday. "Since 2009" says more than any quote.
• A place: the town you grew up in, your school, the street of your first apartment.
• An inside joke, in a few words. If it needs explaining, leave it off.
• Handwriting, hers or yours: her grandmother's recipe in the original handwriting on a tea towel or cutting board, or your signature from every birthday card you've ever sent her.

A rule that helps: if a stranger looks at the gift and understands all of it, something is missing.

Ideas with her name

• A notebook or planner with her name on the cover, for the friend who runs her life on lists.
• An embroidered towel or robe, for the friend whose Sunday bath is sacred.
• A small initial necklace, for every day. Her initial gets worn more than her whole name.
• A mug with her nickname, not her legal name. That's the whole difference.
• A book stamp, "From the library of Sam", for the friend who lends books and never gets them back.

Ideas with both names

• Matching bracelets or necklaces, where each of you wears the other's initial, not your own.
• A photo album with both names on the cover and blank pages at the back for what's still coming.
• A cutting board or tea towel with the recipe the two of you always make together.
• A map of the place you met, with both names and the date.
• A print with both your names. More on ours below.

Mistakes that ruin a personalized gift

• Spelling. Check exactly how she spells her name: Kristen or Kristin, Ashley or Ashleigh, an accent or not. A "Caitlin" that arrives as "Katelyn" can't be fixed, and personalized items usually can't be returned.
• Accents and special letters. Many shops don't print them, or swap them without telling you. If her name has an accent or an ñ, look at photos of other orders or ask before you buy.
• Timing. Engraving and embroidery take time: many shops add a week or two just to personalize. For Christmas, order early.
• Her full name on something she carries in public. A tote bag or backpack with her first and last name isn't a great idea. An initial or a nickname is enough.
• Too much text. A name, a date and five words. The rest goes in the card.

A print with one name or both

We make prints of Capy and Bara, two capybara best friends: Capy is calm and carries everybody, Bara never stops and wants to fix everything. In the print in the photo, Capy looks down at Bara under the words "Everything good in me, I learned from you." Add one name or both, pick the color, and collect it with Same Day Pickup at a store near you, or have it mailed free to any address in the 50 states. Not sure which one your friend is? Take the quiz. See the prints.

If you're short on time

Personalized things almost always need time. If you don't have it, write her name yourself: by hand, on the card, with the year you met. And if you need something today, here's a last minute gift for your best friend. For the card itself, here's what to write on a gift tag for a friend.