Snapfish By HP: Creating Holiday Memories

The kids are out of school, but you still have holiday shopping/baking/wrapping left and only a small time frame to complete it.  Avoid the babysitters and the mall with HP Photo Creations, HP web connected apps and Snapfish by HP and get a variety of great activites, gifts and ideas for the holidays to fit your needs!

If you read our holiday DIY gift piece, you already know that HP offers plenty of creative projects - think holiday coloring pages, crafts and calendars - using your Photosmart or ENVY e-All-in-One printers. The HP ePrint Center offers several fun applications for kids including printable content from Mattel, DreamWorks, Disney, Nickelodeon and more.

But for more professional looking gifts, you can use the HP Photo Creations software or the HP Creative Studio to download templates, get ideas, create projects with Snapfish by HP and more.  The bonus is that you can use all the content saved in your Photo Creations library without having to download images like you would on rival sites.

But what if you don't own an HP printer?  You can still create framed photo canvases, children's wall decor, photo panels, photo books, posters and more with Snapfish by HP and HP Retail Services.

With Snapfish by HP, you can create photo books, cards, prints, home decor, calendars, mugs, posters, jewelry, ornament and more.  For a complete list of all the gifts available, click here.

Once you choose your project, you'll need to sign in to your Snapfish account. If you don't have an account, you can sign up and get 20 free 4x6 prints.  It's fairly easy, they just need your name, email address and for you to create a password.

For this article, I chose to create 3D/Animated Ornament.  You can design your own (if you are crafty/artistic, which I am not) or select a template.  I went with the Merry Merry Christmas which is animated (aka when you move it back and forth the Merry's change).  Across the Snapfish site, the more you buy, the more you save but I went with one which was priced at $8.99.

You will need to upload photos to the site but I've used Snapfish before so I used photos I had saved to create my ornament.  Make sure you check out their guidelines for picking the right pictures or else the ornament might turn out wrong.  After picking your images, you'll add them to the ornament and you can move them around and resize them to make sure they fit the way you like.  Once it looks right, choose a custom message for the back (or pick one of their mushy inscriptions). 

The process will make you confirm everything looks right and then input your address and payment info.  Standard delivery is 3-5 days after the item has been printed so if you need the present by Christmas, make sure you choose the overnight option.

BUT - after I ordered my item, I got an email from Snapfish by HP saying that it would take 5-7 days to process my order and then 3-5 buiness days to deliver.  So, if you plan on ordering anything from Snapfish that you want by Christmas, I'd suggest calling their hotline (or chatting online) with a customer service rep to get a legit expected day of arrival. The number is 1-800-634-4500 and their hours are Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. ET - 10:00 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday - 10:00 a.m. ET - 10:00 p.m. ET.

Of course, with some photo gifts you'll be able to choose same day pickup at retail partners nationwide (depending on the item). In that case, you'll have til December 23rd to create and purchase gifts and still be able to pick them up on Christmas Eve!

Be sure to check out our full 12 Tech Days of Christmas list for new suggestions and picks by TechnologyGuide editors through Christmas Eve on Dec. 24th! Spend some time with our 2012 Holiday Buyers Guide as well, for high-tech gift suggestions from across our product news and review sites.

And check out the PrinterComparison Holiday Buyer's Guide for a list of some of the best consumer and SMB printers available! And get even more great gift ideas with the TechnologyGuide Holiday Buyer's Guide!