Blog6 min read
Photo gift ideas for your boyfriend: how to pick the photos
The best photo gift for your boyfriend depends less on what you print it on than on which photos you choose and what you write under them. Twenty pictures he hasn't looked at in months, each with one line about that day, beat a canvas of your best selfie. Below is how to pick them from a camera roll of thousands, how to caption them, and the printed and digital gifts that suit each kind of boyfriend.
How to pick the photos
Most people have thousands of photos and no idea where to start. Give yourself thirty minutes, scroll back year by year, and mark anything that makes you stop. Then narrow it down to twelve to twenty using these rules:
- One of him looking his best. The photo he'd choose himself. Every set needs one.
- One of him laughing. Mid-laugh, slightly blurred, not posed. These are the ones people keep.
- One he doesn't know you took. Reading on a train, asleep with the dog on his chest, cooking with too much concentration.
- The two of you, but not only selfies. Ask friends for the photos they took of you at weddings and parties; they're usually better than your own.
- Places, not just faces. The view from the first trip, the table at the restaurant, the street where you first lived together.
- Something from before you. A photo of him as a child, borrowed from his family, tells him you're interested in all of him.
If you have too many, keep the ones with a story you can tell in a sentence, and cut the ones that only look nice.
What to write under each photo
A caption is what turns a print into a memory. Keep it to one line: where you were, and the one thing you remember that the photo doesn't show.
Lisbon, day two. Ten minutes after this you told me you'd never been on a tram and then fell over on one.
The night you cooked for my parents. You'd made that sauce three times that week to get it right and didn't tell me.
March. I don't remember why you're laughing, but I remember thinking I'd like to see that every day.
Skip captions that just name the place or the date. He knows where you were. What he doesn't know is what you were thinking.
Printed photo gift ideas for him
- A small book of one trip. Twenty photos from one trip or one weekend, in order, with captions. A thin book he'll actually open beats a heavy one of everything.
- One big print, framed. A single photo that matters, printed large, for the wall in his place. Pick a landscape from a trip if he'd hate his own face on the wall.
- A calendar for next year. One of your photos for each month, with his birthday, your anniversary and the next trip already marked.
- A photo booth strip, made fresh. Find a real photo booth in a station or a bar, take him on the day, and keep the strip for his wallet.
- A deck of cards. Several print shops make a deck with your own photos on the backs. Good for the boyfriend who plays cards with his friends.
- Prints in a box. Thirty loose prints in a plain box with the captions written on the back, to flick through together on a slow evening.
Check the delivery date before you order. A book or calendar made online can take a week or more to arrive, so if his birthday is only days away, go for loose prints or one framed print from a local photo shop, which can often print the same day.
Photo gifts for a boyfriend who hates photos of himself
Some men would rather not see their face on anything. Make the gift about what he looks at, not how he looks:
- His own photos. Go through the photos he took, of views, food, the dog, and print the best of them as if he were a photographer. Most of his have probably never been printed.
- Places only. The skyline from your first trip, the bench you sat on, the bar where you met. Your shared map, in photos.
- Photos where he's small in the frame. On a hill, at the edge of a lake, walking ahead of you. He's in it, but it isn't a portrait.
What to skip
- His face on a cushion or a mug. Funny for a minute, then a cushion with his face on it in his living room.
- Thirty selfies. Same angle, same arm, same faces. Mix them with photos other people took.
- Photos he doesn't like of himself. If he's ever asked you to delete one, it doesn't go in.
- Exes, or friends you've fallen out with, in the background. Check every photo at full size before it goes in.
If he's told you he doesn't want anything, a box of photos about him is one of the few gifts that still fits (more on that here). A few lines for the card that goes with it are in our birthday card guide, and if you would rather lay out the pages yourself, here is how to make a digital scrapbook.
Digital photo gift ideas
A digital gift puts the photos and captions you chose together with a song, and it reaches him as a link. No printing and no waiting for delivery, and he can keep it. All three below are built around your photos. For other kinds, there are more digital gifts for your boyfriend and birthday ones.
Questions people ask
What is a good photo gift for my boyfriend?
Choose twelve to twenty photos first (him on his own, the two of you, places you've been), write one line under each, then pick the format: a small book of one trip, a calendar for next year, prints in a box or a digital gift he opens on his phone.
How many photos should I put in a photo gift?
Twelve to twenty is enough for most gifts. Fewer, well chosen and captioned, feels more personal than a hundred he scrolls past. Keep the ones with a story you can tell in a sentence.
What should I write on a photo gift for my boyfriend?
One line per photo: where you were and one thing you remember that the picture doesn't show, like what he said ten minutes later. Skip captions that only give the place or the date.
What photo gift can I give a boyfriend who doesn't like photos of himself?
Print the photos he took himself, or use places you've been and pictures where he's small in the frame. The gift is about your shared life, not his face.
