Some people like to make their impressions on friends, family and acquaintances by giving personalized gifts. It can give the receiver a little sense of being special and attaches instant ownership to a material good. If you are one of those people who dislikes it when a gift is so casually replaced, it can also make it harder for the receiver of the gift to try returning it to the store.

Personalized gifts are popular in the business world, especially if the giver has purchased a lot of the same item to give out to clients. By taking the time to have them engraved with the receiver's name it helps to make the client feel more like the business cares. Typical personalized business gifts can be key chains, paperweights, towels, or bracelets and various kinds of jewelry.

Gifts can be made in the shape of the receivers' initials. Many will recall the key chains for sale in stores molded into the shapes of the letters of the alphabet. It is a quick and easy way to give someone a personalized gift. On the downside these types of gifts have been available for a long time and lost some of their uniqueness a while ago. Personalized gifts can also be embroidered fabric or clothing. There's the set of handkerchiefs embroiders in the corner with a person's initials.

Personalization of a gift doesn't have to include the receivers' name. They can also be little messages or simply a, "from so and so" engraved somewhere inconspicuous. Many wedding bands and engagement rings are engraved on the inside of the band with messages of love and affections. They can be a way of giving that someone special a little boost every time they look at the personalization. On a side note personalizing a gift makes it easier to identify if it is ever lost or stolen.