Custom board games - Custom foamex board
Mad about Monopoly? Raving about risk? Making a custom board of someone's favourite game is incredibly creative, thoughtful and will last a lifetime. The best part? Printing on foamex need not be expensive.
The time consuming part of this will be the planning and design. Let's take 'Risk' as an example.
So your friend loves this strategic war game, why not recreate the countries to represent their neighbourhood? Perhaps they're an avid Game of Thrones fan, you could even theme the territories around The North, beyond the wall and such.
Once you've named your territories to match with the game amounts/shape - it's design time. If you're competent with design software, it might be a nice touch for it to be made fully by you - however using a graphic designer will get you the sleek, professional touch to really wow the gift receiver.
(Please note the designer will likely be noticeably more expensive than the print)
Speak to your printer for recommendations on what board to use, one easy solution is printing on a rigid Foamex board.
Cards against yer Auntie
Card games are also a delight, and it may be perfect to customise a normal deck for a poker player, bridge enthusiast or any of the hundreds of card games. We're going to shake it up based on a hilarious creation we once saw - a custom 'Cards against Humanity' styled deck called ' Cards against Nathan '.
If you're unfamiliar with the adult game, a black card is played with a scenario such as ' [YOUR FRIEND] was late to work because of...] and then players will select a white card reply from their hand to try and get the funniest response.
We'd give examples of the potential white card responses... but we want to keep this post PG.
Insta-famous
They may not be an artist, or a successful photographer - but why not turn their favourite Instagram posts into art. Whether it's printed on a cushion, a huge poster, as part of a collage, in a photobook, on a t-shirt or anywhere else - the possibilities are endless for featuring their photos as part of a functional or delightful gift.
Retro trading cards - Pokémon master? Football wizard?
There could be a simple yet effective opportunity here. Is the gift receiver mad about something huge that has collectable cards? (Even better if they collect them!) Obvious examples would be creating a custom pokémon card with them on it, or if they're mad about football you could recreate the football sticker albums hugely popular pre-2000s.
You could always look at the 'Top Trumps' styled model, and pick a discipline or category relevant to them. Perhaps they're a banker, so you want to make them a Top Banker card with high stats for efficiency, friendliness and intelligence - a very thoughtful secret santa gift for a colleague deserving some accolade.
Photoshopped to fame
Simple again - what's their favourite movie? What is their favourite pieces of art? Do they have a celebrity crush?
Once you've picked your scene, you'll be photo-shopping in your gift recipient into the fray. This is becoming increasingly easier to do, but any difficulties and a designer can help.
Inspired? Got more ideas to share? Let us know!
If you're looking for any help with a project, our skilled team has a huge amount of print experience from all sorts of intricate and tricky jobs - we strive on creating truly beautiful results!
Created by Olive + Ash.
Managed by Olive Street Design. 
