$8. That's the Real Number.

Not "starting around $20 after you add the good options." Eight dollars, for one pressed photo magnet, your own picture, done by hand. Everything below is just how far that stretches.

What actually fits under $20 here

A single personalized photo magnet starts at $8 — pressed by hand, 3.5 inches, your own photo. That leaves real room in a $20 budget, even after adding a second piece or covering shipping if you're not local.

Two magnets, a magnet and a button, or one magnet with a little extra for a card — all of it comfortably fits without stretching the number to make the math work.

Why cheap and meaningful aren't opposites

The price of a gift and the weight it carries aren't the same thing. An $8 magnet with the right photo on it outlasts a $40 gift basket that gets used once and forgotten. Price is about the object. Meaning is about the photo, the person, the moment — none of which cost extra.

Who this actually works for

• Teacher and coach gifts at the end of a season
• Stocking stuffers that aren't landfill by January
• A small thank-you that doesn't feel like an afterthought
• Grab-bag or white elephant gifts with more heart than the usual $10 candle

The one thing worth spending the extra on

If the budget allows a little more, the jump from a single magnet to a small set — two or three photos, or a magnet plus a matching coaster — is usually where a gift goes from nice to actually kept. Still well under $20 for most combinations.

Six picks that actually stay under $20

These aren't hypothetical bundles. They're the combinations people in the Yakima Valley order most often when the budget is a single twenty-dollar bill.

• One 3.5" photo magnet — $8. The baseline. One photo, pressed by hand, on the fridge that afternoon if you pick it up locally.
• Two matching magnets — one for you, one for grandma. Still under $20, and it turns a single photo into two households seeing it every day.
• One magnet plus one photo button — the button goes on a backpack or a lanyard, the magnet stays home. Good for a kid's team photo or a graduation shot.
• A three-magnet mini set from one photo session — birthday, first day of school, and the goofy outtake nobody framed.
• A single photo coaster — the quiet gift for a coworker or a neighbor who doesn't need another mug.
• One Kids Like David or Armor of God starter magnet — a Bible lesson piece that lives on the fridge instead of in a drawer. A small entry point into the full storytelling kit later.

Local pickup is the part that keeps it under $20

Shipping is what usually breaks a small budget. If you're in Yakima, Selah, Union Gap, Terrace Heights, Moxee, Toppenish, or anywhere else in the Valley, free local pickup means the $8 magnet stays an $8 magnet. That difference is the whole reason a budget gift can still be handmade instead of ordered from a warehouse three states away.

If you're not local, we ship nationwide — just plan for the postage in the total, and consider ordering two or three pieces at once so one shipment covers several gifts.

Real Yakima Valley uses for a gift this size

Under-$20 gifts do the most work in the places where you're giving many of them at once, not one big one.

• End-of-season gifts for a whole youth soccer or little league roster — one team photo, one magnet per family.
• Teacher and classroom aide thank-yous in June, when a class of twenty-five makes anything pricier impossible.
• Sunday school and VBS take-homes that parents actually keep on the fridge.
• Church volunteer appreciation after a big service weekend.
• Small-business Saturday gifts for regulars, with your own storefront or crew photo on them.
• Harvest, fair, and car show season — a photo from the day, handed out the following week.

How to pick the photo when the budget is tight

With one magnet, the photo carries everything, so it's worth thirty extra seconds of thought. Faces should be large enough to read at 3.5 inches — a full-body shot from across a gym loses the person entirely once it's pressed. Bright, even light beats a dramatic photo with the face in shadow. And a candid usually lands better than a posed one, because it's the version of the person the recipient actually knows.

Send the original file from your phone rather than a screenshot or a version that's been through a group text a few times. Compression is the single most common thing that turns a good photo into a soft print, and it's the easiest one to avoid.

What to expect after you order

There's no guesswork step. We respond to all inquiries within 3 business days, you approve a proof before anything is pressed, and once your proof is approved, please allow 7-10 business days for production and shipping. Full details live on the policies page.

For an $8 gift, that proof step matters more than it sounds like it should — it's what keeps a budget keepsake from being a budget-looking keepsake.

Keep it simple

Pick one good photo. Don't overthink the rest. An $8 to $18 personalized magnet does more work than most gifts twice the price, because it's the one thing on the list that's actually about the person receiving it.

Your Photos. Your Moments. Your Story. We press them so they stick around.

How a 3.5-inch photo magnet becomes part of the story

Our custom photo magnets are professionally produced as 3.5-inch round keepsakes. They are big enough to actually see the faces in the picture, but small enough to belong on the refrigerator, the filing cabinet at work, or the side of a metal lamp in grandma's bedroom.

You provide the photograph. We help you make sure the resolution, the crop, and the framing honor the moment. Most people send us a phone photo or a scan of an older print, and we walk them through the rest. The keepsake itself does the work after that — quietly, every day, for years.

Moments that whisper are worth remembering. Because moments fade. Love doesn't.

How to start

Email tsocustomkeepsakes@gmail.com with a short note about the photograph you want to preserve and the moment behind it. We'll respond with simple next steps — how to send the image, a brief design questionnaire, and information about custom order options.

There is no shopping cart and no checkout. Every keepsake we make begins with a conversation, because every keepsake we make is built around a story.