Photo locket or engraved locket

A photo locket and an engraved locket are usually the same object used differently. The locket opens either way. The choice is what you put in the private side: a face, or words.

The better gift is the one the wearer will still understand in ten years. A photograph does that when the face is the point. An engraving does that when a name, a date, or one sentence is the point.

Use a photo when the person should be recognizable. A parent, a child, a partner, someone who has died, a dog who was actually theirs. Crop to one face. Print on matte paper, small enough that the locket closes without bending the picture.

A photograph is a worse gift when you do not have a good picture, or when the picture is a group and no one will be readable at that size. Do not force a bad photograph into a good locket. Engrave the name instead.

Initials, a year, a first name, or one short line. Engraving lives on the metal, so it does not fade the way a cheap print can, and it does not depend on you having the right file.

Keep it short. The inside of a locket is not a card. “June 2014,” a name, or four words will be read. A paragraph will not fit, and it will not be kept if it does.

Many lockets open onto two sides. One side can hold the photograph and the other a date. That is the simplest way to avoid choosing, and it is often the right gift: the face, and the fact that fixes it.

If you are still unsure, leave one side empty. They can add the photograph later. A locket does not have to be complete on the day it is given.

A heart is the shape people expect, and it crops a face harder. An oval is kinder to a portrait. Either can be engraved.

Match the finish to jewelry they already wear. Gold, silver, and rose gold finishes on these lockets are on stainless steel. The sentiment can be loud. The metal should not fight the rest of the necklace drawer.