May28th InstaWatch, $44
Meaningful, thoughtful and creative bridesmaid gifts are always a hot wedding topic. It’s not easy to find merch that’s special and unique enough to give to your closet girlfriends—and that they’ll actually enjoy after the wedding.
So I was pretty excited to find this fun, affordable, and adorable idea from May28th,an accessories brand focused on custom watches. They’ve partnered with social media app Instagram to let you create one-of-a-kind watches for your maids. All you do is upload a photo from a camera, phone, or Instagram. Next, crop and size it to look good in the watch frame (there’s a quick tutorial on the website). Finally, choose from 14 cute and colorful band covers, and click. Ta-da! You’ve got a water-resistant, personalized watch.
If you’re thinking of these as wedding accessories (admittedly, that would have to be one really casual wedding), you could order matching watches for all the girls that work with your site and color scheme. But it’s more fun to create a different one for each of your bridesmaids—use a photo of a friend’s favorite flower, or of scenery from a trip you took together, or of that fabric pattern she loves. We’re going to caution against using a photo of the two of you. It’s a sweet idea in theory, but somehow having your grin on her wrist all day long might not be the most sophisticated style statement.
Simple images seem to work best; there’s a whole gallery on the May28th site that’s full of intriguing ideas. And because you’re using Instagram photos, you can get some pretty dramatic effects (face it, everything looks a bit better after a good filter).
To get started, visit the May28th site and then log into your Instagram account. –Sarah Leingang
