Make a Custom Jigsaw Puzzle
Make a custom jigsaw puzzle you can enjoy as a family or gift to loved ones for a special occasion.
Whether you’re shopping for a fun indoor activity or special gifts for family and friends, custom jigsaw puzzle games will be fun for everyone. With Shutterfly, you can make your own personalized puzzles in just minutes. Using your own photos and memories, it’ll be that much more of an accomplishment when you finish the puzzle and get to see the picture you chose. You may be surprised how many photos you already have that would look great on a jigsaw puzzle, including wedding photos, holiday memories, family portraits, and more. Find out how to create your own puzzle based on the level of difficulty you want, ranging from different sizes and materials.
Fun Ideas for Custom Jigsaw Puzzle Games
The best part of making custom jigsaw puzzles is that they can be unique to any theme you want! Don’t worry about going to the store and trying to find the perfect puzzle for your kids or a gift. Instead, just filter the jigsaw puzzles by theme, choose the style you love, and customize the puzzle layout to suit your photos or text. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your jigsaw puzzles – you can try your hand at a difficult design and also choose an easy puzzle that only takes under an hour to complete. Try one of these five fun ideas for jigsaw puzzles that anyone will enjoy.
1. Puzzles for Mom or Dad
Custom puzzles make great Mother’s Day gifts and Father’s Day gifts, especially if you have great photos together that you can display. Our Mother’s Day puzzles include styles for grandma or simple Mom puzzles that include a sweet message of her. For dad, shop Father’s Day puzzles that show him he’s the best dad ever. They’ll love putting together these sweet jigsaw puzzle gifts!
2. Pet Themed Puzzles
If you have pets, you can probably agree the most photos on your phone are of your precious dog or cat. Put those photos to use by creating a fun pet-themed jigsaw puzzles. Whether you use one photo or a photo collage, a pet puzzle is perfect for both adults and kids. Seeing your furry friend will make the puzzle even more fun to complete!
3. Family Gallery Puzzles
Making a family photo puzzles can be a great way to gather the gang for a fun indoor activity. Everyone in the house will love putting together a puzzle that shows their favorite photos of themself at the end! Add your family name to the puzzle, a monogram, or a sweet quote that sums up your whole family.
4. Wooden Animal Puzzles
Looking to make a jigsaw puzzle for kids? Shutterfly’s wooden puzzles are thick and only come with 12 pieces, so even your toddler can pick up each piece and put it down in the right spot. Our kids’ puzzles include fun themes like the zoo and animals, so putting together the puzzle will be both fun and educational.
5. Wedding Photo Puzzles
If you’re attending a wedding this year, consider creating a wedding photo puzzles that you can give as a gift. If you’re close with the couple, they’ll love putting together the jigsaw puzzle and seeing a special photo that you have with them. For your own family, consider creating wedding jigsaw puzzle games with your past wedding photos as a unique sentimental keepsake from such a special day.
How to Make Your Own Jigsaw Puzzle
To make a puzzle, first, decide what image or images you want to display. Your puzzle could include everything from your favorite family moments, holiday photos, pet photos, and even your own artwork. With Shutterfly, you can create a classic puzzle that includes a single image, or choose to create a jigsaw puzzle photo collage. Just keep in mind that multiple photos might make your puzzle more difficult! If you’re designing a puzzle to put together with the kids, get their input on what they’d like to see. From dinosaur to mermaid themes, you can make a puzzle for kids that they’ll have fun putting together.
Before you make a puzzle from a photo, also consider how difficult the puzzle should be. A jigsaw puzzle for adults might have 1,014 pieces or 520, so they’ll take a few hours to put together. If you’re creating a jigsaw puzzle for kids, you might want to choose a 252-piece puzzle or an even smaller wooden puzzle that only has 12 pieces. The fewer pieces, the easier it will be to put together the puzzle. Shutterfly’s custom puzzle maker will let you browse styles for either kids or adults, and you can even filter between different sizes and materials.
If you’re feeling even more creative, you can upload your own design to create a completely unique jigsaw puzzle rather than choosing from a premade template style. All you have to do is upload your design as a jpeg or other image file and drag it into the photo puzzle template. From there, you’ll still be able to add text as well as a separate color or pattern background. When you upload your own design, you can choose between a single image or a collage with up to eight photos.
Tips for Using Shutterfly’s Photo Puzzle Maker
Shutterfly’s picture puzzle maker is easy to use no matter what type of puzzle you want to make. You can make a puzzle from a picture whether you’re on your computer or if you’d like to upload photos straight from your phone. With the Shutterfly app, you can create your jigsaw puzzle no matter where you are and also easily upload photos from your social media accounts. Follow these tips below to make sure you’re getting the best puzzle as your finished product:
- Choose your jigsaw puzzle size based on who will be working on it. We recommend puzzles with 60 pieces for ages 6+ and puzzles with 252 up to 1014 pieces for ages 9+.
- Upload more photos than you think you’ll need so you can swap them out and see which ones you like the best on your jigsaw puzzle.
- Create a text-only puzzle if you’re looking for a slightly easier challenge. You can add a quote, saying, or even a secret message for whoever will be putting the puzzle together.
- Add text even if you’re using photos. You can add a short caption or message and choose the font, formatting, and color.
- Experiment with your jigsaw puzzle background to see if a pattern or solid color will work the best with your photos or text.
- Always review carefully before you purchase your jigsaw puzzle! Make sure everything looks right and be sure to double-check for spelling errors.
Pro Tip: Create a Puzzle You Can Display
Since you can create a puzzle with any of your favorite photos, we recommend choosing photos and styles that will also look great as home decor. When you’re finished with the puzzle, you can use puzzle glue to secure the front and back and then glue the puzzle to a piece of poster board. Your beautiful finished jigsaw puzzle will double as wall art! If you’ve picked family photos for the puzzle, it’ll look great on a family gallery wall. For smaller puzzles, glue them then add a frame so you can display them on your fireplace mantel, coffee table, or other location around the house.
Give Custom Made Puzzles as Gifts
If you make a picture into jigsaw puzzle games, they can become some of the best gifts for any occasion. Your friends and family will love the unique challenge and the special finished product that includes photos of them or their memories. Consider making puzzles from photos to offer as gifts for weddings, Christmas presents, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. Shutterfly’s premade puzzle templates include styles for many occasions, but you can always upload your own style for any special day by adding a title or message.
Shop Custom Jigsaw Puzzles
Shutterfly offers everything you need to create puzzles made from photos. For your next rainy day, create a custom jigsaw puzzle that you can complete with the kids. Even if it takes hours, a jigsaw puzzle is a fun challenge that helps you bond with your family, helps kids with color and shape recognition, and helps adult with improving their memory recognition. For special occasions, a personalized jigsaw puzzle will also make the perfect gift that can turn into unique home wall decor once it’s put together.
Additional Resources
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