Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.
Finding that perfect gift is often very hard. People have so many things these days and if you are shopping for an older individual gift shopping is even harder. Older people tend to already have everything they need and typically if you ask them they'll say they need nothing. Well, they definitely can't get nothing!
I've found that personalized gifts or photo gifts work best with this type of individual. Everyone loves things that are made just for them. Not to mention older people like to reminisce about the past and pictures are a great way to do that.
Do you remember those view finders with the circle slides where you pressed the lever down to view pictures – view masters? I do. I think everyone had these as a kid at some point. They came out in 1939 and still are popular today for special events and especially with children.
Image3D allows you to make your very own custom reel and viewer set. To do this you will need to create an account first which only takes a few seconds. Luckily they don't want to know your life story so it's really fast.
On the Image3D website you get to upload 7 of your favorite images to place on your reel. They can be edited and even you can even add captions to them. You can choose a center label (you have several different background to choose from) and customize it with any wording you like (font, sizes, text color – you can pretty much choose it all). In the end you also get to choose your viewer color (red, black, white, or blue) and/or put a wording imprint on the viewer itself (for large quantities ordered).
The Image3D viewer and reel ($29.95) work they exact same way as the View Masters did when I was a child. You insert the reel and push down the black lever to go from picture to picture. The only thing I found funny is how it's name leads you to believe it's 3d but it's not. You just see two of the same image. Not that I would expect a toy of this caliber to be real 3d. The viewer itself seems pretty sturdy, hard plastic. It could take some falls (or throws from children).
I love that the Image3DÂ viewer and reel takes me back in time. By the way, all reels (even the old ones) should work in this viewer. They are basically the same as the ones that are near and dear to our hearts. Totally would recommend these as a great nostalgic gift!
I loved my view master as a child. this is such a great personalized gift. 🙂
I did too Susan. Brings back the good ole days
Oh my goodness I haven’t seen these in years
They actually still make them today. Fisher Price does 🙂
Did I have a View Master as a kid? It was definitely in my top five favorite toys of all times. I would spend hours gawking at whatever recent slide wheels I had, and there were many. It would put me in a different world. Pretty tame by today’s standards, but still a good escape 🙂
It’s def a classic most of us loved! I love that you can still use today’s reels even in the old view masters.