Since becoming a parent, holiday (and, let’s face it, any occasion) presents for my parents and parents-in-law have become a bit of a cop out — we go the photo gift route. So far the very most favorite gift of this type has been the yearbook of photos I gave them last year for Christmas. (I ordered from one of the big name photo printing websites.)

Honestly, I’m glad they were so thrilled with them; I put in a lot of work, but found I was really disappointed with the finished product. The other site’s photos were grainy, the paper was flimsy, and the covers felt cheap. That’s why, when I was given an opportunity to review a photobook for Mixbook, I jumped at the chance.

Mixbook promised to be different from the other sites I’d tried, and they delivered on that promise. Getting started was a bit confusing, but once I went through the guided tour, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on everything. You can pick a theme, upload your pictures, and click “automix” to create a full book in minutes. If you’re not in such a hurry, you can play around and customize each page to your liking with backgrounds, photo borders, text, and stickers. (Yes! Stickers! Without the pressure of having to get it down just so the first time for fear of the sticky stickiness! Glory, I say.)

I have to tell you, I was so pleased with the experience of making my free book, I turned around and spent my own cash money on two more of them — before receiving my first one in the mail. Making the book was such a delight (as opposed to the hassle it had been on the sites I’d used in the past) that I couldn’t go back, even for a lower price tag.

I needn’t have been worried about the quality. My order came earlier this week, and the book is gorgeous. The colors are vivid, the photos aren’t nearly as grainy, and the cover is sturdy (and customized!)

Things I loved:

• The book autosaves when you turn the page.
• You can import photos from elsewhere on the web, including Flickr and Facebook. This is insanely convenient.
• The options for customization are nearly endless, and this includes the cover. You can put whatever you want on it — none of this picking between “black fake leather stuff” and “brownish fabric that will pick up dirt like whoa.”
• The overall quality is head and shoulders above the competition.

Things I didn’t love:

• The themes offered are very specific and don’t incorporate enough photos per page (for my needs.) I started from scratch with a blank book to get around this.
• Mixbook incorporates a social network into their site, meaning you can have a list of friends and share your books. By default, your photo projects are unprotected and open to the public. You have to go into each project’s settings and select “Only friends” or “Only those invited”. I found this to be tedious (and while writing this review realized I’d left one of the projects public. Oops.)
• They are a bit pricier than the other sites, but I think this is reasonable given the level of customization and quality of the finished product.

Mixbook’s photo books let you feel crafty without actually having to be crafty. Check out all the options, as well as their photo cards, stationery, and calendars.

Discount Alert

Enter code YOURMIX20 for 20% off any photo book.

Free Stuff Alert!

Want to win your own 20 page photo book ($29.99 value) from Mixbook? To enter to win you must:

• Leave a comment. That’s it!

One entry per person. Open to US and Canada.  Contest is open until December 21, 2010 at 12PM EST.One winner will be selected from eligible comments via Random.org. Winners must respond to notification emails within 48 hours or the prize will be re-drawn.