Can you believe that Christmas is right around the corner? When I went to the mall last weekend, several of the stores had already put out their holiday displays. Really? Christmas lights before Halloween?
Anyway, the holidays can be a tough time to stay motivated on your fitness goals. Whether you spend time with friends, family, or both, food is always around. And some of my readers live in climates that aren’t exactly ideal for exercising outside.
Fortunately, there is plenty we can do inside to keep ourselves on track. If you haven’t already done so, check out the home workout plans on my website. We’ll get through the holidays together!
With gift-giving coming up soon, I wanted to fill everyone in on this gift that I recently gave a friend from work. Melissa and I have gotten really close lately, but when her birthday came, I realized that I didn’t have any great ideas for presents.
FujiFilm Instant Camera Mini 8
I was looking around at picture frames and photo albums when it hit me—maybe a camera? I shopped around online and discovered that instant cameras are making a comeback. It seemed like an instant camera might be nice, as long as it was affordable.
After checking out some reviews, I decided on the Fujifilm INSTAX Mini 8 Instant Camera, available at Amazon.com. It was so cute and definitely within my price range. Can you keep a secret? This may be one my go-to gifts for Christmas this year.
To make a long story short, Melissa really loved the camera. But rather than tell you why myself, I asked for her permission to copy her email onto my webpage. I’ve pasted it below so you can read it.
Melissa’s Email
Hi Sarah,
Thank you so much for the camera you gave me for my birthday. I was excited as soon as I saw the picture on the box. It is such a funky, cool snapper, and I’ve been having a lot of fun using it. I just had to send you an email to let you know how much I appreciate this gift.
The Fujifilm INSTAX Mini 8 Instant Camera is so cute and retro. It fits inside my purse with no problem at all. I love that it is slender, so it is comfortable in my hands.
The camera came with a wrist strap, which is handy to keep me from dropping it, and it came with AA batteries, too. I stopped in at the drug store to pick up some film (it comes in packs of 10), and it is reasonably priced. I can buy the film online, too, so that will be super convenient.
It took a little practice to get the pictures just right. My first set was a little bit dark. Honestly, I was probably overthinking it. The camera has a neat little dial to help pick the right exposure, from indoors (on one side) to sunny and bright (on the other). At first, I wasn’t really using that feature. I was just trying to figure it out myself. But since I started using the dial, my pictures have come out with much more detail.
The INSTAX 8 has a feature called “high-key” mode, which I tried out with my golden retriever, Daisy. The camera took a nice, bright picture of her under the tree in the front yard. I’ll bring it to work next week and show it to you.
The pictures are a little bit small, but I love that they print instantly. It really beats having to print pictures on my crummy printer at home or waiting to have them printed at the store or online.
My nephew is only 5 … the look on his face when he saw the first picture develop right before his eyes !
I guess I’m a little old-school. There’s just something fun about having printed pictures to sort through. It’s like you’re holding a moment in time in the palm of your hand. I think that one of the drawbacks about going digital is that we’ve lost printed photos (for the most part). No one really gets prints anymore. Our pictures are all stored in the cloud. This camera reminds me of the days before digital.
My nephew is only 5, so he had never seen instant pictures before. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw the film come out of the camera. And it only got better when he saw the first picture develop right before his eyes. He thought that was one of the coolest things he had ever seen. Talk about instant gratification. It only takes a few minutes for each picture to develop fully. Now that I’m “talking” about it, I may buy him an INSTAX 8 (Available at Amazon.com) for Christmas. I think it would be a good starter camera since it is a point-and-shoot.
The pictures have a little border on the bottom that you can write on with a Sharpie, so you can give them a personal touch. This gave me an idea… I took the INSTAX 8 to a friend’s baby shower last weekend so I could take pictures of her with each gift.
It was really cool to be able to give each guest a picture—right on the spot—of the mother-to-be with the gift the guest brought for her. The girls at the shower were really impressed with the pictures the camera took, too. They were all crowded around waiting for each shot to develop. I think those pictures will make their way into scrapbooks all over town!
I see that there are a lot of accessories for the INSTAX 8, but I don’t really need them. The camera can take vertical and horizontal pictures, so it’s good for both close-ups and scenery. In fact, I was surprised by how many people could fit into the horizontal shots… And the colors are nice and bold. They just pop.
I love my new toy, Sarah. It is so fun to use. What a thoughtful gift. You’re the best!
Melissa
More Gift Ideas
My favorite gifts: 24 gift ideas under $40, gifts under $50, gifts above $50 and all my favorite gifts listed here.
All together, organized and listed here so you can find the perfect match
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