Personalised Valentine's Gift: Your Photo on a Skateboard

For Valentine's Day, a skateboard deck with a photo of the two of you, the date you met or the coordinates of a place only you two understand is a gift that goes on the wall and looks nothing like the usual flowers and chocolates. If you want one each, a single photo can be split across two decks that complete each other when they hang side by side: it's one design and one order. We ship to Ireland and most of the EU, but we don't give a delivery date outside Spain, so order it well ahead of 14 February. This guide is for anyone who wants to give something with your own story in it: what to put on the deck, how to split a photo across two, when to order, what to do if your other half lives in another country, and when you're better off giving something else.

Why a deck, and who it isn't for

Valentine's Day in Ireland is shifting away from the classics. Bank of Ireland's card data for 14 February 2026, reported by The Irish Times, showed spending on flowers down 33% and on cards down 28% compared with the same day the year before, while restaurants (up 22%) and hotel stays (up 11%) gained: fewer single-use gifts, more shared moments. The classics have also got dearer: according to the Central Statistics Office, a box of chocolates cost 10.1% more in December 2025 than a year earlier, and 44% more than in December 2020.

A deck with your photo sits on the other side of that trade-off. It isn't used up in one evening; it stays on the wall of the hall or the living room and says something nobody else could give, because it's yours. And it fits the night out rather than competing with it: the deck is opened at home, and dinner comes after.

It makes sense if your partner likes objects with a story, if you have a bare wall, or if they skate or used to. It doesn't if nothing ever goes up on your walls, if they're uncomfortable seeing photos of themselves on display, or if what you both really want is a night away. In that case, book the hotel and keep the deck for your anniversary.

What to put on the deck

A deck is narrow and much longer than it is wide, and that shapes everything: anything vertical fits without a fight, and anything horizontal has to be cropped or used small. Five ideas that work, alone or combined:

• A photo of the two of you. Vertical is best, with a simple background (sky, sea, a plain wall) and the two of you at a decent size: in a group shot or a wide landscape you end up as two tiny faces. Ask whoever took it for the original file, not the copy that went round the group chat, which arrives compressed. A phone photo is plenty as part of the design; stretched from nose to tail it falls short along the length, and below 150 ppi at printed size it looks soft. How to check yours, and which framings work, in which photos look good printed on a deck.
• The date. The day you met, your first date or the day you moved in together. In big numbers with dots (“14 · 02 · 2021”), or in Roman numerals if you'd rather it wasn't obvious at first glance.
• The coordinates. Of the pub where you met, the beach from your first summer or the doorstep where you used to say goodnight. In Google Maps on a computer, right-click the spot and the box that opens shows the latitude and longitude in decimal degrees; one click copies them. Written small under the photo or in big letters along the deck, they're a coded message only the two of you can read.
• A phrase of your own. The thing you always say to each other, an in-joke or a nickname. Better than song lyrics: lyrics have an author, and printing them on a deck is copying them. What you can print without asking anyone is covered in where to get artwork for a custom deck.
• Your names or initials. “A & M”, or both names in large letters. On the personalised name deck page you type the text and see it on the deck in 26 lettering styles.

If you can't settle on one photo, the photo collage places three in several layouts at once (instant photos, photo booth, film strip…), with an optional caption, and the one you pick opens in the editor for finishing touches. If the dog belongs in the picture too, how to get a photo of them that holds up on a deck is in your dog's photo on a skateboard deck. One rule for anything you write: keep it away from the nose and tail, which curve up, and from the two groups of truck holes, which go right through the deck and show from the front. The editor draws them over the design so they don't catch you out.

One photo split across two decks: one each

This is the most romantic idea of the lot: one image spread across two decks, which are two halves on their own and complete each other side by side. In the editor, the “…” menu at the bottom left lets you choose how many decks the set has: they appear next to each other, with the gap they'll have on the wall, and the image you place on top is shared between them. You see them together, flat and in 3D, before you order.

• It's one design and one order, with one shipping charge. Each deck costs the same as a single one: the pair is 178 €.
• What works: an image with big shapes that cross the gap, like a horizon, a sun, a beach or the sky, with one person on each deck, facing the other. Each of you keeps the half with the other one on it.
• What doesn't: a face or a pair of joined hands right in the middle. Whatever falls in the gap isn't printed (the editor shows it exactly like that), the truck holes go through the image on each deck, and when you hang them the two may end up very slightly out of line.
• Together or apart. If you live together, hang them side by side, at the same height and with the gap you saw in the editor, or the image won't line up. If you don't, each of you hangs your own at home. Both arrive together at the delivery address, so you hand one of them over yourself.

If, instead of one split image, you'd rather have two different decks (yours with their photo and theirs with yours), that's two designs, and so two orders. Two copies of the same design, on the other hand, go in one. And if you have wall to spare, a set goes up to 10 decks.

For the wall or for skating?

A deck like this usually ends up on the wall, and for that you need nothing else: the deck arrives on its own, with the design printed on the underside, which is the side you see when it hangs. How to put it up with or without drilling, and at what height, in how to hang a skateboard on the wall.

If your partner skates, it's a real 7-ply maple deck. Griptape is an add-on (9.95 € per deck, applied before it ships), and so are trucks and wheels if they don't have them. But think first: the design is on the underside, and it gets scratched with use. A photo of the two of you slowly wearing away on kerbs is charming to some people and heartbreaking to others. If it's the second, one for the wall and one for skating. What else a skater actually needs, and how to find out their deck width without them noticing, in gifts for a skater boyfriend or girlfriend.

When to order it

The deck is printed in Spain, and we don't give a delivery date for orders outside Spain. For Valentine's Day that means one thing: order with plenty of time to spare. A few habits that help:

• Design it early. Designing is free and doesn't ask for an account; when you save, you get a link to open it again. That link is the key to the design: anyone who has it can change it, so don't leave it open on a computer you both use.
• Send it to your own address or to work, not theirs, if it's a surprise: a long, narrow parcel says a lot about what's inside.
• Northern Ireland is a different matter. It's part of the United Kingdom, and we don't ship to the UK. If your other half lives in Belfast or Derry, order it to an address in the Republic and hand it over yourself.

If time runs out on you anyway, there's a decent way out: on the 14th you give them the design (a screenshot of the 3D view on a card, or the deck on screen), and the deck arrives a little later. A gift that is announced and then turns up has two moments instead of one.

If your partner lives in another EU country

We ship to 24 countries of the European Union besides Spain, with one shipping charge per order that depends on the country, from 15 €. Cyprus and Malta aren't on the list for now, and nothing outside the EU is. With no delivery date outside Spain, a long-distance Valentine's means ordering even earlier, or having it sent to you and bringing it in your luggage. Which countries are in and what each one costs, in where we ship.

What it costs

On top of that, one shipping charge per order: 20 € to Ireland, from 15 € to the rest of the EU depending on the country, and free within Spain. Two different designs are two orders, so two shipping charges. The deck arrives without a wall mount. The full breakdown, with every add-on, is in what a custom skateboard deck costs, and if you're torn between a deck and another kind of photo on wood, we compare them in photo on wood.

How to make it, step by step

1. Choose the photo and the words: a date, coordinates, a phrase or your names. Two things are better than five.
2. Design it in the editor, or start from your photo on a deck: upload the image, place it, add the text, pick the background colour and look at it in 3D. If it's a set of two, choose that in the “…” menu before you place the photo.
3. Pick the width: 8.0", 8.25", or 8.5", all the same price. For the wall it makes no difference; if they're going to ride it, the size guide explains how to choose.
4. Order it early and have it sent somewhere they won't open it before the day.

It's printed by transfer: UV inks on a film that is applied to the underside of the deck (how a custom skateboard deck is made). And if what you're celebrating isn't Valentine's but five years married, the wooden anniversary, there are ideas in 5th wedding anniversary gifts: a maple deck fits there even better.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Bank of Ireland card data for 14 February 2026 (flowers down 33%, cards down 28%, restaurants up 22%, hotels up 11%): The Irish Times (20 February 2026). Prices of chocolates, flowers and eating out between December 2020 and December 2025: Central Statistics Office, St Valentine's Day Costs 2026 (12 February 2026). How to get a place's coordinates: Google Maps Help. All consulted in October 2026.