Locket Etiquette

April 14, 2008 7:40 AM

I am buying the girlfriend a locket. One of the ones I am looking at has a space for a photo on each side. What goes where?

I know there are probably no hard and fast rules on this, but what does tradition hold?

I think it's a bit narcissistic and redundant to put two photos of myself in there. She thinks it'd be silly to wear one of herself around her neck.

We have no kids.

She suggested a photo on one side, and a note on the other, which is what we will probably do, but was wondering how people usually handle this.

We may skirt the whole issue by getting one that only holds one photo.

posted by cjorgensen to clothing, beauty, & fashion (15 comments total)

When I bought my girlfriend a locket, I put a photo of both of us on one side and a photo of me looking silly on the other. I made the photo look as though I was stuck inside the locket. She liked it.
posted by pete0r at 7:43 AM on April 14, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

You don't *need* to put a picture on both sides...you could just put one on the right side, like it's the first page of a book or something.
posted by Lucinda at 7:58 AM on April 14, 2008

You might want to put a pic of the two of you on one side, and perhaps a romantic saying on the other.
posted by reenum at 8:01 AM on April 14, 2008

Your photo on one side, a lock of your hair on the other.
posted by Floydd at 8:10 AM on April 14, 2008

You could have one side engraved...
posted by HuronBob at 8:54 AM on April 14, 2008

When I got my girlfriend a locket, we took a fingerprint each with paint and put one in each side. Just something a bit different....
posted by TheWaves at 8:56 AM on April 14, 2008

Is she particularly close to any of her elderly relatives? Or have any of her relatives she was close to passed away recently? If so, and you can find a picture of one of them when he/she was young and hearty, I think that would be a nice thing to put in the locket.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:00 AM on April 14, 2008

A beautiful postage stamp, perhaps? Depending on the size, of course.

Or maybe a pressed flower, piece of feather, photo of your cat/dog/duck?
posted by amtho at 9:05 AM on April 14, 2008

The photo of her is not for her to look at, but her desendants to see how she looked when she was in love with the guy on the right.
posted by Monday at 10:30 AM on April 14, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Your photo on one side, a lock of your hair on the other.

This one seems to be most accurate, but a picture of the guy on one side, the couple together on the other seems good as well.
posted by explosion at 10:39 AM on April 14, 2008

Other twee-ish options. A pressed flower, a stamp, a tiny folded up note (from you), a drawing of you or her, drawn by you or her...

Really a locket is a personal thing, and don't worry about etiquette. It can be used to remember whatever your girlfriend and you would would *like* to remember. Maybe you can leave one half of it empty until you find something appropriate to fill it (upon the re-read that sounds like a hint about having children... Not my intention!).

Also, Monday has it.
posted by eponymouse at 1:06 PM on April 14, 2008

wouldn't you put a photo of you on one side and her on the other? Then when its closed, you're "together"
posted by ZackTM at 1:17 PM on April 14, 2008

The first mr. headnsouth gave me a silver locket when we were dating. Inside he put a picture of my niece and nephew, who I just adored, and I loved him for it. I think it meant so much to me from the beginning because my then-bf put pictures in it of my favorite people on the planet --- it was truly a gift for me, and not about him. We eventually got married, had 2 kids of our own, and I inserted their pictures over the niece/nephew ones. Second baby, now age 12, used the locket as a teether once or twice, and his little baby teeth marks are still visible on it. The first mr. headnsouth and I divorced but I still wear the locket. Every little kid I meet wants to look inside, over and over again. I've had to get the little clasp fixed twice because it's been fiddled with so often, but I won't get the teething marks fixed. I don't wear much jewelry but I always wear this locket.

I'm not sure how much any of that applies to your question, except to say that even the least sentimental person (me) can get pretty attached to something like that, but I appreciate the opportunity to tell my little story. =) With no kids in your world though, I like the pic-on-one-side, note-on-the-other idea.
posted by headnsouth at 2:21 PM on April 14, 2008

you could do: 1 side w/photo of you as a child, 1 side w/photo of her as a child (maybe around the same age)
posted by hazel at 11:16 PM on April 14, 2008

Thanks for the ideas.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:33 AM on April 15, 2008