The BreezKit ($14.95-$34.95 direct) from DigitalFilmLabs is a do-it-yourself kit for creating those classy "photo books" that Apple began selling a few years ago and are now widely offered online. The kit includes as much, or as little, as you need to create and assemble the a book of your own photos, printed on your own printer. This should give the user better creative control than the online book publishers offer. I can't vouch for whether this is really "a breeze" to do, but I've asked the company to send a kit and will report back once I've had a chance to use it.

One limitation: All these books are the same size, 8.5x11-inches. The online companies offer more sizes. As for software, BreezKit recommends iPhoto or Adobe Photoshop Elements, which allow you to create pages containing photos and text. You can download a free trial of Elements, which is available for both PC and Mac, from the Adobe Web site.

I think these books make great anytime gifts for parents and grandparents.