The Best Personalized Jewelry Under $250

More than any other brand, Catbird was recommended for its affordable prices, free engraving services, and large variety of itty-bitty charms. I own several pieces of jewelry from Catbird, including one of these tiny letter charms — a lowercase a for my son, Arlo. It’s 14-karat solid gold, so I don’t have to worry about it tarnishing when I wear it in the shower or sleep with it on. It is quite small, about half the size of a sunflower seed, but for the price, I have no complaints. And now I’m thinking about buying the other three letters in his name to add to the chain.

When I asked her about the brands that make alphabet jewelry in the best fonts, Kylie, a jewelry influencer who posts about her incredible collection under the handle Okay______Fine, told me about New York–based Automic Gold. “They do a fabulous job with simple, clean designs,” she says, adding that these gothic-style initial studs would make a great gift. They are available in recycled 14-karat white, yellow, or rose gold and can be purchased individually or as a pair. This price is for a single earring.

For another unique “font,” Soph, a jewelry collector who goes by @sopheating online, recommends these blobby and whimsical initial charms from Madeline Jewelry. They are made of recycled 14K gold or sterling silver, both of which look great when layered with other charms.

Mejuri’s 14-karat-gold-and-diamond initial charms are surprisingly affordable and a good option if you’re looking for a more classic style. I own several pieces of 14K gold jewelry from Mejuri, including my wedding band, and have been really happy with everything I bought from them.

Three of the jewelry experts I talked to mentioned that charm bracelets and necklaces are making a big comeback. Soph called out the blank chains at Jetset Candy as one of the best options for starting a charm bracelet because each of the links has a hinged opening to make adding charms super-easy. The solid-gold chains are all over $1,000, but this sterling-silver bracelet is just under $250.

When it comes to charms, Soph suggests choosing something that will spark joy for the person you have in mind. Xarissa of JewelBoxing adds that personalized jewelry doesn’t have to be initials or birthstones but can also be a symbol of rituals you have together. For example, she recommends this three-dimensional 14-karat-gold coffee-cup charm from Automic Gold — complete with a smoky quartz for the brew — to represent sharing a daily mug.

If you’re shopping for more of a fruit person, Soph suggests a charm from Soft Good. In addition to this single cherry, there are sterling-silver wax apples, dekopons, persimmons, mangosteen, cantaloupe, and dragon fruits to choose from.

Xarissa also mentioned the brand Jetset Candy, this time from its 14-karat solid-gold mini passport-stamp charms. “If you travel a lot with someone, these passport stamp charms would be ideal — over time you can stack them to show everywhere you went,” she says.

I first heard about Yeah It’s Jewelry from Kylie and then later from my fellow Strategist writer Ambar Pardilla, a jewelry collector in her own right. The brand offers a mix of vintage and new pieces, including custom nameplates and lots of quirky charms. This solid-gold charm would be a cute and thoughtful gift for someone who knits.

I wear one of these anniversaire charms from Local Eclectic as a daily reminder of my dog, who recently passed away. Each of the solid-gold rings (starting with the plain gold one in the upper left corner) represents an anniversary year from one to 20 with different stones corresponding to those years. I got year 14, opals, to honor the 14 years I spent with my dog.

I’ve been noticing more and more stylish people using colorful silk cords to display charms instead of wearing them on a traditional silver or gold chain. But a lot of the cord pendant necklaces I’ve seen are expensive considering the materials. So, in an effort to save money, I went looking for a way to make my own version. Turns out Etsy is full of silk cords with hardware already attached. They’re available in a wide variety of colors and lengths, like this olive-green one with a sterling clasp.

I stumbled onto Kara Yoo’s website after seeing some of her funky star earrings on a friend’s Instagram. But I quickly got sucked into her collection of Chinese Zodiac charms. They’re all rendered with slightly chubby soft lines, making them especially cute; for $125 you get the 14-karat-gold charm and a choice between two different chains.

This 18-karat-gold vermeil zodiac pendant from Mejuri, which comes recommended by Jillian Karande, Vox Media’s senior manager of brand strategy, is another standout for the brand. Instead of the traditional figurative Zodiac symbols (fish for Pisces, twins for Gemini, a figure pouring water for Aquarius, and so on), the doughnut-shaped disc features a constellation made of white sapphire gemstones and the name of the sign on the back. Because it is gold vermeil (which is sterling silver coated with a thin layer of gold, usually using an electric current to bond the two metals), it will require more careful maintenance and should be gently cleaned with a cloth on a regular basis to remove any dirt and oils that can cause it to tarnish.

For something a bit more literal, I like BabyGold’s 14-karat solid-gold zodiac-symbol charms. The brand is a favorite of mine because of its quality and how many options there are to choose from — I own the Sun Moon Zodiac bracelet (which falls outside this list’s price limit), and based on how well it has withstood wear for the last five years, I would definitely buy from BabyGold again.

Adding a simple engraving to a locket that also holds photos is a cool way to double up on personalization. As with initial and nameplate jewelry, there are literally thousands to choose from. But fine-jewelry brand Monica Rich Kosann is particularly well known for its lockets. I have a beautiful pendant from the company that I wear on a regular basis, and the quality is luxury-level without feeling fragile, so I don’t feel like I have to save it for special occasions. You can choose from block or script fonts for the engraving, and use the company’s app to perfectly size your photos (before printing them at home) to fit each of the different locket shapes and sizes.

Kylie also pointed me toward Loren Stewart for a variety of engraveable blank slates and highlighted the brand’s ID tag in particular. The 14-karat gold charm can be engraved in a block, script, or Gothic font. I love the versatility of small charms like this that can be worn as a single pendant, as an addition to a charm bracelet, or hanging on a gold hoop earring.

Ariel Gordon’s teeny ring charms are absurdly cute and a sweet take on birthstone jewelry. Xarissa says they are even cuter in person and would stack well with other charms.

Caroline Wigglesworth, associate director of e-commerce business development and partnerships for Vox Media, received this Kirstin Ash November Citrine Birthstone necklace as a Christmas gift from her family in memory of her mother, a few months after she passed away. “I’ve worn it every day since I got it. I was slightly nervous about it because it’s vermeil, but it has held up beautifully, and I’ve worn it in the shower multiple times and it hasn’t tarnished,” she says.

Writer, art teacher, and mom-of-two Margaret Rogers received this double-sided birthstone charm from Mociun as a gift from her husband. Each side of the 14-karat solid-gold setting holds a different customizable birthstone cabochon, and Rogers’s charm has both of her children’s birthstones. “I cry just thinking about it,” she says. Mociun is known for its unique use of gemstones and fully customizable fine-jewelry pieces. All of the brand’s solid-gold pieces are designed in Brooklyn and made in New York City. Note that some birthstones are more expensive than others, so the price will change depending on the stones you choose.

Paparozzi is a big fan of the independent brand Keary & James, and she singled out this clever custom birthstone calendar charm that you can get in silver, gold plate, or 14-karat gold. While the stones are synthetic rather than genuine, the innovative design and customization of both the stone and the day of the month it appears on make this charm a fun gift. And since it’s one of the more affordable pieces of jewelry on this list, it would be a good choice for younger folks who are newer to wearing nice jewelry.

In addition to my Mejuri wedding band, I have a single opal earring that I bought to match a ring my mother received on her 16th birthday and later handed down to me. I wore both the ring and the earring on my wedding day as my something old and something new, respectively. Mejuri offers these mini-studs in all birthstones in addition to opal; this price is for a single earring, but they are also available as a pair, and the price will change depending on the stone you choose.

When I asked Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio about her favorite personalized jewelry, she introduced me to the concept of acrostic jewelry: a tradition that goes back as far as Marie Antoinette and uses combinations of gemstones to spell out secret messages. The first letter of each stone spells a word, a name, or a phrase. Paparozzi also has a soft spot for acrostic jewelry and pointed me toward the brand Local Eclectic for high-quality rings made affordable by the lower-karat-gold (9 karats as opposed to 14) settings. This one spells out P-I-Z-Z-A with the following stones: ​​peridot, Iolite, zircon, zircon, amethyst. And the bezel setting is nice and secure, according to Paparozzi. Local Eclectic also sells acrostic necklaces and earrings that spell joy, amour, grow, and magic, among other things. Or you can contact the brand for custom orders.

Morse-code jewelry, like this dainty beaded necklace from Caitlyn Minimalist, is a cool way to include a secret bit of personalization in a gift. I first noticed this brand when it was name-dropped by high-school students who put it on their holiday wish lists, which led me to this unique yet unobtrusive style. The necklace is available in sterling silver or sterling silver with a yellow- or rose-gold finish. Using different combinations of round beads for dots and tube-shaped beads for dashes, the necklace can be customized with a name, date, or short phrase with a maximum of 25 dots and dashes. (You can use the brand’s Morse-code alphabet chart to make sure you stay within the limit.)

You can find really affordable vintage sterling-silver charms and charm bracelets at vintage-jewelry stores like Erie Basin or on resale sites like eBay and Etsy. And it’s easy to give one with a personal touch: Whether your giftee is into dance, music, fruit, sports, or animals, there is usually an already built charm bracelet with themes that will appeal to them. I love this one that comes with a dog, a pig, a windmill, an old-fashioned trumpet, and a couple dancers. To ensure that what you’re buying is authentic, look for pieces stamped with the number 925, which signifies sterling silver.

After a long search for a monogrammed gold signet ring, New York Times “Style” writer Madison Malone Kircher found her white whale on Etsy. This ring is similar to the one she has. Though Kircher’s is technically a men’s ring, when she saw it was her size, she snapped it right up. You can determine your size by matching a ring you already own to a printable paper chart, measuring your finger with a piece of string, buying a ring sizer, or going to a jewelry store to be sized. Tailoring your search to match the styles of signet ring you’re interested in will help narrow the results as Etsy has thousands of listings for vintage jewelry. I suggest using keywords like oval, round, cushion (square with rounded corners), or even heart shaped for signet rings. And looking for 10-karat solid gold, like this ring, can help keep the cost down. The color of the gold will be slightly more rosy because of the higher ratio of copper to gold in the alloy, but it will also be harder than 14-karat or 18-karat gold and less likely to scratch.