How to create the perfect Personalised Plates

First things first – decide on a theme or message that you would like the plates to include. Here are a few places you could start:

Begin by thinking of the recipient’s favourite things – animals, places, experiences, artists, sports teams, and hobbies are all fantastic starting points. Make a list of options that you can work with, such as GIRAFFE, BALI, SINGING, SURFING.

Start with basic personal information you know about the recipient, such as their name, birthday, star sign, or birthplace, for example, KATHIE, 14JUNE, GEMINI. Other options include their career, pets, and children – NURSE, RABBIT, MUMOF4. These details could be great Personalised Plates content, especially if the receiver is passionate about these aspects of their identity.

Think about the recipient’s vehicle. Does their car have a name? Is it unique? Perhaps it is big, small, bright, or bold. A car’s nickname provides great inspiration – whether it’s a BETSY or a MITZY, this personalised plate could be its nametag. Or, if they drive a distinctive car, you could create a personalised plate inspired by its individuality. For example, a green hatchback could be FROG or a yellow ute BANANA; a large van could simply say BIGVAN or a small car TINY.

Now that you have an idea of what you want your Personalised Plates to say, you need to find an available combination to say it.

Your first step is to check if your personalised plate is available.

It’s available? That’s fantastic! You can stop reading this article and purchase your Personalised Plates.

Not available? No worries – here are some creative ways you can make your Personalised Plates one of a kind.

If your personalised plate combination isn’t available, PPQ will suggest alternatives – just click “Ideas for combinations” to explore the options. These combination suggestions are similar to the plate combination you created and are all available for purchase.

Prestige Plates offer a more versatile range of combinations. You can extend your personalised plate to 7 characters or shorten it to 3 characters – use a long word BECAUSE you can or keep it simple if that’s your JAM. I Love Prestige Plates are another great way to create original and meaningful Personalised Plates – if your recipient’s favourite thing isn’t available, try putting it on an I Love Plate – HIKES becomes I ❤ HIKES.

Add a digit that is important to your loved one. This may be their year of birth, lucky number, or favourite sporting player’s number. Including a number could secure your perfect Personalised Plates while adding an extra layer of personalisation to your gift.

Use a number instead of a letter to find an available combination. This is a personalised plate, not a grammar test, so it’s okay to break the rules. Try changing an A to a 4 or an I to a 1 – TINY becomes T1NY and BIGVAN becomes BIGV4N.

Remove a letter (or four) or swap a letter for an alternative. Imagine you are texting in the early 2000s and use your characters wisely – SURFLIFE could be SURFLYF and SINGER could be SINGR. Aussies love abbreviations, so a shortened word here or there is not a problem. Why write vegetarian university student when you could write VEGO UNI STDNT?

Brainstorm or use a thesaurus to find alternative words with similar meanings. BRIGHT could become SHINY or SUNNY, while TINY could be MINI or PETITE. This can provide a creative twist to your original message.

Once you have some favourite Personalised Plates options, check to see if they’re available.

If you can’t decide on the perfect Personalised Plate, you can always opt for a PPQ Gift Voucher and let your loved one make the choice. If you have a few plate ideas they might like, write them in a card to save them the hard work and share your creativity. They get to see your great ideas and have final say – the best of both worlds.

Create yours