Having personalised them (name, dob, etc), I will probably have to print off A4-sized certificates from a computer and laminate the sheets before presenting them to the lucky recipients 
I have no experience with laminating but, also, the way I currently propose to personalise the basic template on the computer also feels somewhat inelegant and maybe inefficient.
Anyone with experience of doing this - any tips or ideas?
Thanks.
Not sure why you want to laminate them, but really the only advice I can offer is to take them to an office supply store or copy shop.
Usually, full-page certificates are presented naked unless you want to go fancy and frame them.
There are self-laminating kits, but I don’t have much luck getting all the bubbles out, so I agree with gotpasswords.
I think even a cheap “document frame” would look vastly better than a laminated certificate.
Don’t laminate them. Have them printed on heavy stock paper.
I agree with all three replies. Don’t laminate them but print them on reasonably heavy card stock. If you want to spend the money yourself, put them in frames or in some kind of report cover – don’t know the term but my HS diploma came in one. It had 2 leather covers and opened like a book, and there were slits around the corners inside to tuck in the 4 corners of the document.
+1 x3, and I have an entire document/publication production studio at my elbow, with someone currently laminating some pages for classroom use.
Even inexpensive “document” frames would be far classier. I once made some high-end awards by using some 3-hole photo frames and making custom inserts with (IIRC) the logo, the award title and the recipient’s name.
Oh okay, that’s great to know! Happy to ditch the lamination.
No frames, they take away the certificate to present to a licensing authority.
So that’s all great news! Thank you for your help.
I’m now all about reliable printers and Toner … If anyone has a thought I guess I’ll be printing 30 a day/150 a week - so probably not your home office type. Presumably more a mid-range commercial level laserjet with a reputation for reliability … going to cost a few hundred, I guess.
A commercial-grade HP. There are cheaper, and there are better image-quality, but for excellent service and high reliability (and moderate toner costs), HP is still the winner.
Use high-quality, lightly textured ‘card’ stock, at least 150g/m2 (I prefer using metric paper weight; the pound-weight system is just too bizarre and random). And be sure to set the printer to know it’s using stock of the correct weight - it will slow down the printing and fusing a little to produce a more durable impression.
That’s really helpful.
All duly noted! Thanks.
Just one question on “excellent service” - I guess you’re talking about the standard warranty service?
“Excellent service” was probably a reference to “just working and being well-behaved” as some cheap home-grade printers will put up a fuss if you try to use anything heavier than 32# paper, or they’ll require you to hand-feed thicker papers one at a time through the envelope / bypass slot.
Once the freshly certified people take their certificates to the authority, what will they do with them? Stick them in a drawer or display them? Either way, card stock is probably overkill.
600 prints a month is easily within reach of all but the worst home-grade printers, but you should look at the ink/toner costs compared to a small “workgroup” type printer. The better printer will cost more up front, but will probably last longer and cost less per page.
Yes, as in “mine have given me excellent service” - about six of them over the years and sites, and my large-format monster is at least ten years old.
I’ve had too many printers that needed endless fussing to get good operation from. Never my HPs, but they’ve all been commercial/business grade, not consumer stuff.
Sure, I will look at the toner cost per sheet. I’m actually also looking at whether it’s really worth the cream colour on yhe certificate as everything else is black and white - will look at the relative cost per sheet.
Happy to pay more upfront as there will likely be enough elsewhere to keep me occupied and i really am looking for reliability.
A commercial grade HP it is! Thanks very much for your help 
I’d need to know more about exactly what you’re doing, to what end, for whom, but it sounds like you are caught between doing a quality job and, well, kind of nickel-and-diming things. The cost of decent certificate stock is pretty much the same whether it’s white or cream or ivory or any other tint. Per-page cost of toner is also not something to worry about for even 150/week - many other factors such as print quality, reliability and so forth would seem to take precedence.
Now, if you were printing 1,000 pages a week on a very tight budget… toner cost would be significant.
You also can get lower costs with an office-grade inkjet, which is light-years from consumer stuff, especially all-in-ones or “photo” printers. I’ve had an HP K550 for years and its only fault is that if it sits very long, it needs cleaning and “flow” cycles. But for most things, I can’t tell its output from my commercial laser printer.
I have a *lot *of experience in this realm. If you can outline your needs, aims, budget etc. in a little more detail, I’d be happy to make my advice more specific.
Don’t laminate. It might not be permanent.
I laminated an old map, thinking I was preserving it. Exactly the opposite: the plastic bubbled up, peeled, and ultimately ruined the map.
My experience may not be general; perhaps laminating is a good way to preserve documents. But my experience was a bad one indeed.
Some HP LaserJet printers have a rear output tray, which you might want to use if you’re going to print on heavier paper or cardstock. You might get less curling (and fewer jams) with a straighter paper path.
I miss my old, bulletproof LJII’s and 4MV’s, which had a nearly flat paper path and could just about print on plywood. 
You may be right, I might be caught between the two. Thanks - very much appreciated. I have a related presentation to make today and hope to visit a stationers tomorrow. I’d really like to hear your opinions but it might take until tomorrow for me to know exactly what I’m aiming for