How to Give the Perfect Gift

With weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and holiday gifts right around the corner, sometimes it seems impossible to make every gift really burst out of its package with the "here I am, love me!" statement that we all wish every gift would have. In fact, for this reason alone, it seems that more and more people are simply giving gift cards or cash to avoid feeling as though their gift wasn't quite good enough for the person or couple in question. Don't fall for the easy standby of giving a gift card or cash, when there are things you can do to your gifts (and gifts you can give) that will make the presented person or couple squeal with delight, while making all other gift givers green with envy.

The first thing you need to do before giving a gift is figure out what sort of thing the giftee(s) enjoy doing. Is she a ten year old girl who is obsessed with Disney? Get her a snow globe from the Disney Store or an alarm clock that will wake her up with a mickey mouse song. She'll love it and will cherish it for years to come. Is the giftee a tennis fiend? And their favorite color is blue? Buy a batch of tennis balls from your local sport's store, and die them with a couple of bottles of clothing die. Get an inexpensive tote bag for the balls and be sure to let them dry before putting them back in the ball can and wrapping it with a blue grosgrain ribbon. You may also want to consider purchasing a blue sweat rag to match the set and perhaps a couple of blue wrist bands as well. Your present will be unique and will be loved while it lasts.

The second thing you can do is to hand-make the gift. This especially will go over well with the adult female members of your clan. Learn how to make a hand dipped wax stuffed animal (I will post an article on how to do this very thing shortly) that will keep their home smelling like gardenias or ylang-ylang or crème brulee eternally and will look adorable among their other possessions. Wrap it in plastic and attach a hand made card to it detailing the care of such a gift and remind them that it is home made. You can also, even if you're no good at pottery, throw them a vase or a coffee cup, hand made by you. There are stores all over the place that specialize in this sort of hand made gift and will teach you how to do such a thing on very short notice. The cost for home made gifts runs about the same as it might cost to buy the same item, but it will be loved and bragged about for as long as it should last and it will set the bar a bit higher in the gift giving business when you're involved.

The third thing you can do, if you absolutely cannot do the above two things, is buy a monogrammed item. Make an ordinary item exceptional by having their initials or their name embroidered or carved into the item itself. This works especially well for items that would normally seem a bit mundane, like a robe and slippers or a night gown. If a couple has just gotten married, this is an especially nice touch. Some couples decide to keep their respective last names, some have one partner take the other partner's name and some mix their last names so that both partners end up changing their names, so ask before you decide on what shall be monogrammed how they plan to deal with the surname situation. Once you know, you can appropriately have his and hers robes made at almost any decent store, or you can order them already monogrammed from the Internet. Coupling this type of thing with a thoughtful, but silly gift such as signing them up for the beer club of the month, will be sure to get them laughing, bragging about their gift and actually using it until the robe is threadbare and the beer runs out.

Another gift you can give that will have your presentees gasping in appreciation is a set of tickets to an event that you know they will love. Be it drag races, horse races, a packet of pre-paid tickets to their local movie theater (which you can buy at any movie theater box office), a couple of tickets to the opera or a set of tickets to see the latest and greatest national tour of Wicked or Phantom, your gift will be the talk of the town and likely will bring tears of gratitude to the eyes of the person who is on the receiving end of this gift. It's likely that they wouldn't have spent the money to buy the tickets but if they're the Broadway type, they'll swoon over this type of gift and it won't set you back more than $120 if you buy the tickets in advance (and that price will cover some very, very good seats).

So skip the bill fold and forget the gift card. There are things you can do that will mean more to the giftee than anything they would have chosen for themselves. The spirit of gift-giving won't be gone as long as you're still around to surprise and please everybody on your gift list with these simple, relatively inexpensive and thoughtful gifts this year and for as long as you continue to give.

Sources:

Christopher Matson "Birthday Present" Flickr URL: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/31028309@N00/441542494)