How to Give a Good Gift
I guess I can’t say for certain that I’m a good gift giver, but I hope that I am. I suppose you’d have to ask everyone who usually gets gifts from me to say for sure. I’m going to go with I think I do pretty well. But I know not everyone enjoys it and it can be stressful trying to find the right thing for the right person. So I thought I’d put together a little guide with some suggestions for how to give some great gifts. I’m basing this entirely on what I usually use to govern my own gift-giving and hopefully something helps! So let’s get started - here are my tips:
Always Be Prepared
I like to keep a little note on my phone with gift ideas. Throughout the year, when someone says something or we do something and I think to myself, “I should keep that in mind next time I need to give them a gift” I can make a note of it. Lord knows I’m going to forget. That way whenever you need ideas you’ve already got a list of things ready to go. The less extensive version of this is to start your holiday ideas in November. Start putting together a list of everything you can think of that might be a good idea as the ideas come. I know that if you haven’t done this already then this isn’t helpful for this year, but keep it in mind for next year!
2. Think of Shared Memories and Who They are to You
You’ve probably heard or thought “I want to get something meaningful” but what exactly does that mean, and how exactly do you do it? I like to think of what someone’s friendship means to me, or of meaningful moments/experiences we’ve shared. In University my best friend and I used watch bad tv shows and movies and laugh until we cried at our own jokes. One year she made me a little charger plate for my candles (she knew I loved candles) and filled it with rocks - every rock had an inside joke or favourite funny quote written on it. And it probably looked super weird to other people but it was such an amazing gift. It was useful but it also reminded me of those good moments every time I looked at it. Think about favourite places you’ve been with that person, or significant life changes happening. Last year my parents sold our family home, and we were all pretty sad but I think my Mom and I especially. I commissioned a friend to paint a watercolour of our home so she could have memories of the place with her always. Even when she is making a new home somewhere else.
3. What Won’t They Buy Themselves?
I think gift giving is a great opportunity to get people what they can’t bring themselves to buy themselves. What do they always admire but then shake their head and say “I don’t need it.” or “I shouldn’t spend my money on it.” Are they always talking about DIY-ing something but never seem to have the time? Think about those things. Maybe you can treat them to it?
4. A Good Gift Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive (And do'n’t compare how much they spend to how much you spend)
I think one thing we need to leave behind is this idea that “they spent ___ much money on me, so I have to buy something that price too”. It doesn’t matter. If you have some wiggle room that’s great because you have some more freedom when choosing your gifts. If you don’t, don’t sweat it! One of my childhood best friends and I went through a bit of a rough patch one year, and I wanted to show her that despite it all, she and our friendship meant a lot to me. When we were kids we used to send e-mails back and forth to eachother…like a lot. So I cut out shapes from print outsof all our e-mail conversations and spread them out on a frame (probably from the dollar store) and just made a little collage of meaningful words we’d exchanged. It showed our history and how we were growing up together in the ways that our words were changing. It probably cost me $10 or less but held a lot of meaning to both of us (I think).
5. Do Your Research, and Keep it Simple
If you’re still feeling stumped, use your resources. Do they have Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest? Lurk their socials - what do you see? Do they have pictures of them working out? Pictures of cute animals? What kind of drinks do you see in their photos? What do they talk about? If you were to scroll through my Instagram right now, you’d see some pictures of me wearing lipstick, me and my cat, and some videos of me singing. You learn a lot right there! I like to wear make-up, I have a new cat and I’m musical! Now you have some interests and themes to go off of! And it doesn’t have to be extravagent. Sometimes the simplest gifts are the most successful. For Secret Santa at work one year, we all posted a few things we enjoyed. I said the colour pink and reading (among other things). My co-worker got me a pair of pink fluffy reading socks and let me tell you I whip those out a lot in the winter! It’s so simple but it checks off so many boxes! When I was just starting to date one of my exes, we were still getting to know each other but it felt weird not getting him a gift. So instead of stressing I just burned him a mix CD of some songs that reminded me of him or that I thought he might like. It was simple, but he used to play it in his car all the time. So I think he liked it?
Hopefully you’ve got some ideas now and if not, shoot me a message! I’d love to help! I can’t make any guarantees but if I can help relieve some stress I’d be more than happy to! I hope you have fun gifting!
-B