Money may be tight but that doesn't mean you have to be when it comes to family celebrations and gift giving. Whether you have money to spend or not, why not make the celebration a bit more entertaining with a splash of creativity? In this article I will share a few of my favorite ways to give gifts from the heart that express love and friendship.
For gift giving I like to create something that is highly personalized and creative. Something that the person would like, but may have never thought of doing for themselves. If you love to bake, why not consider giving some of your homemade cakes, cookies, candy or nuts and distributing them in gift boxes, bags or just plain paper lunch sacks with holiday stickers and colorful ribbons for decorations? My most enjoyable gifts to give usually involve either food or photographs. For example, I was invited to couples lunch by a friend who is very wealthy and eccentric. The menu was gourmet soup and salad, served with white wine, French pastries and coffee. I offered to bring fresh baked bread and chose to bring a sourdough loaf shaped like a turtle. Laughter erupted as soon as the loaf was placed on the table. Our hostess insisted that to start the lunch, we all grab whatever turtle limb was closest to our seat at the table and pull apart the bread at the same time. Do you know how funny adults look enjoying a fancy meal and while gnawing on a turtle's tail? We were hysterical!
Then there were a couple of friends who wanted to throw me a birthday party, but I didn't want them spending money. We negotiated that they would spring for pizza but they would not buy gifts. At the last minute I brought a birthday cake and explained that the cake was my gift to them for buying pizza. I cut the cake into three very large hunks and gave both of my friends a plate and told them that they could not leave until they ate the whole thing. We couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous we looked trying to eat such massive pieces of cake.
If your creative gift lies in the arts or graphics, personalized cards and electronic gifts are also great ideas. Most of which can be done for free, if you have the right computer software. For my niece's 10th birthday I created a PowerPoint slide show/video featuring her as a celebrity fashion model, using enlarged family photos, and camera shutter sound effect. Fake celebrity magazine covers featured her face and a theme song was created just for her using techno-disco background sounds. On the day of the party, the kids turned the light switch off and on for the strobe light effect, and the slide show featuring my niece played on the projector for hours.
Whenever possible, I always involve children in my creative projects, especially if it is for a parent or sibling. Kids come up with greatest ideas sometimes. One of my nephews was turning 8 and his sister and I wanted to do something involving his love of cartoon superheroes and video games. We decided to create a comic book featuring my nephew as the superhero. I superimposed his picture on his favorite cartoon superhero and his sister wrote a short story with him in a comic strip format. We made him the leader of a new order of robotic crime fighters and incorporated as many of his favorite characters in the story line. We even added fake advertising that featured his favorite breakfast cereal. The pages were printed on a laser color printer and pasted together like a booklet. The spine was finished with blue duct tape that gave the comic book an official tape bind look. When it was presented on his birthday, all my nephew could do was flip through the pages over and over and say 'WOW.'
Cards are also a way expressing love and friendship on special occasions. You can do them by hand or print them from your computer. Personally, I enjoy sending e-cards from Hallmark online the best. Some of the cards are free; others are 99 cents or more. You will just need a credit card and the email of the recipient. Another option is Smilebox greetings from Hallmark online. They offer a free download where you can create all occasion cards from designs they offer. Most of the designs are free. You just personalize them for each recipient. You can add your own pictures for slide shows and choose from a selection of theme music. These cards are available free to send by email, but if you want to make physical copies or add your custom music, they do charge a small fee.
This is just a sample of creative gifts for any occasion. The whole idea is to give gifts that people will enjoy and in ways that will be memorable; gifts that express how much you care.
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