The art of gift giving is a tradition we all enjoy. Selecting the appropriate gift requires some knowledge and sensitivity of the recipient. It is a time to please the recipient. The reasons for your gift may vary but the focus should remain on the recipient. Each gift should be customized to the recipient’s special tastes and interests. The best gifts show you were thinking about the person when you bought it.
Tailor your gift to the person’s likes and dislikes, favorite colors, hobbies. If you are choosing a bowl or vase, what have you seen in their house? Do they like a bold mix of colors or subtle pastels? Are items round and curvy or straight angular dimensions? In the past, have they liked antique or modern style, practical items or whimsical decorative objects? Find out what their favorite things are and you will have your answer for gift giving. Do they like movies, colors, chocolates, books, CD’s, scents, authors, or candles?
Almost everyone has a passion of some sort. Does she read romance novels? Find the newest released book of their favorite author and add it to a reusable coffee cup reusable canvas shopping bag crammed full of munchies. Is he a coffee lover? Put together an assortment of individual bags of coffee and add bottles of vanilla or hazelnut flavor syrups.
Did your daughter just move into her first apartment? Put together a picture hanging kit of nails, tape measure, level, packages of picture hangers and wire. Put it all in a small tool chest. Or gather kitchen utensils into the pocket of an oven mitt and tie it with a colorful dish towel.
Your sister says she must paint her dining room wall? Present her with paint rollers, brushes, drop cloth, and tape into a paint tray. Add a card offering 1-2 hours of your time to help.
Wrapping a gift is part of the gift giving process and presentation. Not wrapping a present undermines the impact of your gift. However, wrapping does not have to be the old tradition of wrapping the gift in paper. Use your creativity to make the wrapping just as special as your gift giving.
A collection of gifts for the coffee lover can be presented in a basket with a bow tied to the handle. Or put a few bags of coffee in a very large coffee cup wrapped in colored cellophane and tied with a bow.
Your gardener friend would appreciate gloves, seeds, pruners and other gardening tools and magazines in a gardening bucket or flat basket for cutting flowers. Just put several streaming ribbons on the bucket or basket handle to make it festive.
For an odd shaped gift that no one could wrap, find a drawstring bag and add an inexpensive luggage tag as the gift tag.
And don’t forget the gift card with just a short personal comment and your name. If you are having the gift sent by the store, select a card, add your thoughts, and send it in the mail. Or get on the Internet and send an personal email or an email card to arrive at the same time as your gift. It’s all part of the gift giving and presentation.
