The holiday season is upon us, and that means that you are charged with finding creative and thoughtful gifts for your loved ones. Were you successful? Or are you struggling as much this year as you did all the years past?
Personally, I love coming up with interesting gift ideas for my family and friends. I find it quite satisfying giving a gift to someone something that they really enjoy. If I could figure out a way to make a living by coming up with gifts for other people, I would. Or, if I could be Martha Stewart without the criminal record, I would do that too.
Some of my favorite gifts I have given were not extravagant or expensive, rather thoughtful and personal.
We made my mom cry two years ago on her birthday. Don’t worry, these were happy tears. My siblings, father and I each wrote my mom a letter. All of the letters were different, and it gave us an opportunity for us to tell her how much we love her and appreciate her. Then, my brother styled each to fit our personalities. My mom now has these letters framed in her bathroom so she can remember why she puts up with us.
We made my dad speechless two years ago on Christmas. If you are familiar with my father you know that he is rarely speechless, so this was quite an accomplishment. I enlisted my personal graphic designer (my brother), and we created a poster of all of our family Christmas cards with funny captions. We then had it matted and framed. Basically, it was a summary of all of our holidays together and brought back a lot of wonderful memories in addition to terrible hairstyles and holiday outfits.
Last year I received a “Are you kidding me?” from my husband. He is a bit of a thrill seeker, so a typical gift wouldn’t do. He ran with the bulls and jumped from the highest bungee jump in the world. I couldn’t just get him a sweater. So, I thought long and hard and came up with… flying lessons from Flying Lessons Chicago. I got to go up with him when he was flying, and it was actually really cool. I highly recommend something like this if you have a place in your area.
Now, if you don’t have a designer in your family or hate to fly, here is one of my favorite places to shop in Chicago for interesting gifts that never seems to fail me.
Spare Parts, 2947 N. Broadway, Chicago
Are you really struggling and these gifts don’t spark any ideas? Do you really need help coming up with a great gift? Send me a note. I’d be happy to help you come up with a gift that will knock the receiver’s socks off.
