It’s boring to give someone jewelry in those cardboard gift boxes they come in. Plus, it’s super obvious what the gift is when you use wrapping paper.
Sometimes the jewelry doesn’t even come in a box. So what do you do?
You find a cutesy wutesy teddy bear or stuffed animal. Put the earrings through the teddy bear’s ears and BA-DING!
You present a popular gift in a unique way!
Presentation is everything.
My husband Kevin loves his whiskey and Coke.
So sometimes when he goes out with his buddies he takes a flask of whiskey with him.
He uses a flask I bought him as a present in college. It’s black leather and stainless steel and has his Delta Upsilon fraternity’s Greek letters engraved in the top and the words “To the Best Ever…” engraved on the front. Obviously, it has sentimental written all over it, and we (okay, probably just me) would be terribly upset if he ever lost it.
Well, Kevin told me that a security guard at an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game almost confiscated it. He had the flask in the inside front pocket of his blazer when he got wanded!
But thankfully, the security guard’s wanding skills were about as good as Dwight Howard’s freethrows and the wand never beeped. Whew!
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard my female co-workers, friends and family members say things like, “He better remember it’s our anniversary (or my birthday, etc.) and have a gift and know what I want.”
Ladies – don’t set up your husbands and boyfriends for failure! Do what I do. I learned early on to help my husband with picking out my gifts and in doing so I’m never disappointed with my gifts!
I’ve been married 43 years and the first gift Randy gave me after we were married was an electric can opener. Yes, you read that correctly.
I blew a gasket! Seriously? A plug-in appliance? I cried, screamed and told him I could NOT believe he thought such a thing could be considered a GIFT. What was he thinking??
In his defense, many months later when he felt safe to talk about it, he explained that the hand held can opener that we received for a wedding gift was cheap, dull and difficult to turn. So he thought it would be nice to make my life easier by getting an electric can opener.
Awwww… but still there is NO EXCUSE to give your wife, girlfriend, or significant other any sort of appliance unless she asks for it as a gift. Period. End of story.
My girlfriend’s husband once purchased her an electric weed eater. Believe me when I say that’s much worse!
So ladies – how do you make sure your man never disappoints you with his gifts? What is the secret to making sure you love the gifts you receive for Valentine’s Days, birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries? Continue Reading
I love surprises, unique gifts and secret messages that are just for me. The best part is my husband, Randy, knows it!
Several years ago, my husband had a necklace made for me for Valentine’s Day. It reminded me of the “drop” he gave me when we began dating. That’s what they were called in the 1960s. 
This time, it did not have his initials RED. It was 1 4 3. I was puzzled.
“What is 1 4 3?” I asked Randy. He told me it’s a secret code. One is for I, four is for L-o-v-e and three is for Y-o-u.
So sweet! It was a great surprise with a special unique message and now you know our secret code! Feel free to borrow this gift idea for your loved one this Valentine’s Day.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Men – read closely. This Valentine’s Day gift I am about to reveal is THE most romantic present a guy can give to a girl. I’m not joking.
When my husband Kevin and I met in college, he gave me a Valentine’s Day present that completely melted my heart and made me fall in love with him all over again. Here’s what he wrote in his Valentine’s Day card to me:
… The box is the most special present. Inside it, there are 67 cards, one for each week we have been together. The blue ones are special memories, the red ones are things I love about you, and the blank ink ones are quotes, some of which are from yours truly. Also, there are give coupon cards which are special surprises. I hope you like them all, and may the future hold many more amazing memories together.
Your lover,
Kevin
Starting www.SunburstGifts.org from scratch has been such an exciting and rewarding project. It’s like I’ve given birth to a second child without the nine month wait and the whole alien-taking-over-my-body thing.
I definitely get even less sleep now because I stay up writing blog posts but I’m having a blast watching our subscribership grow each day!
Joining me on this incredible journey is my blogging partner Queen Darlene (Darlene Drew). We seriously go together like chips and salsa (my favorite snack btw!).
We have so much fun sharing our passion of giving thoughtful gifts with the world that working with her on our blog is not “work” at all. I wanted to celebrate our new blog and partnership by surprising her with a – you guessed it! – thoughtful gift.
When Judy, a co-worker of mine, had her grandchildren visit her, she planned all sorts of events for them to do. One of them was a private recording studio session at my oldest son Dustin’s recording studio. He had just started his home recording studio business at the time.
Dustin hangs out in his recording studio.
Judy’s granddaughters had the time of their life recording in the studio, singing into a mike with headsets on, and making a real CD. They thought it was the coolest experience ever! What a story to tell their friends and family back home. They gave a copy of their newly released CD to their parents who cherished such a unique gift!
The idea of recording a CD led another co-worker, Tiffany, and her family to record Jingle Bells for their grandmother who lived in a different city. Practice began at the studio because there were lots of starts and stops, goofs and giggles, and funny family fodder during the recording session.
My boss Holley and I are kindred spirits in that we both looove to cook. We like to tell each other about the new recipes we’ve tried and if any are rock stars we share them. Well, what do most recipes start with?
Extra virgin olive oil. So I thought I’d get her some premium olive oil this year for Christmas, along with some aged balsamic vinegar and a State-Shaped Cutting Board
I visited a store that specializes in premium extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars and man was my mind buh-lown! They had their oils and vinegars infused with all sorts of fantastic flavors – chipotle, jalapeno, lavender, espresso, chocolate and on and on. They even had butter infused olive oil. Perfect for drizzling over popcorn. Mmmmm.
It gets better. The store allows you to sample all of their flavors, and they even provide the bread. I was like a kid in a candy store!
My grandparents never forgot the Great Depression. Granddaddy talked about not having “one red cent!” Everything was bartered. They traded farm-raised pigs, cattle, chickens and what they grew in their garden for sugar, flour and other necessities. Necessities were all they thought about. There was never any money leftover for extras.
Even as their lives improved after the Great Depression ended, my grandparents never stopped being frugal with their money. It was a way of life. They purchased a home and paid it off in five years. (Unheard of these days!)
They purchased new cars every three to five years with a note to pay them off in a year. Everything else was paid in cash and what they did buy was always very modest. Like I said, no extras. Not even for their grandchildren.
You always knew what they were getting you for your birthday and Christmas – socks and underwear. What kid looks forward to that?? At the time, we just didn’t understand where they were coming from.
My mother Robyn has always been very hard to shop for. She likes to lead a simple life and doesn’t desire many material things. I think she’s really cool that way. Because of that, I have had to come up with very thoughtful gifts to give to her over the years. Looking back, it really prepared me to start this blog. Thanks Mom!
Some people love dogs and cats. My mother loves her birds. In her backyard, she has created a bird sanctuary. Bird houses, bird feeders and a bird bath (and a cat free zone) attract all sorts of birds year round, and it brings my mother joy to watch them from her large kitchen window.
Most people put up their bird bath in the winter but my mother keeps hers out year round, and she uses an immersion heater to keep the water from freezing. She also doesn’t just feed them bird seed. She has a special bird feeder that holds apples, and she peels off part of the skin so they have an easier time eating it. Moms think of everything!
