Today I want to share my secret with the world of how I always receive a gift I truly want for Christmas from my husband and help save the world from unwanted gifts at the same time!
I let one of my girlfriends in on this yesterday and she told me I should let every woman in the world know and I agreed!...
Now I know my husband is like most of the guys out there who leave it to the last minute, who take a good guess but don't always get it quite right and sometimes truly has no idea what to get me as a gift!
He has given me some great surprises , but over the last few years I have developed a foolproof way of always receiving what my heart desires!!!......
ITS SIMPLE, ITS FUN and YOU MAY GET MORE THAN ONE!!!
You know when you were really little and you would write a letter to Santa and make a list of all the things you wanted for Christmas, well that's exactly what I do now except that letter is now addressed to my partner!!! I list five or so things I truly would love to receive! I give it to him a few weeks before and he picks one off the list and I still get a Surprise on the big day.
Sometimes I have been a very lucky girl and been given a few things on the list! He appreciates the mystery and confusion being taken away and I love that there is still a little bit of a mystery to what I am going to receive. We now do this for most occasions including birthdays and anniversaries too!
I have fine tuned this over the years though and here's some more tips to making it fun and easy for him too! ...
1. Remember it doesn't need to be expensive! ( especially in these economic times!) Some of the things on my lists have been books, magazine subscriptions, favorite chocolate, movie tickets we can share, a facial or a pedicure voucher, gift vouchers from my favorite stores, CD'S, a donation to a charity, beautiful notebooks or stationery, handmade goodies or art prints from favorite artists on line! All varying in price and usually under $50!
2. Give Directions! Tell him where the store Is!, Where It is in the store! OR Where it is on the website!
3. I avoid asking for clothes, but if you think your partner is up to it then write down sizes, descriptions, store item codes and colours!
4. Make it easy and make it fun for him ( ie. send him to a book or music store where he will enjoy browsing) and he will want to keep doing it when he sees how appreciative you are! ......
On Christmas Day there are no disappointments, no returns to make to stores, no re-gifting and no waste! Just a perfect present that you really wanted!!!
I now do the same thing for him too and I think it would be a great thing to do next year with the whole family as a Kris Kringle event. Everyone will receive one special thing that is truly wanted at a limited monetary value and the family will save money, time wondering what to buy and waste too! We could even donate some of the money saved to a charity or community organization! And to make it environmentally friendly we could use only recycled paper and cards and then recycle them again!
They say that many presents given in the world are un-wanted, exchanged, re-gifted to others or returned soon after the silly season is over. I say lets make a change to more positive gift giving and a less greedy, wasteful future!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Butterfly Collector!
Images ... wall tree found here!, stockings found here!, tree and baubles found here!, blue bon bons found here!