What’s The Best Gift You Ever Gave Or Got?
Posted by: Catherine Strawn
Filed in:
news
1:00PM, Wednesday November 12th 2008
With the holidays (and my birthday) coming up, I’ve been thinking a lot about gifts and what makes a good one. In my experience, the best gifts are the ones that show you know the person, rather than this year’s It item that everyone wants to get their hands on. In the spirit of giving, share the best gift you ever gave and the best one you ever got in the comments—maybe someone else’s brilliant idea will inspire one of your own…
Best Gift I Ever Gave: I took black and white photos of street signs with the names of me, my sisters, and my parents (i.e., Catherine Street, Barbara Avenue, etc.) and had them framed for my dad.
Best Gift I Ever Got: I had favorite glasses growing up. They said “Bender’s Tavern” on them, which is the name of a restaurant in the city where I lived, and whenever I went to pour myself a glass of milk, I would always use one. Always. Last year, my mom surprised me with my own set of Bender’s glasses. It was so thoughtful and unexpected. I hadn’t even realized she had noticed I loved them so much.
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Annika Harris
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 01:32 pm: [report]
The best gifts I ever gave: front row tickets to see Jimmy Cliff to my dad, a zodiac tattoo of a ram to my dad, smokey robinson tickets to my mom and a 50th birthday party for my mom. The best gifts I ever received: my first cat Kricket for my first bday (she was my companion until she was 17 and had to be put to sleep), tickets to a “Cats” revival, my first Barbie doll or any collector’s Barbie that I have and my strand of pearls.
madeline
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 01:35 pm: [report]
i am giving a custom print to my boyfriend this year made at this site:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5613120
my best gifts were paintings/art pieces made by friends/lovers.
Leigh Raines
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 01:57 pm: [report]
my first really nice journal.
gillybeans
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 01:59 pm: [report]
The best gift I gave was a book I made of our email corresponence for the first year we were dating. Really showed us fallling for each other. I wonder i he kep it after we eventually split up? Best I ever got- a day of deep sea fishing from my dad.
Amelia
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 02:24 pm: [report]
Hmmmm, this is tough, in general I am an atrocious gift giver, but an excellent gift receiver. The best gifts I’ve ever received, honestly, came from my ex-fiance—a flight to Italy for Xmas one year, diamond earrings for an anniversary, and, of course, an amazing engagement ring. It sucks the way it turned out in the end, but I’ll always think about what a thoughtful gift giver he was.
Best gift I’ve ever GIVEN? This is really hard, I always get stumped. I got my ex a skateboard one year…gave my brother an ipod nano…I really suck at gift giving. It’s embarrassing.
Amelia
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 02:25 pm: [report]
Also, Catherine, that gift you gave to your dad is so creative and sweet, I kind of want to cry.
Lynn
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 02:52 pm: [report]
This is hard! Two gifts I really liked giving were:
1) When my high school boyfriend went off to college, leaving me (I was a year behind him and still in high school), I made this huge scrapbook type thing. I found a blank journal and filled it with pictures of us, lyrics to “our song,” inside jokes, lovey dovey quotations, etc. I gave it to him on a picnic we had the last time I saw him before he left for school. I wonder if he still has it?
2) While going through a bunch of old stuff, my mom found some slides of pictures my aunt had taken at a picnic one year. She was taking a photography class and was getting really good. There were some a-dor-able pictures of me and my dad from when I was like 3 or 4, so I had them printed up and framed for his birthday
Best gift I ever got? Well, one year my grandma gave me a diamond ring she saw me admiring while I was helping her organize her jewelry box. I totally love it, and I wear it all the time, and I think it’ll be one of those things I’ll pass on if I have children (and if they have my freakishly tiny child-sized fingers). An ex-boyfriend also gave me genuine bunny slippers, but they also have microwave heat packs you stick inside of them to keep my constantly-cold feet warm.
Michael
wrote on November 12 2008 @ 04:06 pm: [report]
best I ever gave was to an ex, a journal made out of bamboo with a turtle hand-painted on. I had gone on a family vacation to Hawaii and brought it back for her - she loved to write and loved turtles.
Best I ever got? Not sure. My family always gets things they think you need, rather than surprises.
Retro Recycled Vintage
wrote on November 14 2008 @ 11:21 am: [report]
One of the best gifts I gave and received was from a “favorite things” (YES, I like to play Oprah sometimes, ridiculous but so fun) Holiday Party a couple years back. There were about 8 of us girlfriends and we all had to bring our favorite thing/things (I think the budget was somewhere around $10.00 per person???) and place them in each persons gift bag. We ate, drank, and then got to all open presents together. It was so fun and exciting and unbelievable how creative people got with their budgets and gifts. From tons of free samples, homemade gifts, and bargain discounts we all left with so much good stuff. Everybody still talks about my favorite things party, if fact it may be time to bring it back to the old school.
Retro Recycled Vintage
http://www.retrorecyledvintage.com