The need to find the perfect gift for that special someone can be stressful. Nothing can put a dent in your gift-giving spirit faster than spending your precious time trying to find the perfect gift, only to later give it to the recipient and receive an uninterested smile and a half-hearted thank you.
But, what if there was a better way to picking out a gift that would help give a better connection to the recipient. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to give a meaningful gift and I’ve come up with three ideas to help choose a meaningful gift that’s perfect for anyone on your list!
1. Give a gift they really care about.
This one probably seems obvious, but when gifting to someone, you want them to know that you really know what they care about. This includes their values, what’s important to them, and really who they are as a person. This might mean that you have to actually ask them questions about themselves. What’s their love language? Their enneagram number? These kind of tests can give you a good start on knowing more about what a person cares about. Some people might prefer an act of service or a spending quality time with you over getting a physical gift. And wouldn’t that be good to know before spending your time and money shopping for something they might not actually want.
2. Give the gift of a story.
A meaningful gift should have specific meaning to the recipient. Your goal should be to build on something that is already meaningful in their lives and not have to introduce something new. To do this, your gift could represent a story from either their personal life or of your lives together. A story from their life could be from a special memory from their childhood or even an interest or hobby that they currently enjoy. If you’d like to represent a story from your lives together, think of a shared experience together, or even an inside joke
3. When all else fails, just ask them!
I know it might not seem as special if you can’t surprise someone with a gift, but wouldn’t you agree that you would prefer to get something you actually want than to receive a “surprise gift” that you won’t necessarily use, but then have to act like you love it… we’ve all been there. So don’t be afraid to just ask what they actually want and then surprise them with the delivery of the gift. Get creative with the packaging, make a homemade treat to go with it, wrap it with print outs of special pictures, or give it to them in a unique place (a rooftop, ferris wheel, etc.). Since it’s something they actually wanted, every time they use it they will have a memory connected to you and the way you gave it to them.
These three ideas should give you a good start to plan out all the gifts on your list. And to help you finish it, we have a large selection of meaningful gifts you can use to help brighten someones day with the gift of a special memory!
Below are a some of our custom products we offer to get your gift-giving ideas rolling. Imagine a custom music card of a mother’s lullaby or the song from your first dance. Or maybe a handwritten recipe from a grandparent or even a child’s handwritten note to a parent. Whatever special memory you'd like to gift, we will do our best to make that memory last, etched in wood.