Unique Gift Ideas

I know a lot of birthdays in March, so I figured the best blog post for this month would be to list out some unique, handmade gift ideas!

Everything I am listing out are things that I have personally gifted to people with good results. This is by no means a comprehensive list because I find the best gifts to give people are tailored to that person specifically on their specific likes and passions.

But I did try to get together a few items that could be adapted to suit your specific need. Most of these have some handmade aspect and they all range in price depending on how far you want to take it.

Without further ado, I’ll start the list:

• Annotated Book: Buy a physical version of their favorite book and as you read through it, add your notes and annotations on the margins and then gift it to them.

        Connecting with someone through something as personal as their favorite book and showing effort to understand things from their perspective but also share yours makes this gift incredibly thoughtful.

        When I did this, I annotated with small sticky notes so I wasn’t writing on the book and ended up color coding because they were different colors, but you are welcome to do it any way you like. This can also be adapted to music if you want to buy an album and then attach your notes on the songs (since the songs are likely also available digitally you can listen and form your thoughts).

• Memory Jar: Fill a jar with small notes that detail memories, inside jokes and other fun comments.

        You might have heard a version of this type of gift before. It’s pretty inexpensive and the heart of the gift comes from your thoughts and memories. When I did this, I had three different categories of nots: remember when, “pro-tips” (you can imagine they weren’t very helpful and mostly inside jokes, and fun facts (which ranged from actual random fun facts and recalling different funny moments).

• Open When Letters: Write 5 different letters for the recipient to open when, bored, sad, happy, anxious, and just cause (you can change the emotions you want to represent).

        In each letter you can add some fun ephemera inside the envelope like stickers, photos, cash or gift cards. The main goal is that your friend will open the letters when they feel the emotion written on the outside and be comforted or delighted by what’s inside.

        When I did this my categories were the ones I listed above and I added some cash to a few of them (sad and just cause I think) along with notes to immediately call or text me.

• Handmade Card: This adds a personal touch to any gift, even a gift card. And you don’t need to be an artist to make one. There are plenty of simple and minimal design ideas on Pinterest that are easy to copy.

        Just the effort of a handmade card means not only is it more likely to be kept, but also it’s a piece of you that you’re gifting to the person. I always handmake cards for my friends and it’s one of my favorite things to do as part of the gift process.

Here's a relatively simple one that I have recreated before:

• Make food/Arrange a Picnic: For the foodie in your life, making them their favorite food or just putting together a spread for a picnic or even on a table of their favorite snacks (if you’re not a cook) is a great gift.

         Followed up by spending time with them as you eat if even nicer. When I did this, there was a specific meal I make that my best friend loves so I made sure to have that in a Tupperware container for her when we met to go out for food and drinks so she should have it the next day (since we already had dinner plans).

• Gift an Experience: Something the two of you can do together. Ideally you choose something that specifically interests them in one of their hobbies. But I’ll also list out a few options to get your brain rolling:

                -mani/pedi or spa moment
                -going to a driving range or mini golf
                -taking a one-day class (pottery, rug making, whatever is local to you)
                -paint n sip
                -arcade
                -shopping (for books, clothes, etc. Buy them on thing they pick out and like)
                -wine tasting
                -going to a concert

*Gifting an experience is a great thing to get your parents, dads are notoriously hard to shop for so doing his favorite activity with him is a great alternative.

 -.-

And there you have some unique gift ideas, mostly handmade but all personal to the person you are gifting them for. I hope you liked the list and if you end up gifting one of these things, please let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!