Personalized Gifts

Hopefully you have had a chance to get your supplies together for your Gift Station.  If not, that’s okay we’re going to give you the next step anyway!  What is the next step you ask?  Well, it’s about the gifts to keep on hand…the gifts that will fill your Gift Station.  There are some generic gifts that you can keep on hand but you’re also going to take a look at the gift giving list you made to determine specifically what you’ll need to keep in your Station. 

Your budget will also determine what exact items you keep in your Gift Station.  For budgeting and shopping or making items I’d break it down into quarters for the gift list that you know you’re going to be buying for every year such as the birthdays, anniversaries, and even Christmas.  So you’ll need to now categorize your gift giving list into quarters such as breaking it down from Jan, Feb, March and you want to stay one step ahead.  Right now we are in March so you’d start shopping for your April, May and June gifts so by the end of March you’ll be ready for the next 3 months and during April, May and June you want to be thinking about and buying for July, August, and September.  by doing this you’ll be one quarter ahead of the gift giving game and this will allow you to take your time to purchase gifts as well as be able to take advantage of sales or wait for sales because you won’t be rushing out at the last minute to buy “whatever” just so you have something.  For some of those on your list you may have specific things in mind you want to get them and that’s GREAT!  Write that specific gift down and you won’t forget plus you can be on the look out for it when shopping. 

Here are some items you should always have on hand and they will be generic items.  These are gifts for those things that pop up and you don’t want to be “caught off guard”. 

• Kids birthday gifts-keep 2 for each child you have (1 gift for girl, 1 for boy age approp)
• 2 bottles of wine or sparkling cider for hostess gifts (for those last minute dinner parties)
• blank journals and pens (mom’s groups, church groups, teacher gift or birthdays)
• 2 or 4 gift cards (generic visa/mc so they can be used anywhere)
• scented candles
• bath product set
• wallet (great for new drivers! and you could fill it with Gift Card for gas)
• baby blanket(1 boy, 1 girl), newborn onesies or baby bath care set
• All occasion card set (can be found online, and I just saw one at BJs Wholesale Store)

When you made your list I hope you didn’t forget about holidays like Easter.  If you have kids or grandkids don’t forget to add that to your list and of course you’ll want to me looking for those Easter baskets and goodies now!  Easter Sunday is April 4th and the stores are stocking up now!!

Oh my goodness, I just thought of a few more items you’ll need for your supplies list!  Especially if you are going to be mailing any gifts or cards to out of town friends and family.  You’ll need some mailing boxes (your gifts will determine the size so purchase these when or after you have the gifts), postage stamps and perhaps a few packing materials such as bubble wrap and of course packing tape.  *We’ll talk more about mailing packages in a few weeks and I’ll give you some tips on doing it from home, saving a little money and saving tons of time!!  Yes, you’ll be skipping the Post Office lines.

Ready, Set, Go shop!  Now it’s time to tweak that gift giving list, add specific items you want to buy next to a giftees name, don’t forget these holidays:

• St. Patrick’s Day-March 17th
• National Doctor’s Day-March 30
• April Fools Day-April 1
• Easter-April 4th
• Administrative Professionals Day (formerly secretaries day..this includes your receptionist!)-April 21st
• Earth Day-April 22

Next week we’ll talk about what to do with all those gifts, how to arrange them and how to keep track of them.

Keeping it unique

Kristal