MEANINGFUL GIVING GUIDE
AWKARD TURTLE ALERT!
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Use KNOWN profile & categories for people in your life to give more meaningful giving this holiday season! Not sure how to start using KNOWN? Sign up for the free guide here!
PROFILE GIFT IDEAS:
For people who love personality and self-discovery tools, books like Strengths Finder 2.0 ,Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery , Type Talk (about the Myers-Briggs 16 types) make great gifts for further exploration. The Road Back to You (learning about the Enneagram) is a great introduction book for those who don’t have any experience with the Enneagram. For the Enneagram fan, check out this Enneagram Planner Collection with a planner for each type or the music and merchandise available through Sleeping At Last .
Give a personalized gift like a home address stamp (see these available through Etsy) or for a fun, quirky gift, have a stamp made of someone's face online at Rileyprint.com. Go through your photos and find a meaningful one to have framed or be silly and get a fun photo made into a desktop statuette. Mpix.com has lots of gift options with quality photo printing, and for beautiful keepsakes, Artifact Uprising is the online store to shop.
Make a box of gifts filled with things someone loves. This section of the profile gives information about things that make people smile and they can't get enough of, like a friend of mine whose list includes statement earrings and People magazine. One variation of this gift: include their favorites and a few of your own favorites with a card explaining what you included. These can be everyday favorites, like the EOS chapstick you use daily, to a set of pens that you love.
TREAT GIFT IDEAS:
Send a giftcard treat via text or email. Starbucks has an option to send a gift card, and Amazon has multiple store options to send a gfit card via text or email. Another option: send a note and money via Venmo. A friend once sent me a text after a hard week and sent money via Venmo to go out on a date and take a break. It was the best!
MASON JARS for the win! Fill mason jars with someone's favorite treats. Make a jar with sweets (like their favorite candy) and a jar of snacks (like pretzels or chocolate covered nuts). You can get creative with the jars and label them or just keep it simple and put a lid on it. Another option: get the ingredients for their favorite drink and put it in a box for them. If they like margaritas, buy the mix and salt and tequila and wrap it all together. Who wouldn't want a
favorite drink?!
Think outside the (treat) box! Buy a gift that is something they can use with or for their favorite treat. If they love chips and guacamole, find a interesting chips and dip bowl to give them with a recipe for great guacamole. Or if they love Diet Coke, buy them a Yeti can holder and put a Diet Coke in it to give them. An accessory that goes with the treat is always fun!
TRAVEL GIFT IDEAS:
Budget Friendly: Find magazines/books about a place they would like to visit. If they want to go to the Grand Canyon, find a magazine that tells all the places you should see when visiting there. You could also find information about how to plan a trip and include that with the magazines and books. They will be sure to love it!
Give them an Airbnb gift card! You can purchase the giftcard for any amount and then they can choose the place to go and when its most convenient for them. You could do this for a hotel room as well, for example, on Hotels.com and gift a Hotel gift card. For an even more personal gift, look at a city they would like to visit and find a unique and local hotel with good reviews and gift them a room from this special spot.
Outside the box gift: Buy an art print of the place they would like to go. If they want to go to Greece, find a beautiful photo to frame from Greece and give it for inspiration and a goal for a future trip. Or if its a place they want to go with a strong brand, buy a shirt or other merchandise from there for their future trip that you want to see them prioritize and make happen! For example, a Harry Potter t-shirt or water bottle for their trip.
SHOPPING GIFT IDEAS:
Of course you could get gift cards to their favorite shops - no question that they would use it. But you could also give them the gift of time at their favorite store by providing childcare if they have kids and sending them off to enjoy a gift card at Target, or send your spouse out for the day without any responsibilities at home to go and explore their favorite places with cash in hand as a gift.
Plan a shopping date! It can be fun to go to a larger city or area in the city that you may not visit often that has more shopping options and plan a day or overnight trip there. Include a fun dinner and make it an experience that is out of the ordinary for them. One thing that makes this special is that you are setting aside time to give him or her complete attention and presence, which is the deeper part of this gift.
Outside the box gift: use your detective skills and ask good questions to find out what they have been eyeing at their favorite stores recently. You could go with them to the store and spark up conversation by asking, "If you could get anything in here, what would you get?" Or find other ways to hunt for information, i.e. having a friend of theirs who they wouldn't suspect and have them talk about favorite stores and what they have been wanting lately.
ENTERTAINMENT GIFT IDEAS:
Choose an event that someone wants to attend and buy them a ticket! For example, if they mentioned a concert, find out if there a scheduled show in the next few months you could buy tickets for. Or find a cover band that plays music from their favorite musician and plan a night out. Check out Stubhub to find events of interest, or go local and find local events that would fit someone's interests at Event Brite.
There are so many platforms available to enjoy entertainment and you can give the gift of these platforms as well! For example, you could gift someone a Spotify music player, which is perfect for someone who loves music but doesn't want to carry a smart phone around all the time. Or for the movie lover, gift a movie projector like this one on Amazon and an easy screen to set up in the yard for movie nights! Or give the gift of streaming, like a year's subscription to Disney Plus or YouTube TV gift card for someone to have access to major channels during sports seasons.
Buy an art print, shirt, sticker, or fun item related to their favorite band, tv show, or movie. I love "Steel Magnolias" and a friend gave me a "Steel Magnolias" minimal print that goes with my style at my house and has the best quotes from the movie on it - I LOVED IT. Etsy has great options: Archive Film Posters, Prints and Giggles, and I personally love this Parks and Recreation sweatshirt for all Leslie Knope fans.
HOBBY IDEAS
Find a great book on a hobby they are interested in trying. For example, if they love hiking, check out this coffee table book of best places to hike in America. For someone interested in painting, a book on how to paint life around you would be a great option or this book on painting landscapes. This is also a great option for kids interested in a hobby, with books like How To Draw For Kids.
Give the gift of classes or training for a specific activity. There are so many online class options availables through Udemy, Skillshare, and CreativeLive. among other platforms. For someone interested in learning an instrument, you could give a subscription to Yousician for online lessons, or for the sports lover you could get Homecourt. You could also give an Apple gift card and he or she could download the app and pay with that gift card. Pair the giftcard with a physical item like a basketball or set of paints.
Go local and explore what options are available for this hobby in town. For someone who loves to dance, give the gift of a few classes to a local dance studio like this Athens studio offers. Or find a rock climbing gym and buy a punch card for a certain number of visits to give like this gym offers. Gym memberships could be a great gift, and there are local gyms that have classes and open gyms for kids as well. My kids love anytime at the Ninja gym and its a great gift to give passes to go.
DINING GIFT IDEAS
The most obvious gift idea is a gift card/certificate to his or her favorite restaurant. You could also find out if the restaurant offers delivery through a service like Uber Eats or Grubhub, and get a gift card for one of these for dinner to arrive at their doorstep. Or go one step further and give something from the restaurant's store, like a t-shirt or hat or other merchandise along with the gift card.
If a favorite meal or type of meal is on someone's profile, you could make one or two and freeze them ahead of time. Giving the gift of already prepared dinners is one of the best we have received and its fun to wrap the prepared meals up and hide them in a friend's freezer as a fun surprise! Another option is to buy meal kits from restaurants like Chick-Fil-A or Zaxbys and drop them off for someone who will enjoy not having to plan another meal.
Meal kit delivery services are a great option to give as a gift through companies like Hello Fresh, Freshly, or Blue Apron. Variations like Daily Harvest are perfect for someone who is busy and wanting organic, healthy options like smoothies and fruit and veggie bowls.
GIVE THE GIFT OF HELP
Everyone has different needs that may be listed in their help section, but chances are this would be giving the gift of time. We had a kind friend give the gift of help with our garden, and she spent time getting rid of weeds so that the plants could grow. Many parents list babysitting as a huge help, and giving the gift of childcare either by giving your own time to watch children or paying for a trusted babysitter they alrady use is so valuable.
Many people feel like they can't ask for help if they are able to do it for themselves, but it is such a treat to not have to do something for a change. You could give the gift of a house cleaning, which is a personal favorite. Or go in with a few people to contribute to a bigger project like painting someone's bedrooms or paying for a new appliance they are needing but can't afford.
Another option: work with someone's roommate or spouse on a surprise gift of having something done for them when they are gone. Organizing a messy pantry, cleaning and vacuuming someone's car, washing windows with cobwebs (that's on my list!) or helping with landscaping are all ways to give the gift of service to a loved one.
BOOK IDEAS:
Give a special edition of their favorite book. Many books have new hardcovers with incredible artwork, perfect for a coffee table book that is both beautiful and meaningful. Classic books are available on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble has a collection of classics of their own that are collectibles. Chances are, if they have a favorite book, they will really love a beautiful copy of it.
Have a favorite book you think a friend would enjoy? Give specific book via Audible for an audio book version, or have it sent directly to their home if they like hardcopies better. You could also give the gift of a magazine subscription on a topic they are interested in. My kids love receiving Sports Illustrated for Kids each month, and I am always wanting to look at the DIY magazines at the grocery store but usually feel like I shouldn’t spend the money, and I’m guessing that is true of lots of people!
Think outside the book! Book related gifts like this library book stamp or this reading light that doubles as a bookmark are fun options. Etsy has lots of art prints with book quotes, perfect for framing and giving like this one from The Chronicles of Narnia. There are also print shops devoted to book lovers like Witty Wall Art Design on Etsy. So many options!