Gifts can often be pretty boring. I’m sure you’ve seen every Christmas that company’s such as Boots and Sainsbury’s start to sell gift sets of “fragrances” or “cooking utensils”. And that’s fine for some people. But for me I feel that those types of gifts are little bit generic and have no special touch.
Now perhaps this has nothing to do with a gift or even buying a gift but I was browsing the internet looking for inspiration when I came across this website
“Art in a Coffee Mug” – and I just thought it was brilliant. Its new, different and very eye catching, being an artist myself I really appreciated looking at it. Now I’m not saying that you should start designing art in a coffee or any other beverage for that matter but I’m saying that you could take inspiration from it. People generally are intrigued and more appreciative of gifts that take a bit of thought. This guy/gal had taken the time to create art in their coffee and for those of us who like something a bit different it appealed to us. And that’s what your main focus should be when buying a gift for someone. You shouldn’t just be thinking about the gift, you should be thinking about the impact the gift will have on the recipient. Everyone loves receiving a gift, but a gift has more value if it person specific.
Let me explain in more detail. We’ll take “me” as the example.
I work in graphic design, like art and enjoy fashion. Therefore the kinds of gifts I like are related to my love for art and all things creative. But that doesn’t mean you should go out and get me a set of paintbrushes as a
birthday present or
Christmas gift, because as an artist don’t you think I would have my own set…. A set that I know is perfect because it’s important for my job? But…. Why not get me something that you have created yourself? Like a
personalised labelled bottle of wine that you have
designed the label for. Not only is this a great gift idea, wine is something the majority of people love to receive (a. it means that they don’t have to go and buy it themselves – wine, well good wine… can be very expensive). But if you’ve bought a bottle of
personalised fine wine – you’ve already ticked one box. And if you’ve designed the label yourself you’ve ticked another box. You combined a gift with something that I love to be…. “Creative”. It’s unique and different and possibly something I would treasure.
Date posted: 19/01/2010
