Give Gifts for Lasting Memories
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| Friends & Flavor |
A Chocolate Party With All My Friends!
After a great day golfing, a faked car problem to delay arrival home, I walked into our home to find many friends waiting to wish a happy 60th birthday. Not only friends, but an ABUNDANCE of chocolate desserts!
How cool was that. Sure, it was a birthday party, but one so special that it is still fresh in my mind. There was some expense required, but mostly her care and effort made it memorable.
Earlier in our marriage I more or less happened on a great gift for her... and one that changed our living habits that continue to this day.
Our lives had become crazily frenetic. We both worked, our kids were super active, she coached cheerleading and I was coaching basketball. We were happy and enjoying life, but with almost no "together" time.
Date Nights are Good.
Christmas was approaching way too fast, and no gift idea had entered my mind. Listening to the car radio on my way home from my part time job selling computers, I heard an advertisement for a coming symphony orchestra concert that triggered the idea.
The next day I was on the phone and lined up three date nights, one for each month February through April.
- Syracuse University basketball in February
Date Nights are Good - A March classical music concert.
- Dinner theater for April
Principles of Giving Great Gifts.
There are some defining characteristics that are present in the giving of most great gifts. Not every great gift will follow the total scheme, but these principles are a good place to start when you are looking for the gift that goes way beyond the norm.
Great gifts are unexpected.
Gifts can be unexpected in a couple of different ways. First, the gift given when nothing exists to celebrate can be memorable. No birthday, it's not Christmas or Hanukah, the anniversary is in three months or graduation isn't for two years. When you just show up with a gift the heart lights up!
Unexpected gifts can be of another variety. Sometimes we develop predictable habits in gift giving. Our gift is always clothing, or mechanics tools, or the newest video game. Breaking away from the mold into a new, well-thought-out surprise can create the positive reaction that opens new paths of enjoyment or action.
Once-in-a-Lifetime gifts create forever memories.
Giving an avid golfer a new box of Titleists is good... arranging for a golfing tour of all the courses in the British Open circuit is absolutely amazing.
It's also quite a bit more expensive. $49.00 for the Titleists is more affordable than a couple of thousand for the trip. But you lose the golf balls. The memories of the trip will remain forever, and the stories that can be told will be unlimited.
Sharing the gift can give double the joy.
Some events are so much better done with someone you love. A shared experience might bring the joy to an overwhelming level. Taking a European river cruise could be peaceful and interesting when done alone, but total joy exists when you are with the person you love.
Giving a single movie ticket seems almost sad, but if your gift brings friends along the added joy of of personal interaction the gift becomes super meaningful.
The gift that keeps on giving.
Some gifts keep on giving. They remind the recipient of the giver each time the gift is used.
A gym membership or magazine subscription may last a year, and each time of use will remind the person of the one who gave the gift.
If the one you love is struggling with starting an online business, the gift of a learning-system could have a profound and life-long effect on the success of the entrepreneurial efforts.
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