Tuesday, December 22, 2009

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Still searching for a fun gift idea?

I'm giving my exchange student, Pola, a fun gift this holiday season. Maybe you'll like it enough to share it with someone you know and love.

Pola loves Ben and Jerry's ice cream, so being in the states where grocer's freezers are fully stocked with all 57 flavors of ice cream, is like a dream come true. Thing of it is, Pola is so polite and unassuming she's kept her affections for Ben and Jerry a secret up until last week. With only five weeks left, before Pola returns to Germany, I must make up for lost time.

On Christmas I will present Pola with a coupon, entitling her to one pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, each week from now until she leaves. I've printed off a list of flavors, allowing Pola to rank order her top five choices. Of course her list will be perfectly packaged with

The Classic Tie Dyed T-Shirt AND...

A PINT LOCK!!!
(a must have when you live in a house with me)
My idea for an ice cream lover's Pint of the Week (or should it be "weak") is fun, but certainly no more fun than...

Peggy's Card-of-the-Month (COTM): For the very reasonable price of $36.00, receive a handmade card a month in your mailbox. Once received, you make a date with yourself to send the card to someone in you life with whom you would like to stay in touch. As I said last year, it's like the gift that gives twice - first you get a fun envelope in the mail from Peggy and then you get to pass the handmade card along to the recipient of your choice. I did it last year and I've already signed up for my 2010 allotment. This year I asked that each card have a coffee motif, as I am going to use them when I invite 12 strangers to coffee.

And...

Katie's CD of the Month: I love music, but I stopped keeping track of who sings what and which band is which long about time Billy Joel hit the scene. Katie on the other hand... Katie could moonlight as a DJ. She has a pulse on all the latest and greatest music, and as an added bonus, we have similar taste in music. Last year for Christmas she agreed to send me a CD a month with an array of different songs and musicians. Like clock work the CDs arrived each month and immediately I would pop them in my CD player and head out for a long drive. My year is up, but thanks to her generosity, I was able to renew for another year.

How about you? What ideas do you have for an Of-the-Month gift you can give? Or, maybe not of-the-month. Maybe it's six times a year, quarterly, or even semi-annually?

Do tell. Some of us might still be looking for gift ideas and heck, you might even get a taker!

Signing off until tomorrow...

10 comments:

Chaotic Kristi said...

for my Mother, I scrapbook a wall calendar with pics of her grandkids, kids, friends, etc in the month they were born, as well as decorate the monthly blocks with other tidbits & fun things (National days, etc). She loves it because it helps her know which person has a birthday that month AND she gets new pictures. Included in that is an assortment of handmade cards (courtesy of moi) for those birthdays, as well as Valentine's, Get Well Soon, sympathy, etc. She does not get out as much and was complaining she never had a card to send, so now she does. For my Dad, every year he gets a Cookie Tin-a-Month. Karen makes him a different batch of homemade love while I get to design the container. :-)

Kat said...

I've never done a "of-the-month" gift, but I love the concept!

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Chaotic... I love the cookie-a-month and vaguely remember you telling us about that last year.

The beauty of Of-the-Month gifts is that you get to use your talents. It's a true labor of love.

Any other fun ideas out there?

Cheryl Houston said...

Oh! I was going to say cookie of the month, too! Cake of the Month? Photo of the month for photographers. Ha ha... I'll take Date of the Month. hee hee.

Anonymous said...

For $140+ I saw on food network.... hot sauce of the month at Insane Chicken
http://www.google.com/goto?id=6096d3a0b00beb5af64a71065f5dd280&PHPSESSID=nanslvlll6n38a4fdsag4kosc0&q=hot sauce of the month chicken&domen=supersearch11.com
Wine of the month
On Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray gave Marie fruit of the month and she was so taken back.... Who eats so much fruit?!!!!

Anything really can be "of the month" as long as you stay consistent..... those who give up like a 'live it" (diet) after 3 months... if you don't follow through the gift really isn't worth very much!

Anon aka Peggy having trouble signing in to blogger! :0(

PS we've gotten 4" of snow overnight and it's still snowing!

Katie said...

I love giving of the month gifts! It gives me time every month to spend thinking about that particular person! So, every month I spend time thinking about Claudia as I make her CD. Its just as nice for me as it is for her!

About a month or so ago, I taught my best friend to pipe and flood cookies. I think I'm going to start a cookie cutter of the month with her. With the cutter comes the promise that we will bake and decorate each month together, or at least until graduation in May!

Robin said...

The Target Bin has calendars you slap a photo on for a buck! :-)

I want a link to Peggy's GOTM!

Now, can I get a pint lock anywhere?

Peggy said...

I don't have a specific link on my blog, but you can visit
http://prdesigns.blogspot.com

Check out the different kinds of cards I make by clicking on the right column.

With the COTM (Card of the month) you get 12 unique creative greetings!! one card/envelope each month for $36. The cards are seasonal (Valentine, Easter, Spring, Halloween, Fall etc)but requests can be made for an upcoming birthday, anniversary, graduation,theme or you can pick something out of my stock.

Surprises in cardcrafting sneak into the mailbox too!

You can start anytime throughout the year. Thanks for asking!

Chaotic Kristi said...

Peggy...I like that idea... I may even CASE it! :-)

Brian K. Root said...

I've never done an 'of the month' kind of gift. However, I enjoy giving magazine subscriptions or things like that. It's similar to giving someone an "of the month" kind of gift.

I was thinking about getting my parents a subscription to Netflix this year... but decided against it.