|
Gifts
The Art of Regifting
By: Joyce Moseley Pierce
"We spend the first part of our human experience avidly accumulating
things and the other half wondering what in the world we're going to
do with all the stuff." Margret E. Keats
I've never really thought of myself as a person who cares about
material things, but after years of marriage and raising three
children, I had accumulated more than I needed. I made the kids
take what was theirs as they left home and began building their own
nests, but there was still too much. I started to think about what
my kids would do with all of it when I'm dead and gone, and decided
most of it would probably be dumped or sold in a garage sale. I
decided maybe I should start getting rid of it before they did!
About that time I discovered a wonderful little book, "How to
Simplify Your Life," by Elaine St. James. I asked for the book as a
Christmas gift, and it has been well worth what my daughter spent
on it (I believe it was only about $10 at the time). I've read it on
many different occasions. It's great for just flipping through and
reading whatever catches your interest that day.
One of my favorite sections in the book is about getting rid of
things you no longer need. She suggests setting up a closet or at
least a shelf for those items. I'm not talking about worn out junk,
but items which are in good shape that may be a treasure to someone
else! She calls them "mathoms." My grandson calls the process of
giving away your stuff, "regifting." It works for me, no matter what
you call it. For instance, I had a beautiful bottle that my daughter
had filled with oil and flowers at one time. It was dark pink with a
wide square base that became more slender toward the top. Years
later, the color in the flowers had all run into the oil and it
looked like a bottle of sludge! I popped the cork, dumped the stuff
out of the inside, and put the bottle in the dishwasher. The next
day a friend came over and saw it sitting on my counter. "Oh, what a
beautiful bottle," she said. "Like it? It's yours!" I said. I handed
it to her before she had the chance to say no. She was thrilled to
latch on to it because she said her mother collected pink glassware.
Who would have ever known! My castaway was passed on to her before
it ever made it to my regifting shelf. She immediately gave it to
her mother, who was just thrilled to add it to her collection. Nice
thing is, that once it's out of my house, I don't care how many
times it is regifted.
Here's how you can get started. Go through your house looking
carefully at everything. As you pick up each item, ask yourself if
you really need it. In my case, I ask if it serves a purpose. If it
doesn't, throw it in a box and haul it off to your new shelf. Mine
is in an upstairs linen closet that is seldom used. When I need a
quick gift for someone, I browse the shelf and find something that's
appropriate for that person.
A few years ago I bought one of those stand-up
wall units that holds about eighteen 8x10" photos. As I went through
the house looking for photos, I ended up with eighteen empty picture
frames. They are just perfect for regifting, especially if I fill it
with a photo I've taken of that friend, or of the two of us. I can
write my sentiments on the back, wrap it in a nice box or bag, and
have a very personal gift that will always remind her of our
friendship.
Your items may include candles that make you sneeze because you're
allergic to lavender; empty jars that can be filled with candy or
potpourri; a perfume atomizer that was never used because your
allergies prohibit you from wearing perfume; that ring holder that
is meant to keep by your sink for someone who takes their rings off
when they wash their hands (I don't!), or books that you just never
really wanted to read.
Now, when the spirit moves me to clean out drawers and closets, I'm
on the search for things to replenish my regifting shelf. Recently
I've added a bread knife I bought at a trade show because the
salesman made me think I couldn't live without it, and a box of
baking tubes. Once I got the tubes home, I decided they would be way
too much trouble to clean if I actually used them, so they stayed in
the box. They didn't pass the practical test, but maybe someone who
entertains will think it's worth the effort to have heart-shaped
bread!
With the holidays coming up, this is a great time to start making
the rounds and setting up your own regifting center. Doesn't it seem
crazy to go buy gifts when you have resources right there in your
own home? It's never a good idea to increase your credit card
balance for gift giving, but this year when we have need to be
concerned about the economy, it is the perfect time to cut back and
be more sensible. If you exchange gifts with a group of friends,
suggest a white elephant gift, where everyone is regifting!
My very dearest friends and I have made an agreement not to buy each
other gifts anymore. We realize that our friendship is more valuable
than anything we could purchase, so we make the time to have a
special birthday lunch or Christmas brunch to catch up on our lives.
Years from now we won't remember what someone bought us, but we will
remember the kindness they showed to us. Ralph Waldo Emerson had it
right when he penned, "The greatest gift is a portion of thyself."
Copyright 2002 Joyce Moseley Pierce
Joyce is a freelance writer and owner of Emerson Publications. Her
latest release is “24 Days of Christmas,” to help families center on
the birth of Christ during the holiday season. She is also the
creator of “All They’ll Need to Know,” a book that will be
invaluable to your loved ones when you can’t be there to guide
them. Visit
www.emersonpublications.com for lots of good family-friendly
information.
Tissue Boxes for Gifts
by: Joyce Moseley Pierce
We have all heard of using decorative tissue
to make our gift look more special. Over the years the gift bags
have become so popular because all you have to do is stick your gift
in the bag, stuff in some pretty tissue paper, and you're ready to
go. No more worrying about cutting wrapping paper to fit or tying
bows!
Thinking outside the box (or bag!) for a
moment, you'll realize that there is still another option. I'm
talking about tissue boxes; the square ones that you buy because
they don't take up much space.
Over the years the tissue companies have
gotten pretty creative in packaging their tissues. Now they come in
beautiful decorator colors and designs, and you don't even need
those tissue covers that we used to use to hide the ugly box.
Here are just a couple of ideas. If you
start to let your mind wander, I'm sure you'll think of more.
For my mother-in-law's 70th birthday a few
years ago, we had a big celebration. We wanted to give her money,
but I didn't just want to put cash or a check in a card. I went to
the bank and got seventy one-dollar bills and then taped them
together, end to end. I folded them one by one and stuffed them
into a square tissue box, and had the top bill just barely sticking
up out of the box. Back then, the boxes weren't so pretty, and
because we wanted her to be surprised, I wrapped the box.
Everyone got excited watching her pull that
roll of dollar bills out of the box. As she pulled, it looked like
there was no end to the roll. It sure was a lot more fun than
watching her open an envelope and lay it aside.
I have a daughter who meets with her friends
every month for coffee. Last year she found tissues packaged in
boxes that had coffee designs on them. She bought a wholesale size
package of about 10 of them and used the tissues throughout the
year. She saved the empty boxes, and at Christmas, she put a small
gift, wrapped in tissue paper, inside. As each friend left her
house that December day, she gave them their own coffee box. They
loved it!
I think the ideas for this are limitless.
It works great for something small, and spices up that "just
thinking of
you" gift that you might have just been picked up at the dollar
store. You've spent nothing for the box, and if you're a super
saver, you probably even have tissue paper that you've pulled out of
a gift someone gave you.
Valentine's Day is coming up and I'm sure
there will be tissue boxes decorated in hearts. With wrapping
tissue to stuff in the box, you don't have to have much "quantity,"
but you could use them to package candies, cookies, hand lotion, lip
gloss, jewelry, or anything else that will fit.
Use your imagination!
Copyright 2006 Joyce Moseley Pierce Visit
www.emersonpublications.com to read more of Joyce's stories, to
subscribe to the Family First newsletter, to learn how to get your
affairs in order, or to request information about working at
home. This site is dedicated to helping you create family unity.
|
