A repost from my series last year on UnGifts! Make sure you scroll to the bottom to enter my giveaway for a copy of my ebook Celebrating The Season: An Advent Study!! Already bought a copy last year?!? Share this giveaway with a friend!
I hope I answered all of your questions yesterday about UnGifts. Now let’s get on with some UnGift ideas! All of the ideas I am sharing today fall into the category of priceless – they are so valuable or special to others, there is no price tag you can put on them. This is where the “shopping” in your own home I mentioned yesterday comes in! Look for things in your home that would be special to others or things that you have they might be in need of. Clean them up if they need it and wrap them up!
- A binder or book of family recipes made for a daughter learning to cook or a new sister-in-law. Here’s one idea.
- A special doll or toy you had as a child pass along to a child or grandchild. Last year I gave one of my daughters a doll of mine. I had her sent in to the company and cleaned up. She came back like new and extra special, because she had been mine. It also cost much less than buying her new!
- An item of clothing you no longer wear, but would look great on your teenage daughter or sister…..sweater, scarf, hat, etc.
- A fancy dress you wore once ungifted to a little girl who loves to play dress up.
- A little sewing box filled with treasures from your own sewing supplies for a child learning the skill. This is what our 5 year old is getting this year! I can’t wait for her to open it!
I bought the little box at Good Will for $3.99!!
- A piece of jewelry you don’t wear (even costume is fine) passed to a sister, daughter or even little girl for dress up.
- A book you enjoyed reading passed along, including a note inside the cover. We are doing this for a couple of our older kids. It’s amazing what valuable knowledge we found for them, just starting their lives on their own, on our bookshelves!
- Kitchenware that could be passed to a daughter newly married or new daughter-in-law. Think about the mixing bowl you’ve always used for bread dough or the serving piece you’ve always served that family favorite recipe in. Include the recipe! My mom is famous in our family for her salsa. I have her serving dish and her recipe card (handwritten). That is going to my newly married brother and his wife for Christmas!
- Collections – stamps, coins, figurines, etc. Pass along a couple of pieces from your collection to a child or grandchild to start their own.
- A charm bracelet of your’s divided among your daughters or granddaughters. I have my charm bracelet and my mom’s. I intended on giving each of my daughters a charm a year from these two bracelets as the get older.
- Framed photos or art that would look great in your newly married kids apartment or your college kids’ dorm. I know I have a drawer full of these that just did not get hung up this time around. I am planning to take the pictures out and use the frames for these for friends and photos for grandparents.
And then there is the priceless UnGifts of our time…..
- Homemade meals frozen into single serve portion sizes for a single family member or a college kid. My dad is getting this from us this year.
- Babysitting coupons! We LOVE these!
- If you are good with computers, give free tech-help coupons for the year!
- UnGift a special friend with a time to watch her kids! Someone did this for me this year!
- If you are good with home repairs, ungift yourself for a Saturday to a family member who needs home repair help!
- If you are good at organizing, ungift yourself to a sister or friend who wants to get her home organized! My brother gave this to my husband one year as a day to help him get the garage organized! They loved spending the day together and the garage got clean at the same time!
- If you are good at car maintenance or repairs, ungift yourself to someone who needs work done on their car.
- A prayer commitment is a wonderful gift! Type up something telling them you will pray for them, maybe for something different each month of the year. My husband and I have done this for both my brother and sister during the time of their engagement to their spouses. We sent notes each month saying what we were praying for that month.
- What about forgiveness? Is there someone in your life you need to make amends with? God sent his son Jesus to us as a gift to redeem us and reconnect us with Him. During Christmas, a time of hope and new beginnings, take the opportunity to start anew in your relationships. I did this in the form of a letter one Christmas a few years ago, with a relationship that had been difficult for many years. I highly recommend it!
The list of UnGifts of our time are really endless…..just think about the needs of the person you are giving to and see what you can do to meet them! Be creative with your wrapping, too! For example, my husband has had a VERY busy year. He has a million things that are left half done all the time. He is constantly saying he needs a “body double” or to “clone himself”. My gift to him this year is a day of my help – nothing else on my list, but whatever he wants to get accomplished. I am going to make a silly little paper doll that resembles him (or try to anyway), hence his clone and give that to him to unwrap! Cheesy I know, but he will love it! Shhhh!!
Are you giving any priceless UnGifts this year? Or have you been given any?
To Enter the giveaway for a FREE copy of Celebrating the Season: An Advent Study just comment below telling me your favorite Christmas Song! You can enter all five days this week for a chance to win and all winner’s will be announced Saturday, November 26, 2011. Winners will be chosen using www.random.org.
