Gift Ideas - Wedding, Birthday, Holiday, Anniversary

Do you experience a dearth of ideas when it comes to selecting a gift for your loved ones? Do you visit umpteen gift shops only to be at a loss when it comes to choosing gifts?  Don’t worry; there are many more like you who dread the festive season for the fear of encountering disapproving looks from family members and friends because they never can choose the right gifts ! To provide some assistance to you and to many others, I have compiled a list of gift ideas for different age groups that should prove to be helpful to you in the coming months. 
Gift baskets for babies: most people confuse between baby baskets and mother baskets and end up gifting a basket that contains all things for the mother and nothing for the baby. A baby gift basket should ideally contain only baby stuff such as baby soaps, baby wash, nappy sets, milk bottles, rattles, pacifiers, diapers, a pretty baby blanket and a cuddly toy.
Gift Baskets for Children: toys are often the best choice and you can add cartoon stationary items such as erasers, pencils, sharpeners and scales. You can also add a game or even a fairytale book.  
Gift Baskets for adolescents: a mix of cosmetics, perfumes, deodorants, imitation jewelry, hair stickers, glitters, fancy stationary items and fancy pouches work wonders for a young girl and as for a young boy, you can put together a basket containing gourmet items such as crackers and Beef stix, favorite CD and accessories for the sport that he plays.
Gift baskets for a man/woman: You can be adventurous with these gift baskets, especially if they are meant for someone who is close to you. Pamper him/ her with flowers, scented bubble baths, body sprays, deodorants, a bottle of wine, scented candles for a romantic dinner or even sexy inner clothing, if you wish to send across an intimate message.      
Gift baskets for the elderly: A perfect combination includes gourmet items and books that they can read in their leisure time. Make sure that you include health items such as juices, cans of soups, muffins, fresh fruit, homemade bread and jams, flavored tea and such items. However, do add a bag of chips, crackers and snack to spice it up. 
Gift baskets are truly the most special way of expressing your emotions to your near and dear ones. It shows that you have made a special effort to look around for their favorite things to create a special gift for them. You can create such wonderful gift baskets with a little bit of creativity and oodles of enterprise that everyone, including you yourself, will be truly impressed with your efforts.
 

I was recently invited to the anniversary celebrations of a great friend. Instead of investing in a single gift item, I picked up a number of things that I was sure she would like and put them together in a basket and wrapped the basket in colorful ribbons. The gift was very well received and my friend couldn’t help raving about my wonderful gift for a long time. That set me thinking as to why should one buy a single gift item that may actually cost more, than a number of small and less expensive gift items picked up from various places and put together to make a lovely gift basket. All of us pick up small items during sale time that are otherwise available at much higher prices, such as deodorants, bath gels, clothes, gourmet items, votive candles and so much more. With the right dose of innovative thinking and creativity, a pretty basket can be assembled with the right mix of these articles that is sure to make the recipient truly glad.
Once you get into the habit of assembling gift baskets as gifts for your friends and family, you will start enjoying the process. You can employ all your creative faculties into assembling unique gift baskets for them. You can coordinate colors of the various gifts items that you put in the basket or even design a ‘theme’ basket. For instance a gift basket with a theme related to candles could include scented votive candles, crystal votive holder and a few gourmet snacks to enjoy as a candlelight dinner. You can also put tags on the gift baskets with creative titles such as ‘ candles for the illumination of your love’ or anything else that suits the occasion or the theme of the basket.
You will eventually realize that the entire exercise of putting together gift baskets for your family and friends is not only less expensive than picking single item gifts for them but also immensely enjoyable.  Keep your eyes open during sale item for gift items that can be included in your gift baskets. Keep adding to your collection throughout the year so that it is easier for you to mix and match these gift items when you have to assemble gift baskets during the festive season. Gift baskets are so much fun not only for the recipient as he/she gets a number of gifts in a ‘single’ gift but also for the person who assembles them with love, affection and loads of creativity.   
 

Fathers are, oh , so important. They provide us with our first experience of a bruised ego and also of our need to prove our worth to someone. Almost all of us remember our childhood days with mixed emotions. The first step into adolescence is often accompanied with frequent ego tussles with our parents and especially with our fathers. We fight and argue to prove our point to the man who brought us into this world and held our little hands to help our take our first step into this world. As we look back with fondness, love and a little resentment at our childhood days, we cannot help but realize that we can never repay the love and the worldly experience that our parents have imbued us with.

The celebration of ‘Father’s day’ is a celebration of fatherhood, a celebration of the relationship between a child and a father. It is the occasion to acknowledge your gratitude not only to your dad but to anyone who has acted like your father by guiding you and providing you with invaluable wisdom. Even though nothing is more powerful than words in the expression of our true emotions, a token of our love to our fathers on this special day is truly a reflection of our genuine emotions. Even though your father, unlike your mother, is most unlikely to break into raptures or tears of joy on receiving a gift from you, be sure that he appreciates receiving a gift from you as much as your mother. Your father, like any man, would not like to exhibit his feelings.

As children, we are well aware of the preferences of our parents. Hence, it is not tough to pick a gift for your dad on ‘Father’s Day’. You could pick a gift related to his interests such as anything related to the sport he likes to play or the hobby that he indulges in now and then. Depending on his interests, it could be a book, fishing equipment, gardening equipment or a golf bag. If you would rather give him an ostentatious item, then an expensive watch, designer wear, expensive sun glasses, a Mont Blanc or an exclusive men’s perfume would prove to be the ideal gift choices.

Gourmet gift baskets are often a hit with dads as they love to indulge in sumptuous food items. Fill up the basket with his favorite goodies and watch him sneak out of the room again and again to take a bite out of the gourmet basket filled with goodies. You can also make an effort to find out if he actually needs something for his practical use and buy him the same.  Comfortable pair of shoes to replace his old ones, a new pair of vision glasses or a nice travel bag to replace his shabby old one are some of the utility gifts that will surely please your dad.

Beware of buying anything for your ‘old man’ that makes him feel ‘old’. Instead, give him something that reminds him of his younger days, fills him with nostalgia and transports him back into the times when you were a toddler and needed to hold his finger to feel secure. 

 
 
Festive days are here again. Smiling, eager faces and the fragrant nip in the air are the precursors of the festivities ahead. Very soon, all of us will be worrying about the gifts that we have to buy for our loved ones. Leaving aside the worries of expenditure, all of us look forward to buying Christmas gifts for our loved ones to bring a vibrant smile on their glowing faces. It is indeed a pleasure to watch the young ones tear away the wrapping papers hurriedly in the hope of finding exactly what was on their wish list. The elders are no less enthusiastic about their Christmas gifts. After all, everyone wishes to be pampered by their loved ones and festivals, especially Christmas, are the apt occasions when we can truly bring a smile on the faces of the people who make our lives worth living.

 
It is easier to buy gifts for our loved ones, as we are aware of their likings and needs. Also, people who are close to us are expressive of their desires and therefore, it is easier to choose gifts for them. The problem arises when we have to pick gifts for acquaintances. In such cases, the net proves to be a boon. There is such a wide variety of gifts and gift ideas available on the net that nobody can claim to suffer from a dearth of gift ideas. A number of sites have different categories of gifts and this really helps one in choosing a gift. Most of us have a price range in mind when we wish to buy a gift and if we are given a wide choice in the kinds of gifts that we can buy within that range, it makes our task easier.

 
I will not make any recommendations for Christmas gifts because I believe that unlike birthday or anniversary gifts, Christmas gifts cannot be bought with someone else’s recommendation. You know best what is desired most by your mom, sister,husband, wife and children. Also, even though the grown ups have ‘outgrown’ the myth of the ‘Santa Claus’ getting you your Christmas gifts, all of us look forward to a wish fulfillment through our Christmas gifts. Since you get a chance to act as Santa Claus only once in a year, you should make the most of this occasion. You will reaffirm your children’s faith in the beautiful things in life by gifting them what they truly want. You will infuse their innocent hearts with the hope that God often gives us what we want and all that we have to do is to pray hard for it. To all the eternal optimists who believe in the message that Christmas brings to us, I wish a merry Christmas.