Great Present Ideas

I know that every time a birthday comes up for someone, I struggle to find them a perfect, personal gift. I would love to make items for my friends, but I have neither the skills or the time, so I have resorted to researching some present ideas that people won't be expecting, but have really loved. I thought I would share the ones that have gone down the best amongst my pals.

A personalised mug

Last September I missed my friend's birthday. In fact, I discovered it was her birthday, on the day, on facebook. She always remembers mine so I felt terrible, so I quickly got online and ordered her a present that was personal and would remind her of the good times we'd had (so she couldn't stay annoyed at me for long). I personalised a mug online with photos of us together and some funny quotes from our hilarious antics at University. She still talks about it, and uses it almost every day. I think it's a great gift, and it was super easy with the price including postage to your friend. I used this website: Your Design, but there are others out there. It's a reasonably low cost present that has great sentimental value.

A beautiful hamper

This present wouldn't suit every one, and may not be ideal for birthdays, but is a great idea for a 'Congraulations on your new home' gift. Again, you can take the lazy option (which I love) and have it send directly to them without even leaving your house. Just Google, gift hampers and there are loads of options. I did try and look for a shabby chic hamper, but it seems they don't exist. Gap in the market...? You could make your own hamper by buying wine, chocolates, cupcakes, tea and some vintage teacups and saucers. That would be adorable.

Vintage cake stand

What do you get the girl who has everything? A vintage cake stand of course! You can get these at vintage fairs (see my earlier posts), or online. I bought one for my friend's birthday and she loved it. She's yet to bake cakes and offer me one though, hmph.  

Cake stand available from www.bouf.com

A hand drawn card

My friend (the one I bought the mug for) makes me a hand drawn card every year. It always has pictures of funny memories on it (like when we wanted to draw a picture of a house and take it into an estate agents and tell them "can we have this house please", ....I guess you had to be there). I always save them and put them somewhere I can see them in my room. Not only are they a lovely birthday card, they're a keepsake.

So you don't have to just default to a bottle of wine. Instead, I hope this offers some ideas for next time you're thinking about buying something for someone special. On refelection, most of these present ideas would suit girls rather than boys. Maybe I'll blog some boyfriend present ideas sometime soon. I'll have to think of some first though.

On the other hand, if you're a guy and you're reading this, the best present I ever got was a trip to Paris, so a cake stand might not always cut it. Romance works!