You’re running around after children and trying to keep all your business balls in the air when you realise you’ve got a birthday or anniversary coming up and you need to buy a gift.
The easiest way to deal with presents for your kids’ friends is to keep a present box at home. Whenever you see a suitable gift for a child the same age as your own kids when you’re out and about, buy it and put it in the box. That way you won’t have to dash out and buy something next time your child is invited to a birthday party. I make sure I have a supply of wrapping paper and birthday cards, too.
Adults are harder, though. I think most of us have left it until the last minute and then had to either dash out to a superstore for wine, chocolates or flowers! Even with a little more advanced planning you can still find yourself searching Amazon, desperately looking for some inspiration.
So here are some ideas for more inspired gifts, but that don’t use up any of your shoe-leather with a shopping trip:
Support another business mum
There are tons of mums who hand-make gifts from home, if you just ask something like ‘I need a 60th birthday present for my aunt, who makes gifts?’ in a Facebook group for mumpreneurs you’re bound to come up with tons of suggestions. Many that you won’t have thought of before!
Experience days
Many adults don’t really need any more physical stuff, so why not give them an experience instead? You can now give anything from a quiet meal for two to off-road driving. Try Into The Blue for more ideas.
Make something
This doesn’t have to take long or be difficult and if you have small kids your house is probably already full of crafty bits and pieces like ribbon and glue. Pinterest is full of easy crafty ideas, one I tried recently is a fabric-covered notebook made using a plain hard-backed notebook, double sided sticky tape and fabric off-cuts. The end result looked great and you can’t buy it in any shop.
Here are some we made at the craft group I go to:
Try Etsy
Etsy is a fantastic place to find original, handmade gifts and you can have some of them personalised, too. You can buy anything from jewellery to knitwear and scrapbooks, from sellers around the world.
So there you go, a few tips for those days when yo’re pushed for time and lacking in inspiration!