Tag: Gifts

We’ve all gotten used to gift registries for bridal showers, weddings, and baby showers – even anniversaries – but how do you feel about parents that register their kidlets’ birthday wishes?

More and more consumers are using the convenience of their computer to buy gifts of all kinds. It is certainly convenient to be able to log on to a registry, click a few buttons, and have the gift paid for, wrapped, and sent to your home so that your child can present it to his or her friend without ever having to actually see it.

Surprise!

It makes me wonder if, despite the convenience factor, society isn’t depersonalizing relationships. In the past, when a child was invited to a birthday party the guest took a Saturday and shopped for the perfect gift, the thing that the child most wanted to get her friend. The gift was taken home, carefully wrapped, and presented.

Like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates, you didn’t know what you were going to get.

I understand the ease of choosing from a registry. I get that it is nice to know that the birthday girl or boy will get exactly what they want. There is no time consuming search for just the right gift. It is a no-brainer.

In that convenience, you have to wonder if something isn’t lost – the lesson of receiving gifts graciously perhaps. More than that, I wonder if we aren’t smudging the definition of what a gift really is.

Gift: noun. Something bestowed without any particular effort by the recipient.  Something given in honor of an occasion.

The gifts the child wants may be above some people’s over-stretched budgets, and I am pretty sure that registries take the fun out of getting someone a gift for some of us.

So, what are your thoughts? Is signing your child up for a registry hot or not?

photo credit: Julie Rybarczyk

Culled from the pages of Esquire The Handbook of Style: A Man’s Guide to Looking Good (published by Hearst Books), I thought I’d share an unusual gift idea for this Father’s Day: shoes. Yes, shoes. What, you don’t normally buy shoes for other people? Well, me either, but hear me out.

This style book (given to my husband a while back when he wrote for a men’s style website), has oodles of information for guys on how to look good, from how to buy and wear a suit to where to wear your sunglasses when not perched atop his nose. It’s worth a look, for real.

Anyway, back to presents. When I saw the page on the 5 Shoes Every Man Needs, I realized that MY man doesn’t have all 5. He has many shoes, but not for all occasions.

Here’s the list:

• Black Oxfords: the go to shoe for just about any crisis or black tie event that comes his way. Keep them polished, of course.
• Brown Wing Tips: Odd that these seem so stuffy to me when they can be essential to every business occasion. But, when worn with the right suit, they look spiffy not stuffy.
• Loafers: Good for dressing up or down, and is apparently the catch all American shoe for American males (whatever that means)
• Classic Bucks: While preppy (in my humble opinion), bucks can dress up a jean or dress down slacks. Think of them as a dressier alternative to sneakers.
• Classic sneakers: NOT raggedy tennis shoes. NOT running shoes. Not some hybrid of mind bending, muscle forming work out. Plain. Old. Sneakers.

And, what makes this book fun to look at besides all the good information inside – it even tells you how to tie your shoes. No joke. Did you know that there are three ways to tie a man’s shoe? Straight laced, criss crossed or under-over…now, I could make some rude, off colored joke here, but none come to mind (heh).

And, I could tell you what shoe I’m getting my husband for Father’s Day, but he reads this (on a daily basis I’m told…) and I don’t want to spoil the fun. Of course, maybe I just did. Hmm.

photo credit: bbaunach

Just Google “holiday photo cards” and you’re likely to be overwhelmed with choices.  I know I was!  I did a little digging, ordered from some companies and found a few that really do an excellent job with quality photo cards with an eye toward good design.  I culled the list and here are my top picks:

1)  Mango Ink – Talk about beautiful design.  I love their sense about blending words with photographs and, honestly these are about the best I’ve seen.  They offer sqaure, folding and rectangle options and claim to be fast, fast, fast…that’s good if you’re like me and, best efforts not withstanding, you wind up doing Holiday things at the last minute.  Take a look and see…

2)  Tiny Prints – Always a good choice, these guys have so many designs to look through.  The site is easy to navigate and the ordering process couldn’t be easier.  Make sure to use a good photo that will print up well and I’m certain you’ll be happy.