If you know me for all of 30 minutes, you will learn that I love gifts. Gifts are my love language. I love getting gifts and I love giving gifts. I have found that I haven’t met as many people who claim gifts as their love language, which is very interesting to me.
Sometimes it’s hard to give meaningful gifts. Sometimes its even harder to give thoughtful gifts. A lot of times people will simply create a registry for their wedding or new baby, and we can aimlessly order what they asked for with a click of the mouse and without ever talking to them at all.
Living far away from family has also opened my eyes to the idea of giving gifts from afar. My Mom and my mother-in-law can’t just stop by to cook me a meal or to celebrate Tera’s birthday. They are both very good about sending some nice little things in the mail every so often. I’ve gotten a lot of these ideas from them!
Over the past few months, I have found some amazing ideas to give gifts to people. To be honest, a lot of these are things that you can do with a click of the mouse and you don’t have to talk to someone at all (which I dislike). However, most of these are things that are going above and beyond what someone would register for, or be asking for.
I just thought I would share these with you in case you ever feel the need to bless/gift someone who is going through a tough time or maybe who is celebrating something in their life!!!
- A meal service.
WHO KNEW? Did you know you can order an entire meal online? It will come fully cooked, packed in dry ice. All you have to do is heat it up in the microwave or the oven. I haven’t done my research to find out what kinds of ingredients are used, but I do know that when I get desperate, I will take it. This would be a great option when you live far away from someone but still want to support them by sending them a meal. It’s not cheap, but you can find a lot of options on sendameal.com for under $40. Of course, you can always go online and order a pizza and just have it delivered to someone’s house. All you need is their address! I know so many Mom’s would LOVE, LOVE to have their doorbell ring and dinner show up. I also know a lot of elderly people who would also greatly appreciate this. - Bottle of Tears. I found Lindsay through Instagram. Lindsay has battled a lot of battles in her life, and while there are still daily struggles with Lyme’s disease and the emotional battles of her adopted daughter, Lindsay is allowing God to make beauty from ashes. She started a service based on Psalm 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Through her shop, you can order a bottle. She has glass bottles of all shapes and sizes, as well as vintage bottles and several of different colors. You can also order a teardrop ring or necklace that symbolizes the tears that we weep, that God collects. Each item shipped from her shop comes with a print of Psalm 56:8. It might just seem like a vase or a bottle to some, but to those who are wracked with grief, the symbolism behind this gift is not lost.
- A cleaning service. Recently, a man in our church was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident. He made it through alive, but he had a week-long stay in the hospital and then a long road to recovery in front of him at home. His wife, of course, was by his side almost the entire time at the hospital, and became his nurse at home. Their daughter mentioned to me one day that someone hired a cleaning service for them. HOW BRILLIANT!!! Sometimes it can be hard when you are going through the sickness of a child or a spouse or a parent. Cleaning is usually the last priority. The same thing happens when someone experiences a death in the family. And the same thing happens when someone has a baby! Hiring a cleaning service for a week or two would be a huge blessing to someone who is in a time of need. Molly Maid and Merry Maid are two maid services that are national, but I’m sure you could also find local maid businesses in your area.
- Flowers. Again, all you need is the address of the person that you would like to send the flowers. If you look up the their zip code and a local florists, you can simply call it in and have it delivered, or you could even go online and order at many little florists shops.
- Amazon wish list. My brother introduced me to the Amazon wish list. On your Amazon account, you can create a wishlist. This is so handy for me, because I always see things that I want, but might not have the money to buy right then. So I will just put it on the wishlist. When my birthday or Christmas is approaching and people ask what I want, I can just direct them to the wishlist! Ta-da! I think everyone should have an Amazon wishlist. It’s so fun to go on my loved one’s wish list and just randomly order a book or a small gift. Their address is already on the wish list, so you can ship it directly to them! So easy!
- Snail mail. Who doesn’t love getting mail??!? I know that finding a simple letter or card in my mailbox makes my day. It’s especially awesome when it’s completely out of the blue. I distinctly remember getting a letter in the mail just a few months ago with a check in it. The card simply explained that it was a housewarming gift. It was the only housewarming gift we got when we bought our house, and it meant so incredibly much to us (you know who are you, dear sender). I also remember getting mail at Cedarville and that would be highlight of my day. So go ahead. Write a little note. Send a card. Toss a gift card in there as an extra perk. In the past, I have tried to write weekly letters. Some months I will try for a daily card. It really only takes about five minutes to write, seal, address and stamp a letter. It’s totally worth it and a habit that I really want to start back up. Send a note to a college student, a person in your church, a family member or a friend. I’m sure they would love it.
- Show up. This one is my favorite, and it’s the hardest one for us in our culture. All of these other gifts can be given from far away, with a click of a button. There might be a lot of heart behind it but nothing can be as awesome as just showing up. Ringing the doorbell and having a candy bar or a coke in your hand. Dropping off dinner or a movie or a bag of hand-me-down clothes. I get really lonely at home some days and I wish someone would just show up at the door. So do it! Even if they aren’t home, you can always leave your gift on the front porch and then shoot them a text to check their stoop when they get home. Trust me, it could be encouraging. I mean…what’s the worst that could happen?
So what about you? Do you have any other tips or tricks for giving gifts/showing up/being there? Now that I’ve written out this list I am reminding myself that I need to be doing a better job of this. Especially the free things like showing up and sending snail mail. I hope that I have given you some ideas and that we can encourage and challenge each other to do some of these things on a regular basis. A little encouragement and thoughtfulness goes a looooooong ways!!!