Gifting is a Gift to Me

I love to give gifts.  I get a lot of joy out of watching somebody open a gift I bought them or made myself.  I am guessing that gift giving is probably one of my top love languages, but I really can’t be sure because I’ve never actually read Dr. Chapman's book.  (A Christian married person who has never read The Five Love Languages?  Well I never.)

I was thinking about gift giving today because I just gave a Contigo coffee mug to the fella who dog sat while Hubs and I were in Iowa this past weekend.  As I handed over the Contigo, all tied up with blue curling ribbon, I thought about how Contigo mugs are one of my favorite gifts to give.  You should all know by now that I am obsessed with these coffee mugs.  How could I not be?  I made piping hot (Green Mountain) coffee last night and put it in my green Contigo.  I didn’t get around to drinking all of it last night, so this morning when I woke up-- I took a sip.  Can you believe it? It was still warm!  Now that is quality.

As I saw our dog-sitter's eyes light up in pure delight, I started reflecting on other gifts I’ve given more than once.  There are definitely some items that have captured my fancy.  For example, I love to gift Nalgene toddler-size water bottles to new mommies or young kids.  I actually just gave out two last Saturday to my cousin's little guys (ages 3 and 5).  It worked out perfectly because the 5 year old had a soccer game on Saturday and he needed to take a water bottle.  Both Nalgene bottles made an appearance on the playing field and the boys seemed to really love them.

Here are some other items I love to give out:

• Jewelry crafted by third world artisans-- I am wearing a bracelet right now that I picked up at Ten Thousand Villages.
• Green Mountain coffee-- Have you tried their seasonal coconut blend (HOLY COW, it's good).
• Seed packets-- I love giving wildflowers in particular.
• Journals for writing and doodling.  Enough said.
• Pajamas-- I really love doing this for weddings or wedding showers.  I divide the pajama set by giving the shirt to the bride and the bottoms to the groom.  This reminds me of The Pajama Game starring the fabulous Doris Day.
• Wooden growth charts for wee ones. 
• Magnets-- Etsy is one of my favorite places to find magnets.  People are so creative.
• Canned goods-- I love to give my jam, ketchup, salsa, or pickles.  I love to can and I love to see people enjoying something I slaved over (especially that darn ketchup).  
• A bunch of homemade greeting cards-- I tie mine up with a bow or put them in a cool decorative box for safe keeping.

I guess I should note that I have no idea how much people actually like receiving the aforementioned gifts, but I've never had anyone throw them back in my face... or cry as a result.  

Bottom line, I would love to receive any of these items.  Not that this blog post is a request for gifts mind you.  Unless you want to give a gift because you love it as much as I do.  In which case, I am almost out of my coconut blend Green Mountain coffee...

I really think that as long as you give a gift out of love and with some thought, people will love it.  Or they'll tell you they love the gift and then they'll regift it to their Great Aunt Edna.   Or they'll donate it to Goodwill.  

Either way, it's fun to give.