gift giving guide.

do you ever say to yourself, "i'm not sure what to get x for their birthday?" and you feel totally stuck? well, julie and i have come up with a comprehensive gift giving guide. or... maybe they should be called gift giving rules? whatever. take it or leave it. however, you should know that i would declare julie as one of the best gift givers of all time and i would like to think of myself as a close eighteenth. so... with out further ado, here they are:

rule number one: no one is hard to give to, you're just not paying close enough attention. yes, this rule applies even to the person who already owns everything that they've ever needed/wanted. people ALWAYS mention that they like this, that or the other thing in any given day. start remembering what they're saying.

rule number two: gift certificates generally scream "I DON'T KNOW YOU!" (or i'm in a hurry). creativity counts. and we don't want to hear, "but.. but.. I'm not creative" riiiiiiiiiight. the truth: you're just not allowing yourself to be creative. you're just not thinking hard enough. try to remember what they like; see rule number one.

rule number three: bigger is not always better. (we're strictly talking about gifts here.) more expensive is not always more meaningful. in fact, we think an expensive gift is a cop out. here is a simple analogy. would you rather have your friend take you to the most expensive restaurant in the city and say "eat your heart out!" (like Aqua), or would you rather have your friend connect a dinner with your favorite food, music, area in san francisco for a total of $10? we think most would say the latter. case and point: the value of the gift doesn't have anything to do with the monetary cost.

rule number four: it doesn't have to coincide with a birthday or holiday. we would argue that gifts out of the blue are more special than the obligation that comes with a special day. make an ordinary day a special one with a gift that screams "i was thinking of you."

rule number five: if you ignore rule number four and find a potential gift for your friend in a store but actually want to save it for a particular event or day, just buy it. now, we're not saying to buy things impulsively. we're saying, if it's a sure thing (because you know the person: see rule number one) just get it. it's just like when you go shopping for a dress for your friend's wedding, you can never find it when you want it. you end up buying a dress you're not excited about because you are desperate and in a time crunch. the same applies to gifts—they need to be found as you move through life. gifts don't do well under time constraints.

ps. i wanted to keep it to a nice round number, like five. but if there had to be a rule six, it would be that presentation counts. you could wrap me up a pile of dog crap in the most beautiful wrapping and i would love it (okay, slight exaggeration). think about going to a fancy restaurant- you don't want the best food looking like crap. as much as we say, "don't judge a book by the cover"-- few people actually believe that. and if there had to be a rule seven... better late than never. but on time is always good (sorry, michele, i'm totally going on the third month of lateness- it's in the mail, i swear!).