Mar 20, 2012

For me, the month of March is the month of Birthday madness. It’s really worst than Christmas. That is because many significant people in my life have birthdays this month. How about 5 all in the same month????? This represents, in my opinion, not only an unreasonable expense bundled into the same month, but also a major headache to try to think about what unique Birthday gifts to get so many people!  What saved the day for me is a little planning:

First, write the names of the persons and the dates of the Birthdays.

Then think  about what each person likes. For example, reading, going to the movies, eating at restaurants, a particular singer, cooking, drinking wine, etc.

Next think about what you know they actually need. Maybe one of them lost their phone or their sunglasses, or perhaps needs some clothes for an upcoming interview, etc. You get the idea.

These two should give you a good place to start and help you begin to generate gift ideas for these VIP’s in your life.

 In my case, one of the people with Birthday this month is my sister. She is a difficult person to give to  not only because she has everything but also because she also always gives great gifts so you can’t really get away with giving her an itsy bitsy thing. But, the one thing she does loves for sure are books and specifically self improvement books especially if they are from an author called Wayne Dyer. My luck was that he had just come out with a new book called “Wishes Fulfilled”.  So, that’s what I gave her.  A very targeted, personalized gift if you ask me.  And to top it off, she absolutely loved it!

Another person with a birthday is my best friend. Although she is not as picky as my sister, I still had to come up with an original gift idea. But since she also loves self improvement books from Wayne Dyer. I said to myself, why not make it easy on myself? After all, she won’t know I already gave the same gift to my sister. And anyways, what would be the problem with that? It’s still a great, targeted, thoughtful gift. So that’s what I gave her too, “Wishes Fulfilled” two.  And she absolutely loved it! So far, so good! Two down, two to go…….

The third person with a Birthday this month is my mom. Now she is 89 years old but her mind is as quick as a whip and she LOVES gifts. In the past, I have given her clothes and she’s really liked those so I figured I would stick to the safe route. I found her a red really nice short sleeve shirt as she lives in the Tropics. And she wore it the next day. So I think I did alright by her too

Gift number 4 is for another very good friend. She has always told me that she hates when people forget her gifts on her Birthday. So I couldn’t possibly ignore that fact especially if I was going to see her for her Birthday lunch…! I ‘ve seen her wearing silver bracelets lately so I figured she would probably not mind another one. Bingo, she took off another bracelet and wore my gift as son as she opened it. I’m on  a roll! 

The last gift of the month, or gift # 5, is for my 11 year old son. He as been asking for a cell phone for  a while now and we have tried to hold back as long as possible. But it was getting increasingly difficult since all his classmates at school already had one and he also kind of needed one so we could contact him when he was sleeping over at friends houses. So we finally relented and gave him an iPhone.  must say that he was the happiest gifted of all. Happy as can be and  surprised as well. It doesn’t get any better than that.

So you see, with a little planning and a little knowledge about the people you are planning to give gifts to, you can also survive  a 5 gifts type of month!

 

Jan 7, 2012

After the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays after I overindulged in food and drink, I reluctantly got on the scale and oops had gained 10 pounds…..! So my top new year’s resolutions at the beginning of this new year, was to lose those pesky 10 pounds!!  Undoubtedly, I am not the only one whose new year resolution is to lose weight and start exercising. If you have a person whose Birthday is coming up and need to find a gift for, something weight-loss related could be an ideal gift. Obviously this needs to be a gift for a person you know who has said they want to lose weight. You certainly don’t want to offend anyone here. Some practical gift ideas could include:

If the person likes to exercise, for example, then maybe a gym membership to a national establishment such as LA Fitness or All Sports Clubs would be something they would love. If a yearly membership is too costly, then maybe the down payment and the 1st month’s quota, would be the solution.

Another personalized gift idea is to order as a gift some of the popular prepared meals plans available on the market such as Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig. A couple friend of mine both tried it and they did lose the weight, The boxed pre-prepared meals include a variety of delicious frozen foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner which are shipped to you directly. These diets has been made popular by celebrities that have successfully lost weight publicly. Some notable examples include, Valerie Bertinelli, Maria Carey, Janet Jackson,and Kirstie Alley, among many others. You could give one 28 day meal plan or a partial payment of a plan to jump-start someone’s diet in the new year.

Other ideas include giving meal replacement meals. This entails replacing two meals during the day such as breakfast and lunch, for example, with a delicious shake in vanilla, strawberry or chocolate flavors and eating a sensible and healthy meal for the third meal like dinner. Popular programs include Slim Fast or Herbalife. You could give a month long supply, for example. I’ve tried this and if you like milk shakes, it’s really good. The only drawback is that you get tired of having the same shakes for breakfast and lunch every day and I can’t say I lost too much….

Some people prefer guided weight loss programs which give you more flexibility such as Weight Watchers. In this program, you count the calories of the foods you eat and keep a diary. You can either join the online Weight Watches program, or if you need support, the program which enables you to attend weekly meetings. These are monthly programs so you could pay for the program for a month,or up to 3 months, depending on how much weight they would like to lose. I personally lost 10 pounds on this program over a 1 month period so I can personally vouch for it. However, you really have to be consistent with your food journal and write what you ate for every meal every day.

Other personalized gift options include giving supplements or weight loss aids such as Sensa. Sensa is very popular food additive which involves sprinkling your food with it. It activates your hunger control and thus makes you eat less resulting in weight loss. I tried it but couldn’t remember to sprinkle it on my food everyday so I truly don’t know how effective it really is. Alli is yet another popular weight loss pill that has gained momentum. Although some people complain about some of its side effects, it is deemed to be very effective. I don’t really know anyone who has done it.

Whichever program you decide to give, the key is to find out what motivates the person you will be offering the gift to. Are they into exercise? Do they prefer to eat really well but less, or rather eat of everything but with a lower calorie count or like the flexibility of an independent program such as Weight Watchers? Once you figure that out, you can give the wonderful, personalized gift of weight loss.

Happy New Year and Happy Weight Loss!

 

 

Nov 1, 2011

Teens are possibly the toughest individuals to buy for this holiday season. I should know because I have three of them. Frequently it’s simpler to purchase a gift certificate or just give them money, but personally I favor putting just a little thought into things I buy and quite frequently-but not always- it  is much appreciated. Here are a few of my picks for Christmas 2011 gifts for teens and surprisingly they aren’t all electronic -:

Tablets: Possibly not just a toy, a superb little Tablet is a huge seller this Christmas for Teens. Having the ability to read books, play games, use applications, watch movies online, surf the net and play movies it is really an ideal toy/mini computer for that teen that just loves gadgets. They have recently become more affordable too.

Guitar Hero game: Now this isn’t a brand new game but based upon my kids experience who both had it -and they were girls- they loved it!,

Nerf Guns: The trusty old Nerf gun has existed for a long time but recently has seen a revival, and it has seen the evolution more effective and fun guns. The awesome factor is the fact that it’s not only a secure game for inside, but I’ll usually find my son playing around outdoors (yes doing a bit of exercise) because he and his friends form teams. It not only prevents my son and his friends from overdosing on electronics and video games but encourages team performance in addition to being a very good exercise.

Water Guns: Why on the planet would you need to purchase a summer time toy for the teen at Christmas? Well allow me to be truthful – most teens-especially boys, like my son, are frequently vindictive if this involves getting fun – there’s nothing much better than soaking your closest friend when it’s freezing out. It’s just plain fun. Another advantage is that, again, no electronics!

Music devices - There are a lot of electronic music devices out there. The most popular, of course, being the famous iPod. Nowadays, my son not only listens to music but also is able to download applications and play games.

Computers- If your teen is getting older-and is in 10th-11th, or 12th grade and is heading to college then there’s nothing much better than giving him a laptop or a Mac. My 2 daughters have Macs and they swear by them.They’ve also never had a virus. However, I personally have always had a laptop and prefer it. Laptops are also a lot less expensive and come in all shapes and sizes.

Not every teen like devices: Many teens would also be thrilled to receive a few of the following gifts:

•Board Games – you will find some excellent games, like Monopoly, Risk etc which will always be popular too. Designed games (like Harry Potter games) will be very popular as well.

•Art Supplies – the budding artist will be searching for brushes, canvas along with other important art supplies.

•Clothes – Using the latest clothing trends is frequently extremely important to teens. Whether it’s the most recent designer clothes, or even the best punk clothes, you’re certain to be a hero if you let your child choose their outfits.

•Gift Cards – possibly a very hands off and impersonal approach to take, but it’s most likely simpler to allow your child to choose their very own gift.

•Music & Movies – Not every teens copy music and films, so why wouldn’t you provide them with an iTunes card for Christmas.

•Puzzles – plenty of teens like to challenge their mind, so why wouldn’t you purchase the latest puzzle from Rubik, the traditional Rubik’s cube continues to be popular.

Not to mention, let’s remember that you will find many teens that just need family time, and possibly the opportunity to help others at Christmas!