Homemade Gift Ideas, Part Three
This article concludes the series of homemade gift ideas. If you missed the prior articles in the series, check out Homemade Gift Ideas, Part One and Part Two. I saved a meaningful and inexpensive gift for last. I have given these to family members throughout the years and other family members have taken this idea and ran with it as gifts for others. It is a gift that will be sure to be a hit.
Who doesn’t love being told how much they mean to others? When I taught Spanish in the local high school, I always did an exercise with adjectives. I had everyone write their name in the middle of a piece of paper. Then I had everyone go to each student’s paper and write a descriptive word in Spanish about them. The rule was only nice words. Every year they did a great job practicing their new vocabulary and anonymously leaving someone a compliment. Most students kept their papers in their binder for the whole year. It must of meant something to them too.
Inspired by my idea in the classroom, I decided to convert the same concept in the form of a gift. I gave the first two to my parents. I found a photograph of them and drew my interpretation of them on watercolor paper. Then I painted their portraits. I had each of my children draw a small picture of themselves on the paper. Then they signed their name. Now for the fun part. I asked them to describe my father. They immediately poured forth adjectives and phrases. Cowboy, loving, outdoorsman were some of the descriptions. I wrote them neatly all around his likeness on the paper. Underneath their portraits, I wrote out their names. Finally, I matted and framed their portraits.
The next time in made this gift I did it a little differently. I wanted to make one for my brother and his wife jointly. I took a picture of my children. Isaac was a baby at the time so I laid him of the rug. I had all the children lay on the floor around him. It was a cool photograph because the children looked like a wheel or sun; it was hard to decide which way to hang the photograph. On the mat, I wrote the adjectives and phrases neatly. I used a blue for my sister-in-law and black for my brother so that they could easily tell which words were about them. Then I framed them.
Take this idea of mine for a great, meaningful present. Everytime the ones receiving the descriptive framed photo look at it they will feel loved and appreciated. It is a gift that can hang in the office or home. People will admire the gift. They will also think the receiver is a pretty special person. This gift is a winner anyway you look at it.
