05 December 2014

Fragment Friday - The Gift Edition

Shall we gather at the feeders, where little birdy feet have trod...

1.  Stuck for gifting ideas? You aren't alone. It's hard to get something for the man/woman who has everything - and if they don't, they just buy it. So what's someone who wants to be a creative gift giver to do? Return to the basics. 

2.  Artwork. Don't underestimate the power of a piece of artwork. There are local artists out there who often have a backlog of small pieces to sell. My favorites are prints, lino block or woodblock. I know liking art is highly subjective, but who could dislike a landscape or bird print? Ornithphobes aside that is. 

3. Food. We all eat. Why not tap into that basic human desire? (You usually can't go wrong with chocolate.) Homemade fudge, a box of decadent candy. A gift pack of interesting spices. Buffalo steaks. Pheasant in a can. Truffle salt. Include a recipe, serving ideas, side dish suggestions. Or even crazier, offer to make your recipient a meal from appetizer to dessert.

4. Drink. Not everyone drinks alcohol, but when they do, there's your chance to provide them with that special bottle of wine, that rare whiskey or difficult to find microbrew. Coffee lovers can ohh and ah over a bag of Kona beans, or some Jamaican Blue Mountain. (Pass on the kopi luwak coffee. Defecated coffee berries is not keeping with the holiday spirit, and hurts the civets.)

5. Tickets. The opera, a concert, a play, art museum exhibition, sporting event, movie. People like to do all these things, but don't always get the chance - or fail to commit before things are sold out.  Just don't forget to wrap them, put them in a box filled with packing peanuts, then into another box, and another, and so on. 

Of course a lot of this depends on your powers of observation and detective skills in knowing the person you want to gift. The Internet makes discovering things about people easier than ever, so have at it. If they aren't on the Internet, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. A call to their Mom/SO/Child.  

Suet feeders

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The Birds" Wyoming remake?

Constance Brewer said...

That would be when the crows arrive. Not the sweet little sparrows. All 100 of them...demanding food... right now!

Unknown said...

I love watching the birds at feeders in the winter. We just had to restock our supply of black sunflower seeds. Hungry little beasts! Good gift list.

Constance Brewer said...

My birds have me trained to feed them before I head off to work. Or else I hear about it when I walk out the front door.

Carla said...

The sparrows must really love you :-) Lovely photos - it's nice to see so many sparrows together. Sparrow numbers are declining quite sharply over here.

Constance Brewer said...

Carla,

We have sparrows and finches and chickadees. And they are quite demanding. But fun to watch.