Personal Gift Idea For Your Spouse:

Create Your Story

By: Lori Thayer

Want to give your spouse a special gift? Why not create your story? Watch this video to hear how I did this as a Valentine's Day Gift for my husband.

What To Include When You Create Your Story

Record yourself telling stories of your time together:

• How you met
  
• What you thought when you met him/her
  
• Your first date
  
• Your first kiss
  
• Vacations you enjoyed together
  
• Adventures you experienced
  
• Your Wedding
  
• Special anniversaries
  
• Having kids

Choosing Songs To Fit Your Story

Choose music to accompany your story in a playlist

• songs that were playing when you met
  
• songs you danced to at a special event
• songs you played at your wedding
• music that evokes how you feel about each other
• music that fits the mood of the story

How To Create Your Story

Record the audio with a program on your computer e.g. I used Garage Band. Or use a program that takes audio notes such as Evernote.

Export the recorded audio or recording from the app you recorded it with and add it to iTunes. Create a playlist title "Our Story". Add the recorded audio to the playlist. Add the songs you want to accompany the story into the playlist. Drag them into the order you want. When you have the ordering right, add track numbers to each track to keep them in order.

Gift your spouse "your story"

• Play the playlist for your spouse OR
• Add it to their mp3 player and leave them a note to play it on their way to work

Ask your spouse to contribute recordings of their side of the same stories or add additional stories that they would like to remember.

Update your playlist every year on your anniversary with your best stories and favorite songs from the previous year.

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How To Give A Special Experience Gift To Your Loved One

By: Lori Thayer

Show your loved one how much you care by giving them a special experience gift. Gift cards and other things are nice but a truly memorable experience will live on forever. The memory is a gift that keeps on giving.

First determine what kind of activities your loved one enjoys most. I highly suggest determining what love language causes the recipient to feel the most loved. Incorporate your findings into the type of experience you create.

Listen to how I created a special experience gift for my husband with a movie marathon here. His love language is Quality Time.

Click here for the Middle Earth Recipes.

Now here are some questions to ask yourself when creating a special experience gift for your loved one.

Consider how many people your loved one would like to spend their special day with. Would they prefer to be around a lot of people, a small group or even alone or with just family?

Be sure to take this into consideration because planning an activity the recipient loves amidst a huge crowd when they prefer only a few people around can turn things sour. A large crowd is very difficult for introverts and may result in them unable to enjoy an activity they would otherwise love.

What types of activity would they prefer?

• Physical activity
  
  • Team sport like hockey, soccer, bowling, …
  • Individual activity like hiking, skating, skiing, snowboarding, biking, …
  • Other activity like boating, motorcycle riding,
• Cultural event   
  
  • Concert – Large concert, local bar or free concert in the park or your local coffee shop.
  • Art gallery -  Visit a local art gallery, art museum, or art park and appreciate the beauty created by others.
  • Museum – Nature museum, historical or whatever other kind you like. An afternoon at a museum can be a lot of fun. Recently we went to a special exhibit nearby, Becoming Van Gogh. It was an excellent show and would make a great special experience gift for an art lover.
    
• Home activity
  
  • Movies – plan a special movie or maybe even a movie marathon
  • Game playing indoors -  board games or cards
  • Yard games -  Bocce Ball, horseshoes, volleyball, badminton, football, frisbee or others.
    
• Food related
  
  • Dinner at a fancy restaurant
  • Picnic in the park
  • Special meal at home – Make their favorite meal or a special three or more course experience.
    
  • Trying a new special ethnic meal – We occasionally enjoy visiting a local Moroccan restaurant where you sit on cushions on the floor, eat with your fingers and enjoy a belly dancing show. Truly eating at a restaurant like this is a special experience.
    
• Pampering
  
  • Massage – Treat your loved one to a special pampering massage treatment at the local spa.
  • Facial – A Facial is a lovely pampering gift for a man or women who enjoys soft, beautiful skin.
  • Manicure / Pedicure – Many men and women enjoy manicures. Most these days include a hand or foot massage.

Choose an activity while considering the venue and amount of people your recipient would like. Put it all together into a special day or evening for them.

What type of special experience gift would you love to receive? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Interested in more ways to optimize your life? Receive regular tips to be more efficient, save time, enrich your life, and connect with others here: optimize your life.

Lori Thayer is passionate about finding ways to optimize your life so you can live your best life. Don't miss a tip, optimize your life by signing up today.

Make Gifts They'll Love

By: Lori Thayer

I love to make gifts that people can use. So many of us have way more stuff than we need or want. This year instead of buying something, make gifts that your family and friends will love.

Make Gifts That Soothe And Bring Comfort

• Bathing Beauties 
  • Bath Salts – Use epsom salts and essential oils to make beautiful looking and smelling bath salts. Lavender essential oil is one of my favorites for the bath. Add 5 drops per cup and if you desire a color, use food coloring. Mix a few drops into each cup of epsom salts. Package in a lovely container with a ribbon.
  • Bath Bombs 
  • Homemade Air Freshener – Fill a jar about 1/4 full with baking soda and add 6-8 drops of lavender essential oil (or another favorite). 
• Candles
  • It's easy to make your own candles. I use Peak Candle for supplies. Schedule an afternoon and you can easily make dozens of candles that make gifts that are lovely and smell great. View basic instructions here. 

Make Food Gifts

• Cookies – Cookies make a great gift. People love cookies and they evoke wonderful memories of childhood. Homemade cookies are easy to make and can be packaged beautifully as a gift.
• Bread – Homemade bread is another fabulous treat. There are many lovely varieties you can make (not fruitcake though!). Check out the Artisan Bread in 5 days books for great, hassle free dough recipes.
• Gift jars – make a mix for cookies, bread, soups, etc in a mason jar. Layer the ingredients to give it a pretty look and wrap with instructions and a ribbon.
• Liquor – Make flavored liquor or even egg nog. Fruit infused liquors are fun to make and look very nice.
• Infused oils

What homemade gifts are on your list to make this year. Share your plans in the comments below.

Interested in more ways to optimize your life? Receive regular tips to be more efficient, save time, enrich your life, and connect with others here: optimize your life 

Mother's Day Food Gift Ideas

By: Lori Thayer

Does your mom love food, or maybe she just needs a break from cooking every day? These Mother's Day Food Gift Ideas take the dinner out on Mother's Day to the next level.

Mother's Day is one of the busiest restaurant days all year long. So many of us love to take our Mom's out to eat. We let them enjoy a meal without any need to cook or clean up afterward. This is a lovely thought an enjoyed by Mom's everywhere. Show Mom how much you care by expanding the idea of the food gift. 

Mother's Day Food Gift Idea #1 – Kitchen duty once a week for a month

Takeover food duties for 1 day every week for the next month. All prep, cooking and cleanup will be done by other family members. This could be a joint effort and a great learning experience for the children. With this gift encourage Mom to use that free time for a class she's been wanting to take, some quiet bath time or maybe even a girl's night out.

Mother's Day Food Gift Idea #2 – A month's worth of meals

Give Mom a month of meals. Send her out for a day to enjoy herself while you make 30 days' worth of meals and package them up for the freezer. These meals are then ready to be thawed and cooked with little to no preparathan. This is a great gift for the busy woman who sometimes doesn't have time to make dinner from scratch. Use these Freezer Menus for easy to follow instructions and great recipes.

You could also purchase a month's worth of meals from the freezer.  Hire a cook, chef or neighbor wanting to make some additional money to prepare the meals.

Mother's Day Food Gift Idea #3 – Bring in a professional

Bring in a professional chef to cook for your Mom. Host a dinner party with her favorite foods and favorite people for an evening she'll never forget.

Personal Chef for an Evening

Mother's Day Food Gift Idea #4 – The gift of learning

Gift your Mom with a food class. This could be a wine tasting, chocolate tasting or even a sushi making class. Classes are available for making different kinds of cheese and almost every kind of food she might be interested in. If your Mom loves to cook and is always trying something new this type of gift might bring the biggest smile to her face.

What type of Mother's Day Food Gift Idea sounds the best to you? The options are hard to choose from. Maybe you have another great idea? Share it with us in the comments below.

Interested in more ways to optimize your life? Receive regular tips to be more efficient, save time, enrich your life, and connect with others here: optimize your life