the art of giving stuff.

i don't know about you, but i like feeling special.
.
and because i know how awesome it feels to be special,
i'd like to share that feeling with people.
and what better way to share that feeling than through birthday presents.
.
one of the hardest questions in the world(according to me) is "what should i get her/him for her/his birthday?"
...the question is so hard for me to answer that it seconds only to the ever dreadful "what do i want to have for lunch/dinner?"
.
but anyway.
.
not long ago, a few years back,
i'd accidentally tumbled into the Secret Cave of Good Ideas for Gifts...
let's call it...the SCOGIG.. (yes..i totally made that up)
and dude, my life has never been the same since.
.
my idea for a perfect gift,
some of my friends might have figured that out,
is something that is made by ourselves.
DIY.
.
"haaaa....DIY...my art sucks lehhh...."
"i got no artistic genes in me~"
"i only ruin things i try to make"
"i have two left hands~"
"yer...DIY can use wan mer.."
.
don't think i don't know what you're thinking right now,
i know pretty damn well how reluctant people can get when craft-works are involved..
but i still prefer a present to be custom-made, as opposed to the normal, off-the-shelf things purchased from some fancy gift-shops...
it shows your sincerity,
because you could have bought a gift 10minutes before presenting it to someone,
but you can't do the same for those presents with your own custom touches..
.
put yourself in that person's shoes and try to imagine how she/he feels, receiving whatever you're gonna give her/him...
and think.
if you're not gonna be especially ecstatic getting it, how impressed and touched is she/he gonna be?
right boh?
.
okay i'm gonna be honest with you,
i'd been DIY-ing presents since i was a kid,
mainly because i don't have money to get pretty things as birthday presents...
especially when the people you're getting those presents for are your parents...
and i tell you, after all these years, my skills in hiding & preparing presents for them are almost as good as Bruce Wayne hiding his whole Batman alter-ego in his basement...
best thing is the look on their faces when they sees it.
simply great.
.
but enough about me,
more about you, and the presents.
firstly, (i have to clarify this) DIY doesn't mean that you have to do everything from scratch,
cutting, pasting and putting everything together and make something that has so many procedures that it becomes a chemistry experiment...
that's more like a self-destructive project, than a thoughtful present...
and trust me, you're gonna end up standing in SnJ staring at their line of decoration items like a desperate fool a day before your friend's birthday.
.
we have google, facebook, scanners, printers for a reason.
use them.
since technology is so advanced and privacy between friends technically doesn't exist anymore,
you can get anything you need to make something really special, no?
.
write a letter wishing her/him a happy birthday and how glad you are to have the chance to get to know her/him on a self-decorated piece of paper,
put it in a plain, white/brown office envelope.
make them think that you're giving them a gift voucher and wait for them to open it and look at how their faces change.
that's DIY.
.
search for a certificate template online,
put some personal touches on it,
with whatever (fake)award that you want your friend to have,
Chatterbox of the year,
Best worst advice giver of the century,
Life time achiever's award for being the first person you'd go to when you're in trouble,
creative little ideas like that...
include a self-made report sheet of how she/he scored in whatever category you can think of with some personal remarks you'd like to give them,
print the papers out,
laminate the certificate.
get a pretty-looking file and insert them into it,
and that's that.
good to go.
and won't even cost you more that RM2.
that's DIY.
.
or make a simple card, for Buddha's sake...
write something really thoughtful in it,
something that only you and your friend knows of..
"remember that time you fell into the longkang and i was the only one there to pull you out? dude you've lost so much weight since! keep up the good work and stay fabulous! happy birthday~"
...something like that...
.
bottom line is,
you're giving your friend a present, it shouldn't be hard.
it's not rocket science, you know and shared so many things together,
so you should know very well that she/he wouldn't want you to trouble yourself too much with these things.
yet why do we still stress over "what should i get her/him for her/his birthday ha?"
i know i'm not. :)