Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to save time and energy by having
Speaker 1: a go to gift. In the course of normal human interactions,
Speaker 1: we wind up giving and receiving all sorts of gifts.
Speaker 1: If you know someone well, it can be fun to
Speaker 1: shop for that person's specific tastes, but we give other
Speaker 1: gifts to people we don't know so well. You're invited
Speaker 1: to a colleague's child's wedding. You know your colleague, but
Speaker 1: you don't really know the brighter groom. A new neighbor
Speaker 1: has a housewarming party and you need to bring something.
Speaker 1: A child's classmate that you've never met. Invites your child
Speaker 1: to a birthday party. In all these cases, you can
Speaker 1: save time and effort while fulfilling your social duties by
Speaker 1: having a go to gift. I began doing this about
Speaker 1: twelve years ago. When I had my first child. One
Speaker 1: of my husband's colleagues sent us a giant cookie bouquet
Speaker 1: from Cookies by Design. This array of sugar cookies came
Speaker 1: fistooned with my son's name and birthdate. The cookies proved
Speaker 1: quite tasty. When I was up at two am feeding
Speaker 1: the kid, I shared some of the cookies with folks
Speaker 1: who came to visit my newborn as well. I realized
Speaker 1: that pretty much everyone with a new baby would enjoy
Speaker 1: receiving a giant cookie bouquet, and even if the new
Speaker 1: parents didn't eat cookies, they could pass them out to grandparents, friends,
Speaker 1: and other well wishers with a sweet tooth. So my
Speaker 1: husband and I began sending those cookie bouquets to the
Speaker 1: vast majority of people who sent us birth announcements. This
Speaker 1: go to gift is simple and straightforward. We pop in
Speaker 1: any details about the baby from the announcement, name, birthdate,
Speaker 1: it's a bowyer, it's a girl. Wait, if it's included
Speaker 1: on the cookie bouquet webs site. We feel happy knowing
Speaker 1: we've sent a gift that will probably be well received.
Speaker 1: Of course, there are lots of other go to gifts
Speaker 1: that might work in these circumstances. Maybe you always send
Speaker 1: a certain baby blanket or a favorite set of children's
Speaker 1: books for kid birthday parties. You could stock up after
Speaker 1: the holidays on toys that appeal to your children's age groups.
Speaker 1: If you have a seven year old For instance, you
Speaker 1: should anticipate that you will be invited to at least
Speaker 1: half a dozen eight year old birthday parties over the
Speaker 1: next year. So take a few minutes to accumulate a
Speaker 1: collection of art supplies or legos or a favorite book series.
Speaker 1: Get a few rolls of wrapping paper, and you will
Speaker 1: not need to race to the store or think about
Speaker 1: this much. Again, to be sure, some element of personalization
Speaker 1: is lost with a go to gift, but I think
Speaker 1: the best go to gifts are actually personalized just around
Speaker 1: the giver. This is still a way of honoring the
Speaker 1: recipient because as people love gifts with stories. So rather
Speaker 1: than bring a generic bottle of wine from the supermarket,
Speaker 1: show up at a dinner party with a bottle from
Speaker 1: the winery you visited on your honeymoon. You can tell
Speaker 1: the host why it's special and suggest a trip to
Speaker 1: that winery as a future vacation. Go to holiday parties
Speaker 1: with ornaments purchased from a nonprofit that works in a
Speaker 1: village where you spent your first year after college volunteering.
Speaker 1: Include a note explaining the story. Because the gift is
Speaker 1: special to you, the gift will be special to the recipient.
Speaker 1: It's thoughtful without requiring a whole lot of thought, and
Speaker 1: that is really a win win situation. What are your
Speaker 1: go to gifts? You can let me know at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. M hm. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.