SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards.
For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up to $125,000.
Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! Download the SWAGG app and then visit the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes site to enter to win a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival. Entry deadline is January 3, 2011, 11:59pm, PST.
I've spent over a week now conjuring up memories of the best gifts I ever gave. I remember my childhood pride in the late-70s gifting my grandfather with a Pittsburgh Steelers pencil cup that was made from a recycled frozen OJ can covered with black construction paper and a crudely made Steelers logo. (If you know anything about football, you know what a big deal the Steelers were in the 70s, and my grandparents were their biggest fans ever.) As a high school student, I remember giving my parents an ceramic Geisha mask for their new Asian-inspired bedroom; I didn't have much money at the time and gave up weeks of pizza with friends to save for it -- but it was my first year away at boarding school, and I wanted to give them a grand gesture of "thank you" for sending me there. Over the years, I've hand-painted at least a dozen baby and wedding gifts, all well-received, pouring my time and artistry into something that I'm sure no one else will give them -- something made genuinely with love.
But what, of those things, is best, really? They're all special items, and they're all memorable to me -- maybe more so than to the recipients! -- but really, we all know that the best stuff in life isn't stuff at all. So I thought perhaps the best gift I've given wasn't a thing -- the money I've sent to Africa with my mom to buy a goat for the man who acted as her sherpa while she lived there, for example. Or maybe the best gift is signing up to be an organ donor in memory of my uncle, who received several transplants before his still-too-early death. Or perhaps the best gift is that of time -- time to help a friend move house, time to another stressed-out mom so that she can have a late lunch with friends without the worry of having to make it to school pick-up on time, time to de-clutter our home office (a gift the Guv asks for every. single. time.). Recently a friend reminded me of a sincere inquiry of "how are you?" (he was down) accompanied by a conversation and a hug eight years ago. What, of these things, is the best gift? In truth, it's no grand gestures, but perhaps the smallest ones of making time for people, sincerely caring about them, and trying to live with the intention of being good: but that shouldn't be a gift. That should be how we all live all of the time.
So after racking my brain, I thought and thought of the best gifts that I give, and I came up with one special thing that I've given for six straight years to the same group of 15 people. It costs me between $10 - $15, and my aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, kids' godparents and a few special cousins appreciate more than the rest of the gift cards, food baskets, books and elsewhat that I send. In fact, none of the rest of the stuff I give gets mentioned because this gift -- my annual photo book of our family, featuring my kids -- steals the show.
It started when we first became a family of 4, and, suddenly, instead of having time to work, to attend grad school, and to mother an ideal first child, I barely had time to shower most days. Instead of regularly mailing pictures (not e-mailing -- many of these folks weren't even using it then!) of my firstborn, Petunia, as I had for 4.5 years at least every other month, after my secondborn (Dash) came along that March ... well, I realized in November that I hadn't sent out a single picture except for that in his birth announcement. There were a few websites making 5x7 simple photo books out of digital pictures, reasonably priced, so I decided that would become everyone's gift from the kids. We're a pretty big family, pretty scattered to the winds, and this photo book, it turns out, really brought us all together. First my grandmother called, absolutely thrilled with the pictures of her then-only great-grandbabies. Various aunts and uncles and cousins called my parents, grandparents, and each other to talk about the kids. As next Christmas rolled around, I prepared another book; now, this year, it's the sixth annual. They've come to expect it, and I'm glad, since I still haven't caught up from the whirlwind of having two kids, both in school now, and soccer, and t-ball, and the addition of a dog ... and yes, there's still that office to clean. Someday, I'll get there -- someday when I don't have to stay up late to make photobooks that I know are deeply treasured by every recipient. It'll all happen someday, because for now, I'm too busy making memories with little ones that -- I can see from the pictures -- really are growing up way too fast. They're the best gift I've given to my extended family and, through these pictures, my grandparents in West Virginia, my parents in Florida, my in-laws in New York, and everyone in between can watch them grow up as if we don't all live so very far apart.
P.S.: Please take the time to click through and learn about some of Stand Up To Cancer's amazing work. If you still owe someone a holiday gift, maybe you can find the best one ever in their on-line store! Please note that neither Clever Girls Collective nor SWAGG (nor Stand Up To Cancer) asked me to include this postscript note. I just really get excited when I see corporations with which I'm affiliated partnering with great charities to effect real change in this world, especially when it comes to health concerns. I applaud all of these companies for banding together to do some good in the world.
P.P.S. And the Sundance Film Festival Sweepstakes... WOW! The Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are pulling out all of the stops! It includes:
- 2 night/3 day stay at Yarrow Hotel in Park City Utah (Jan 21 - Jan 23, 2011)
- Ground transportation to and from hotel to airport in Park City, Utah
- Dinner for two at Tao Lounge, including 2 nightclub passes
- All access to The House of SWAGG Gifting Suite
- 2 tickets to a movie premiere on Saturday, January 22nd -- movie tbd
- $4,000 value
Just think: the best gift you ever give to one of your loves ones might be one that you win -- so enter, and best of luck from me! (CGC and SWAGG also didn't ask for this postscript, but I thought more details might be appreciated for this awesome giveaway.)
Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. (I do, too.)
Recent Comments