Dear, I am on the front page, they liked my story! Isn’t it exciting to see your kid, who has just turned 18, jumping around, calling people, and going ballyhoo about the gift he has just received on his 18^th birthday? This idea will make him do all this.

Gift Idea

The year in which a person turns 18 is the most exciting time of the person’s life. He or she has just taken the first step into adulthood, and this custom gift will thrill him/her to the bones. A personalized newspaper will make him/her feel special. It is his day, and let us make this day memorable for him.

Print excites people and everyone like to see him or her in prints. This indeed is the idea behind crafting this authentic looking personalized newspaper, and gifting it on the recipient’s 18^th birthday.

Content

The first step in the creation process is to make a layout for this custom gift. The first step in the process is to gather information, and pictures you want to include in the newspaper. I am using the word gather because like almost all of us, you were busy working when your kid was growing, and chances are you have missed many things, and occasions that are valuable to him/her. This is the time to payback. Gather information about the important incidence that has happened to him/her in last 18 years.

The next step is to synthesize the information and the images collected for the customized newspaper into a series of articles. Each article will be talk about one aspect of his or her life. Keep the article short, simple, and exciting to read. If you cannot write an exciting article on your own, hire a professional to do this job. I will suggest against using a serious tone to write any of the articles; remember no one likes preaching. You can convey the exact same meaning in slightly less serious words. I will suggest giving the reader a comic relief while conveying the message you want to convey. Fun is the best way to convey any meaning.

As for the images, you need to shortlist one primary image, which will work as an attention grabber, and couple of secondary image to support the articles wherever it required. You need to optimize the image for print using Adobe Photoshop or any other graphic designing application. You can hire someone to do this job as well, if you are not good at handling image enhancement applications.

Layout

Once all the content is ready, it is time to put them together and make a front page of the newspaper. We begin the process with creating a wireframe that will get filled with the content (articles and the images) created above. In this layout, you should also have a space for solus advertising. This space will fulfill two functions. On the one hand, it will make the newspaper look more authentic, while on the other hand it will give you a space to do some direct communication in the form of advertisement. The message posted in the solus advertising can be a direct message from you wishing him a happy 18^th birthday, or it can be any other personalized message. Get this message designed by the same person who has done the Photoshop work.

Creation

Once the articles and images are placed in the layout your newspaper is ready. It is time to get it printed. This isn’t difficult; any printer in your locality will do this job. You can also search the Internet for assistance. The printer might ask for a specific file format to print. A page layout made in Quark Express is widely accepted. You can also use other page design application for the purpose. As for the name, I will suggest using, “The Birthday Times”.

Distribution

It’s a decision time. You can either use the regular newspaper delivery channel to get this newspaper to your kid, or you can frame it in a picture frame and gift it wrapped in a shiny piece of birthday-gift wrapping paper. In my view, you should adopt a mix of both. Talk to your newspaper delivery guy couple of days in advance about your plan, and give him the newspaper to be delivered on the day before the birthday. The custom newspaper should be packed in such a way that your kid’s image remains visible from a distance. In the morning of the D-day, ask your kid to go out and bring that day’s newspaper.

You can get one more copy of this personalized newspaper printed and framed using a classy black photo frame. Give your kid this gift right after he cuts the cake. The newspaper used for framing should be bigger in size than the one you got delivered in the morning. The newspaper should be visible from a distance as your kid is going hang it on his bedroom’s wall.

Fostering love: The idea behind the gift

From Bengali Aamee tuma ke bhalo baashi to Farsi Doset daram to German Ich liebe dich to Gujarati Hoo thunay prem karoo choo to French Je t’aime and Je t’adore to Dutch Ik hou van jou to Slovak Lu’bim to Yiddish Ikh hob dikh lib, each phrase speaks volume about your love. The idea is to create a custom t-shirt with a heart filled with I love you written in 1000 (or as many as you can, but at least 100) different languages. This give will give him/her more than one reason to believe how much you love him/her, and will remember it every time he/she stands in front of a mirror wearing the t-shirt you gifted.

Creating this super gift is not difficult, and it will be more fun than you think. To make this gift, you will need a pre-shrunk t-shirt, preferably white, a collection of I love you in different languages, a little bit of knowledge of illustration, and enthusiasm to see this work through.

Finding love: Research & explanation

Begin with researching the Internet for different ways to say I love you. Just typing “I love you in different languages” in Google will fetch you the result you are looking for. Use Microsoft Excel to make a list: in one column write the name of the language, and in the second column write the way I love you is written in that language. Keep this list handy.

In explaining this custom gift idea, I have used a plain white t-shirt, but you can take the creative liberty and experiment with color and design. You need to keep in mind that the text written on the t-shirt should contrast with the color of the t-shirt. For example: if you choose a black color t-shirt then you can consider writing the “I love yous” in florescent green, white or neon colors. If you want, you can play with the design as well. In making this gift, you are limited only by your imagination.

The next step in the process is to illustrate the design you want to put on the t-shirt.  You can either use pencil, eraser, sharpener, scale and paper to draw the design concept that you have in your mind or you can use illustration software like Adobe Illustrator, or Corel Draw to get the output.

Crafting Love: Creating the custom t-shirt Design

Begin with taking measurement of the chest-area of the t-shirt. For the measurement you can use a t-shirt of the recipient. Mark the measurement on a sheet of paper, in case you are using paper and pencil, or create a new page of the size you got from the measurement if you are using software to do the illustration work. This step should be followed by creating a wireframe that will be filled with the “I love yous”. You have two option, either to create a big heart with a 2.5-pixel border and fill the “I love yous” in it. The second option is to make any primary shape and write all the “I love yous” in it using black font. Make a second layer on top of it, and draw a heart with a 1.50-pixel border on it. Keep the fill part of the heart blank and paint the border with cherry-red color.

Now, select all the “I love yous” that falls within the boundary of the heart, and change its color to red. You can also delete one or two “I love yous” from the center of the heart, and write a personalized message to the recipient. If you want, you can use a different color to make this message prominent, or else you can write the message using same font and same color. This will maintain the subtlety of the message, which can also be very powerful.

Getting a custom t-shirt printed is not a big deal, nowadays. If you couldn’t find a good quality custom t-shirt in your locality then search the Internet, and you will get many options to choose from. There are online services that not only print custom design on a standard t-shirt, but they also give you an option to design t-shirt from scratch for printing.

Seed of the family tree

Your grandma has grown older by one more year, and her memory of the life lived so far is getting buried deep under the thick deposit of time. Now is the time to help her relive the moments, she once had. Let’s gift her something that she will cherish for rest of her life. We are asking you to give her a custom-made three-dimensional, metallic family tree. The family tree should look like an actual tree with root, stems, shoots, branches, and leaves. It should look as strong as a banyan tree.

Growing the family tree

This super gift has two parts: one ideation and visualization, and another creation (molding). For the ideation part, you may need your grandmother’s assistance, but get her help covertly. And for the creation part, you will need professional caster. Let’s begin with explaining the creation part of the super gift.

The family tree you are going to make for your granny should be made of metal. You can get a gold plating or silver plating done on the family tree. Getting this done will not be difficult nor will be the ideation and visualization part. If you cannot find a professional caster with a creative bend in your locality, you can search the Internet to find the right guy to create this super gift for you. Do not hesitate to ask the caster to show their sample works. Also ask for referrals. This will give you a fair knowledge about their claims and their expertise.

After short-listing 3-4 professional casters, you can begin the ideation part of the custom gift. The first step in the process is to make a list of the names of the people related to your granny, and how they are related. Your list may include the following: Your granny’s Grandfathers (father as well as mother side), her grandmothers (father as well as mother side), her father, her mother, her uncles, her aunts, her husband, her sons and daughters, her grandchildren etc. Though you are including your granny’s grandfathers and grandmothers in the family tree, make sure, she is the center of attraction in the family tree.

Make decorated gold-plated or silver-plated pendants that will contain the pictures and the names of the people you are going to put on the family tree. Make your granny and her husband’s pendant bigger and more attractive, this way you can make her the center of attraction on the family tree.

Make the root, and the stem near the root broad enough to sustain the load of the branches and leaves. Write a personalized message on the front face of the family tree’s base. You can write things like, “The Roots and Shoots of Smith’s Family Tree.” Put the eldest people of the family (grandparents of your granny) on the lowest branch, and on the branches above that put their children (granny’s mother, father, uncles and aunts). Follow the same pattern until you reach the top and you are finished putting every member of your family on the family tree.

The idea behind this arrangement is this: by putting your granny’s grandparents near the root of the tree, you are drawing a visual analogy between the people who are at the root and the root of the tree. You are saying they have provided the vitality necessary to keep the family tree flourishing, and the youngest at the top of the family tree denotes its growing nature.

Lovey-dovey idea

This gift is designed for busy professional who often hears complains about his busy schedules, and about not having enough time for his wife. This gift will tell his wife how wrong she was in accusing him of not having time for her. The idea is to gift her one soft, red heart-shaped box full of small heart-shaped cards with personalized messages written on each of them.

Creating the super gift

The first step in the process of creating this super gift is to find a heart-shaped box. You can easily find an elegant, heart-shaped box in any gift store near you, or you can even scan through the online retailers like Amazon, eBay etc. for the box. I will suggest you to choose a red box with velvety or satin upholstery. Make sure the box has enough sponge or foam padding to give the box soft feeling.

Now, it’s time to write personalized messages, but before that make one hundred small hearts of equal sizes. If you find it difficult to make one hundred hearts of equal sizes then follow the instruction given below:

1.       Take a thin sheet of metal (Steel), and make a heart-shaped stencil out of it.

2.       Sandpaper the edges so that it becomes smooth.

3.       Take a slightly thinner cardboard or chart paper (the one on which you did your school projects).

4.       Put this stencil on the piece of paper.

5.       Take a sharp blade or knife.

6.       Move the blade around the edges of the heart-shaped stencil, and repeat it until you make one hundred hearts.

Note: You should use different colors of cardboards to add colors to the super gift.

The final step: start writing one personalized message each on each heart-shaped card. You should write the message yourself as it should look personal. Give an account of the time you spent together. Talk about those little chit-chats you had over cups of tea; about solitary walks through the jungle; about sitting under banyan tree in a sunny day; about walking on the road in rain, etc. These things will have more profound effect than the mere “I missed you,” “Tight Hug,” “I Love You,” etc. A message like the one suggested above not only say how much you love her, but it also says how much you cherish the time you spent together. She is going to love you for this.

You can get the personal messages printed using handwriting or calligraphy fonts, if you do not want to use a pen to write the personal messages. You can also decorate the heart-shaped cards, if you want to.

If you are planning to go for printing option then I will suggest using image editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp, or illustration software like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, or Corel Draw to create the heart-shaped cards of different colors. You can search the Internet for the heart template. The template will save your time.

Sealing the heart with a kiss

Now, it is time to put all heart-shaped cards in the big red heart-shaped box. You can also keep some candies, decorative ribbons, miniature toys etc. in the box. Put the big red heart-shaped box in a nice looking, elegant box, wrap it up and give it to her with a rose and a sweet kiss.

The idea behind a complete honeymoon kit

The super gift idea I am going to discuss here may prove to be the best wedding gift your friend has received on his/her weeding. This gift will come as a blessing to a newlywed couple who is going for their honeymoon. I am asking you to make a honeymoon kit for your friend that will have every essential thing, which the couple will need during the honeymoon. I am not asking you to gift them a wardrobe or something, you can if you want to, but this is not the idea. The idea is to give them those little things that are absolute must, but which people often forget to carry when going for any vacation.

The nuts and bolts of the honeymoon kit

Take a small handbag or a small briefcase, and decorate it to make it look like a honeymoon kit that will keep the things you are going too gift in the kit. The size of the handbag or the hard-cover briefcase should be big enough to comfortably accommodate the things you are going to include in the honeymoon kit. You can also write a personalized message and sign it with your initials, on the inside of the briefcase cover.

The next step is to make a checklist of things you would take if you were going for a honeymoon. Strike out the items that your friend may not need. The things that will go into the honeymoon kit will largely depend on your friend and his or her partner’s preferences. Having said that, I must provide you with a list of essential items that any couple will need during their honeymoon, regardless of where they are going. The honeymoon kit should include the following items:

1.       Waist pouch

2.       Knapsack

3.       Name Tags

4.       Luggage Tags

5.       Do knot (not) disturb door hangers

6.       Scented Candles

7.       Some scented soap sheets

8.       Perfume for both of them

9.       Male and female contraceptives

10.   A handbook about what to do on honeymoon and what to expect

11.   Blank Diary to pen down thoughts and experiences

12.   Postcards

13.   Some good music

14.   Memory card readers to transfer music

15.   Blank Media (DVDs or CDs) to save pictures and video clips.

16.   Over the counter medicines for common cold, headaches, light fever, eye drop, dysentery etc.

17.   Two straw hats

18.   Chocolates

19.   Some props , and

20.   A bottle of good wine

As the list suggest, you can purchase almost everything from the market. When you are going to shop for “the handbook about what to do on honeymoon and what to expect” you should be careful because this handbook will work as a guide for the couple, and if they like it, they might take a leaf or two out of the book and do the thing suggested in the handbook.

The custom blanket Idea

When we marry, we have many things to take care of. We are starting a new family, so we need to buy a number of small and big things for daily uses. Hence, I am suggesting here a custom gift that not only will protect them, keep the newly-wed couple warm, and create a cozy environment for them in the favorite corner of their room, but it will also strike one important thing out from the couple’s to-buy list. This way you will help the newly-wed couple in starting a new life. A blanket with a personalized message woven in the corner is the gift I am suggesting you to give to your friend, friend’s son/ daughter or, family friend’s son/daughter on his or her wedding. It will help them in starting a new life, and this super gift will last many years that essentially means you will not be forgotten for years to come.

Personalizing the blanket

The process of creating a personalized blanket starts with writing the personal message you want to put at the corner of the blanket. Write a small message wishing the couple happy married life and sign the message with your name’s initials. Keep the initials at the corner and use a very small font to write them. Make the initials almost invisible. Do not make the initials visible from distance. How many people do you know who will like to use any gift that has the name (s) of the giver prominently visible from a distance?

While crafting the personal message, always remember, the custom gift you are giving will be used for many years, so an attempt should be made to make the message timeless. The meaning of the message should not lose relevance after a passage of time.

Once the message is ready, it’s time to shop for the blanket. The size, design and the quality of the blanket depends upon your taste and budget. If you want your personalized gift to be of some practical value for the recipient, buy the blanket that suits the recipient taste. You do not need to go very far stretching your budget. You can do this within your budget as well. All you need to do is some research.

The next step in the creation of this super gift is printing or weaving and stitching of the personal message at the corner of the blanket. As you guessed, I am suggesting here two options: either you can get the message woven by a professional embroidery maker at the corner of the blanket, or you can get it printed on a 4X4 inches leather piece, or velvet cloth, etc.

The look and feel of the output will depend upon the quality of the embroidery maker for the former alternative and the quality of printing company for the latter option. Finding neither a good quality embroidery maker will be difficult, nor will finding a good reliable company to make a squarish label be nerve-wracking.

Do not forget to ask question. Ask as many questions as you want to ask while purchasing blanket or shopping for a professional or a company to get the message part created and affixed to the blanket. Get a nice wrap for the super gift and a broad smile for your lips before entering the marriage party.

Make him the lord of the ring or her the lady of the ring

Though this gift idea is unisex, it requires two different styles of rings for each of the sexes. Using just one type of ring, a circular ring with engraving on it is also permissible for both the sexes, but I have assumed in writing this gift idea that you will choose different rings for different sexes.

The idea is to gift a ring on the valentine day with a personalized message engraved on it. You can also gift this gift on your marriage anniversary.

The resources you need

Despite all its attractiveness, and all its emotion quotient, this super gift is not going to make you sweat. This is one of the easiest gifts to create. To create this custom ring, all you need is a little bit of creativity, an ability to search the Internet, a romantic heart, and a strong desire to make him or her feel special. If you wish, and you have a knack for jewelry designing, or you know someone who can do this work for you then you can even consider getting the ring designed.

The Ring in the making

To create this custom gift, you need to begin with conducting an online research for the company that specializes in creating rings with the personalized message. Alternatively, you can also get the ring designed, as stated above. Visit a local jeweler to get the ring crafted. Even if you are planning to get a ring created for your beloved, I will suggest you to conduct a research on the Internet to know the design options you have. It is better to search the Internet for the designs of the ring before requesting a friend or a professional to design a ring for you then to wait until the person churns out a ring from his or her imagination. The later approach will be more time consuming.

I will suggest you to search the Internet and make a list consisting of 5-10 ring designs, and then approach the jewelry designer to get one of them designed. Sometime during the process, you also need to visit the jeweler and see if they have enough talent to craft the ring with the required delicacy. The jewelry designer as well as the jeweler will ask about the material you want to use for the ring. Depending upon your taste, budget and the design’s requirement, you can go for either silver, gold, white gold, platinum or mixture of any two metals. A stainless steel ring also looks classy, so this option should also not be ruled out.

The process of finalizing the design, getting the blueprint from the designer, and getting the final output from the jeweler will take some time. If you are in hurry, you can search for the company that can engrave a personalized message you want on the ring using laser gun. As said above, there are many online companies that can help you in getting this done. These companies do have a good range of different kinds of ring ideal for either of the sexes.

At any convenient time before the ring goes to the jeweler or to the online company of your choice for crafting, you need to write a personalized message that will get engraved on the ring. Keeping in mind the longevity of a ring, I will suggest you to write a message that is timeless. I will suggest against writing something like “Happy Valentine Day 2009″ or “Happy 21^st Marriage Anniversary”. Instead, write something like “I think of you when someone says Love” or “For me love means you”.

One word of caution: Seeing the limitation of the medium, limit the number of words in the personalized message to five, and ask the jeweler to fill the engraved message with a contrast color. For example: if you are using stainless steel, silver, platinum or white gold then the text engraved should be of pitch-black color, and if you are going for gold then use cherry-red to paint the engraved message. Do not hesitate to experiment, but do a test run of the color combination on a sheet of paper or on a computer before finalizing the color combination.

In many cases, you do not need to go to a jewelry designer to get your ring designed, instead what you can do is search a ring design from the Internet, and go directly to the jeweler to get your ring made.