What a lovely couple?” You will hear this remark, every time someone enters your personal heaven crossing the beautiful threshold of your home. And they cannot help but get pulled towards the super gift we are discussing in this article. Keep on reading to know more about this enigmatic super gift…

Custom magazine cover demystified

It has been many years since you have met for the first time, exchanged smiles, looked eyes into eyes, and then there was a perfect Kodak moment. The time stopped, sun dimmed, the stars glittered throwing away brilliant light, and the wind blew lovingly. It was a perfect Kodak moment. What if you could freeze the time there? What if you could make it last longer? What if you could…?

The super gift idea we are going to share will make “your perfect Kodak moment “eternal. This gift is neither for her, nor for you, but this super gift is both of you. We are asking you to gift her a custom made magazine cover for this anniversary. She will be more than delighted to see this gift as well as the sparkle in your eyes and smile on your face.

Custom magazine cover explained

To create this custom magazine cover you will need a working knowledge of image editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp (open source), and page designing software like Adobe PageMaker or Quark Express. To come up with creative lines for the cover, you will need free-flying imagination, and a deep desire to gift your wife a highly personalized creative gift.

The first step in the process of creating this personalized gift is to search for an ideal magazine cover on which you will base the layout and the design of your super gift. Create a base layout for the magazine cover by putting appropriate place-holders for the title, date, month, year, issue, volume, price, featuring attractions, titles of imaginary articles, and the cover image.

Now it’s the time to find an appropriate picture for the cover image. I will suggest you to use the portrait picture that was clicked on the day of your marriage or engagement. Use any image editing software to remove the background from the selected cover image. The image editing software will further be used to optimize the cover image for printing.

The next step is to think of a name for the magazine. Show your creativity and come up with an attractive name that should not lose its charm after a year or two “Our Wedding”, “Marital Bliss”, “Wedding Bells”, “Big Day” etc could be used.

The date, month and year of your wedding should be filled in the appropriate placeholders. Volume for this magazine cover will be ‘one’, and issue will also be ‘one’. In the placeholder for price write ‘priceless’ and besides that write ‘not for sale’. Write ‘Fifth Marriage Anniversary’ or ‘Five Blissful Years’ in the main attraction feature placeholder. Your love message for her will become names of the imaginary articles. An imaginary page number should be placed beneath each imaginary article (love message). Choose a background of your liking and give the final touch to the magazine cover.

Custom magazine creation

Getting this custom gift printed will not be difficult, nor will be framing; still, you need to be careful in choosing the printer and the photo framer. Finding a good quality printer and a photo framer will not be difficult. Enter the appropriate keywords, and any of the major search engines will fetch a huge list containing names, addresses and websites of printers as well as photo framers. Ask for the price-list and samples from each of them. Ask each of them to send you printed samples.

The size of the magazine cover should be at least 20X24 inches, if you want it to be visible from a distance.

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.

Valentine proposal idea explained

If you are seeing a girl for many years then no gift for her will be as special as a proposal for marriage on the coming Valentine Day. She always wanted to marry, and was waiting to hear it from you. Now, as you have decided to ask her, why not do it in style on the coming Valentine Day?

The above paragraph answers when of the gift idea (when to propose her), but the real excitement of this idea lies in how of the super gift idea (how to propose), which I am going to discuss in the rest of the article.

The idea is to use a series of professionally illustrated images to help her imagine how beautiful her life would be with you, ten years down the line. Show her how future would look like, if you are together.

Creating the proposal for your Valentine

Hire some professional illustrator, if you are not an expert in illustrating freehand, or even by using illustration software like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape (open source), or Corel Draw.  Ask for appropriate samples before assigning the work of crafting your future scenario to any professional. Do not go by if-it-is-expensive-it-is-going-to-be-the-best mentality when shopping for a professional illustrator. A good illustrator need not be expensive.

The next step, or rather the very first step in the process is to write the story imagining how beautiful your lives will be when spent together. To get the clearer view of the future, you need to spend some time alone, all with yourself, away from people, away from cell phones, away from the Internet, etc. and then start visualizing the future. Close your eyes and sit tight. The future will start coming to you thorough sights and sounds. Write these thoughts down on a piece of paper. Write ten captivating short stories that can be retold by the help of illustrated images. Each story should talk about just one specific situation at any one point in future. You can choose to talk about how you will go together on family vacation with kids; about how you will cook the daily meal together; about the activities you will do together, etc.

Ask the illustrator to capture these moments as colorfully as he or she can. Make the illustration colorful, it will elicit positive emotions in the recipient. Use vibrant colors for elements in the foreground, and pastel shades for the elements forming the background against which your illustrations will stand out. Give the illustrator one of your recent pictures and one of your beloved’s to use as reference.

Get each of the illustrated images printed on a thick photo paper, and the size of each image should not be less than 10X12 inches. There are many online printing services provider that specialize in photo printing. Use the one who use the most advanced printing technology.

Proposing your valentine

Now, it’s time to propose her. Take a bunch of fresh red roses, the pack containing all ten illustrations, get on your knees, and start giving each of the images one by one while narrating the stories illustrated in the pictures before asking her to marry you. She will be thrilled, and will retell this incidence to everyone whom she can tell.

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 lovey-dovey wedding idea

The super gift idea that I am sharing here will make the marriage of your son/daughter/friend not only personal but very, very memorable. I am asking you to personalize his or her wedding by distributing bride’s as well as groom’s favorite candies and cookies among the guests attending the marriage, along with a note stating the sweet, little story behind the candies and cookies distribution. If you want, you can also get one childhood photo of the bride as well as of the groom printed on the cover-side of the note.

This activity will not only involve everyone present at the party, but it will also make the marriage a memorable super event. How many marriages do you know of that uses such innovative technique to personalize the wedding? The point is: do this and the bride and the groom will be taken over by the true joyful emotion at the sight of their guests indulging in the secret fantasy of bride and groom’s childhood.

The wedding planner

Creating this custom gift is fairly simple, and can be done with a very little effort. You should be extremely cautious while collecting information about the candies and cookies he or she as well as his or her would-be better half liked when they were kids as you would not like to disclose your plans beforehand.

Once you got the information you were seeking, the next step is to procure the cookies and candies in sufficient quantity. To get the idea about how many cookies and candies you are going to need, you have to find the following:

• The number of guests who will be present at the wedding.
• How many candies and cookies will you be giving to each guest?

After getting the numbers right, it is time to write the story behind the candies and cookies distribution. You should use calligraphy or handwriting font to write the story. Write the story using a flowery language, and keep the story short. The size of the note should not be more than 5 X 4 inches. You can also use decorative borders, if you wish to adorn the note.

You will need a page designing and lay out making software like Quark Express, or Adobe Indesign to design the note. You can also use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe illustrator, or Corel Draw for this purpose.

On the cover-side of the note, put one picture each of the bride and the groom clicked when they were kids or may be toddler. If you want to add a headline or a caption to the image, feel free to do that. You will need   Adobe Photoshop or Gimp (open source) to optimize the images for the note.

The wedding gift

How are you planning to distribute it? C’mon, don’t tell me that you just planning to hand the candies, cookies and note over to your guests! Kidding, right? Jokes apart, packaging and the delivery of the super gift is as important as the gift itself.

For packaging, you can use a small box made of pristine white or elegant black leather. On top-face of the box, get the name of the bride and the groom engraved along with the salutation for the receiver. Use thin, golden or silver font for the purpose. Put the candies and cookies in the box, keep the note on top of them, and hand the box over to every guest before the ritual starts.

Finding a box manufacturer will not be very difficult. Search the Internet for the companies that specialize in gift wrapping, or you can also contact companies that make small boxes for watches. Ask for their quotes, and go with the one who offers the most competitive price.