For more
information contact: Beth Peterson - 847-931-9375
A Creative Twist to
Memorable Holiday Gifts -- Innovation Expert Gregg
Fraley Offers 23 Tips on Memorable Gift Giving
It's a challenge we face every year -- what to
do about gifts for the holidays. Our loved ones and friends need
some TLC, but how best to show it? Creativity and innovation
expert Gregg Fraley put together some fun and thoughtful tips
and ideas for everyone on your gift list, items that are great
for even the thinnest of budgets and more meaningful, too.
Buckinghamshire, England ( PRWeb)
November 19, 2007 -- It's a challenge we face every year -- what
to do about gifts for the holidays. Our loved ones need some
TLC, but how best to show it? Creativity and innovation expert
Gregg Fraley
put together some fun and
thoughtful ideas for everyone on your gift list, items that are
great for even the thinnest of budgets and more meaningful, too.
Fraley said, "It's daunting; it's complex; and it is often
something we find hard to be inventive about. Panic,
procrastination, and, yes, fear get in the way of creative
thinking. You don't have to buy something awful just to cross
someone off your list; there is no heart or creativity in that."
He adds, "First, get out of panic mode and start
thinking creatively by writing down some facts and feelings you
have about each person. Keep a little notebook for your creative
gift project. Jam ideas at every odd moment of the day, look to
those facts and feelings for in. If you stay after your personal
brainstorming for a few days, you'll get breakthrough ideas.
Finally, take action now on those ideas and you'll get through
the season without last minute hysteria."
Following, in no particular order, are creative
ideas for this year's holiday gifting challenge, for more detail
on each idea, visit www.
Gregg's blog.
1. Write Something Personal in Handmade Card.
Why not make a card a very personal and meaningful gift? Don't
just sign your name, write a real note. If you have time, make a
card yourself.
2. Create a Cool Package of Themed Stuff.
Combine several small gifts into a cool package designed around
a person's interests. Take the time to find out what your gifted
has a passion for.
3. Give Art Supplies. An under-rated place to
shop for holiday gifts is a good art supply store. Who couldn't
use a nice fancy pen? For kids, there are a lot of new fangled
art supplies like Crayola's Model Magic, a great sculpting
media.
4. Decorate & Give a Personalized Christmas
Tree. Many people don't have time to put up a tree. Find a way
to create one for a gift or make it an event! Finding special
ornaments makes it even more memorable.
5. Create a Quilt for a Sick Child.
Sewonderful Quilts
will provide you with free
fabric (very beautiful sample material otherwise destined for
the landfill) and instructions.
6. Give Time. Many of our best friends and
family pine for our company. Why not gift a juicy chunk of time,
an afternoon, or a whole day? Wrap up a small box with a clock
inside and enclose a note suggesting a day and do something you
both like.
7. Write a List of Acknowledgements. List 10
things you love about somebody. It's hard to go wrong when you
say out loud what you almost never do, but honestly feel.
8. Share Your Favorite Recipes: Put together a
small fave recipe compilation for a personal gift. The more love
you put into it, the more it will be appreciated.
9. Share an Audio Book, Movie, Song or a
Favorite TV Show. On the low budget end, you could record a song
on your computer, using a free audio package like Audacity and
email an MPG file.
10. Give Fairly. There are several websites out
there with unique Fair Trade gifts from craftsman all around the
world. See also these sites:
Orenoque
and
Our Voices Together.
11. Give Your Heritage. For the older folks
reading this maybe this is the time to pass along that ring your
great grandmother wore to a younger generation, or that
hand-carved butcher block your grandfather made himself.
12. Hand Write a Miniature Book. Buy a blank
notebook and fill it with whimsical thoughts you are having
around the holidays, or thoughts you have about the friendship
or love you have with someone.
13. Gift an
Historic Tree,
a nursery that has trees that are offspring of Apple trees that
Johnny Appleseed planted, Oaks from Elvis's Graceland, etc. A
tree is a gift that keeps giving for generations, providing
shade, fresh air, and beauty.
Author Gregg Fraley works as an innovation
expert and new product development consultant to Fortune 500
companies and does keynote speeches and workshops on creative
thinking, innovation, problem-solving, and new-product
development. Fraley is author of Jack's Notebook, a fast-paced,
inspirational story that reveals the principles of a proven
process for deliberate creative thinking - CPS (Creative Problem
Solving). He is also a partner in The Innovise Guys, a
creativity and innovation podcast with a humorous edge. The
Innovise Guys are blending classic problem solving methods with
comedy improvisational tools. Fraley is currently working in
Great Britain as an Artist in Residence, but resides permanently
in Three Oaks, Michigan.
More of Gregg Fraley's musings can be found on
his website
and blog.
Media contact: Beth Peterson, (847) 931-9375.
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