Top 10 Steps to Finding or Making a Great Gift

Step 1: Consider what you know about the person you are buying or crafting a gift for. Information such as the recipient's situation, their tastes, and even their future plans act as great pointers to help guide your efforts.

"Situation" pertains to gifts that compliment the recipient 's current lifestyle and surroundings. Considerations include: car or public transportation; at home during the day or evening; long commutes; size of living space; amount of time spent at home or in a particular room; weather patterns; special concerns such as air quality or noise; and so forth.

Example 1: Long commutes make great opportunities to offer gifts such as books that your recipient can enjoy during their drive or travel. Instead of writing down your memories of a special moment, you could have those words recorded and placed on a CD. On your anniversary or other special event, leave the CD along with other gifts in the car to be enjoyed during their commute. Your CD could even include music from your wedding day or music that is related to an event that you are remembering.

Example 2: For the person who is constantly on the go, you might opt for gifts that require little upkeep . For example, you could give a gift of a cactus garden or bromeliad. Both of these plants require watering only once every two weeks.

Example 3: If your gift recipient lived in New York City and did not have a car, you might get them something that helps with their shopping or travel such as a collapsible bag with wheels.

"Tastes" pertain to gifts that match their personal style, habits, particular likes or dislikes, personality, or even affiliations. Considerations include: design sensibilities such as contemporary or classic; animal lover; groups that they are a member of; vegetarian; logical versus imaginative; movies or plays; likes to be hands on or view from a distance; and other qualities unique to the recipient.

Example 1: Does your gift recipient like to cook from scratch or do they prefer to microwave every meal? There are cookbooks and other items which suit each user's modus operandi. The semi-pro cook might enjoy the bread maker but the microwave diner might never take it out of the box.

Example: 2 A vegetarian might enjoy day of traveling to an organics co-operative to pick their own fruits and vegetables. Follow this up with a cooking class to make a dish that incorporates some of the items that they gathered. On the other hand, the person that loves meat but never has time to cook, might enjoy a counter-top grill, special seasonings that you researched and picked up yourself (maybe even a seasoning blend that you created for them), and a 3 month membership with Omaha Steaks.

"Plans" pertains to gifts that align with the short and long term goals, dreams, or responsibilities of the recipient. Consideration examples include: time off they will be receiving; upcoming challenge such as dealing with a ailing parent or tough decision; losing weight; downsizing; planning for a major purchase such as a home; moving, starting a new hobby; and so forth.

Example 1: For the friend who is moving out on their own for the first time, certain gifts such as an all-in-one wrench can help them with all the little fix-it needs that arise. For those moving to a smaller space, visit SpaceSavers.com for space optimizing storage containers.

Example 2: For the friend who wants to become a movie director, a great gift might include a one year subscription to Film Movement. Film Movement offers award winning foreign films and savings on a collection of acclaimed films that are not readily accessible. A simpler idea would be to buy a book on the 100 greatest movies along with a subscription to NetFlix. When you set up the NetFlix account place on the wish list as many movies from the book as you can find.

Example 3: For the recipient who wants to plant their own garden during their extended vacation from work, the Scarecrow garden protector from could be a nice gift to help keep critters away. You can view the product here: http://www.contech-inc.com/products/scarecrow/.

Example 4: I have a friend who was working on becoming healthy. I arranged to go to a book signing by one her favorite healthy eating writers when they came into town. I had the book signed with a special note from the author to her.