Secret Santa! Something to Wear, Read, Want & Need

Don't you just love secret santas (aka, pollyannas, yankee swaps, etc.)?  I do!  I have a great online group of friends (we've been together since 2001).  There are about 35 of us, and every year we try to do a secret santa in December.  This year there was a $25 limit and I drew my friend Jen.  I was so excited!  I like to make my gifts as thoughtful as possible ... so I thought and thought and the answer was right in front of me: I'd do exactly what Jen was planning to do for her daughter for Christmas and give her four gifts: something to wear, something to read, something that she wants and something that she needs.  Yeah!  Here are all the gifts packaged up ... brown paper packages tied up with string.

I printed up the tags on my Mac using some favorite fonts (Lane Narrow and Affair).  I had the brown paper bag from a grocery trip and the ribbon were remnants in my stash.  I decided to print out little tags to include inside each gift, too.  And now for what's inside (along with a running tab of the cost)!

* Something to Wear * 

I went with some super soft, super cozy, cream socks from Old Navy.  That way I didn't have to worry about sizes and who doesn't love fluffy soft socks, especially as Winter is upon us?  These cost just $2 at an Old Navy Black Friday sale.

 * Something to Read *

I wanted to get Jen something useful.  I went with the the little book, Salt, Lemons, Vinegar and Baking Soda.  I recognized it immediately, as Jamie blogged about this book awhile ago.  It is so cute and helpful, especially to Jen who loves to keep things eco-friendly around her home.  I need to pick up one of these books for myself!  This book was on sale for about $5 at Barnes & Noble. 

 * Something She Wants *

This was easy!  Jen loves to knit so I emailed one of my other knitter-friends and asked for a suggestion on a place to get a gift card.  She suggested Purl Soho ... so I ordered a giftcard for $20 that Jen can use in the store or online.  I gotta admit: I don't knit but I really want to poke around that site.  Such cute stuff!

* Something She Needs *

Well, this one was probably the hardest of all.  I cheated a little and did a fun little poll on the boards and asked, among many other questions, "what is something you really need this holiday?"  Jen responded that she could use a holiday music CD, since they don't have one.  She thought it would be fun to play it while decorating their tree.  Yes!  I have a ton of Christmas CDs, so I just loaded them on my Mac, created a playlist in iTunes and burned her a custom CD with 90 minutes of Christmas music.  Cost? Free.  I had the CDs (even the blank one) on hand.  The cover is something I downloaded from Better Homes and Gardens - a cute Christmas pillow download (you can see more info on it in my post last week).  I just reduced the size of it to fit in a CD case.

And there you have it!  For $27 (I went $2 over budget - no biggie), I got my friend Jen four cute things. I hope she finds them as fun as I had putting it all together.  

What about you? Participating in any gift exchanges this year?  Christmas is coming! 

See you swoon,