Gifts for and from minimalists

[flexagon]

I am really excited about my birthday present from heisenbug. He's been agonizing over what to give me, and this morning I finally thought of and asked for the right thing: a decision on what computer I should buy to replace my POS desktop at home. This is obviously a gift of time and research, and it's going to unblock me on something that's been creating a vortex of resentful energy around my office desk for many months. I'm going to boot that thing out the window and replace it with a dockable, travel-worthy laptop that's got higher specs than my old desktop and is lighter than my work lappie. EXCITED, I tell you. :-)

I'm also pretty excited about my birthday present to heisenbug a couple of weeks ago: large quantities of high-quality exotic-meat sausages, because he likes sausage.

As most of you know, I'm a minimalist; not a crazy 100-thing devotee, but I like to do "one in, one out" and I will very possibly pass on your gift to me once it has fulfilled its purpose of being accepted. And even non-minimalist adults already have the material items they need. And as not all of you know, heisenbug is kind of a time-commitment minimalist, so I try not to give him books or time-consuming games or other massive time-sucks.

So here are some gift ideas for things that don't take up space or time forever, most of which reflect things I've given or gotten over the years:

• Classes, as long as they're one-offs and not too time-sucky. Circus classes, music classes, pour-over coffee classes?


• Magazine subscriptions. I give The Atlantic a lot. Someone gave me Redbook once.


• Food can be a subscription; for anything there's an "X of the month club", though I feel I should warn you all that the "bacon of the month" clubs I've found seem to focus on weird flavored bacon.


• Gourmet food. Duh. But other consumables can be fun... if you have nerve, try giving makeup. Really nice primer matches everyone's skin tone, and nail polish doesn't need to.


• Tickets to an event(Cirque du Soleil works well).


• Anything practical that the person uses or eats all the time, but in quantity. This is a fun one. I once saw a guy give a girl a dozen Gatorades for Valentine's Day in her favorite flavor, and she loved it. For me, how about a crate of Triscuits? I'd also accept a hundred lip balms of the proper variety.


• Getting something serviced or repaired. One year I got heisenbug 's bike tuned up and also put a mirror into an empty frame he had. I think his picking out a new computer for me almost falls into this category, since whatever he picks will replace something broken.

What are your clever ideas? I told you mine. :-)

Comments

[ellenclaire.livejournal.com]

My preferred gift-giving tactic, at least for people I'm close to (and I don't tend to give birthday gifts unless I'm very close to someone) is the birthday date/experience - bonus points if the experience is a surprise. For R's birthday last year I booked an afternoon at an incredibly swank spa for the two of us and didn't tell him what we were doing until we arrived. I took K to a historic greenhouse for her birthday last year (she loves plants), and T and I took a day trip to NECCA for private lessons and small town wandering-around for his last birthday.

No "stuff" involved, one-shot experience so it's not a huge time suck, and you get to spend time together.