January 14, 2011

Birthday Present Ideas

by Erika

*GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!

Please check out our Facebook Fan Page to see who the WINNER is!! :)

What should I get him for his birthday?!?! This is the question that runs through my mind EVERY time my husband’s birthday comes around. I want it to be thoughtful, fun, amazing, and something he’ll remember. However, often times it ends up being something he needs. Charlene, Corie, Erika, Lisa P., Tara, Lisa M., and Cami all pooled some of their best gift ideas to give YOU a starting point for a gift to give your man this year!

TWISTED

My husband’s birthday this year landed on an already FULL day We had plans to celebrate his birthday the following weekend. But, with the weekend being 4 days away, I did not want him to feel forgotten on his actual birthday. So the Plan…. I had to think of something quick, easy, and inexpensive! So I ran to Wal~mart and picked up the GAME TWISTER and the MOVIE TWISTER!

After dinner and our daughter was down to bed, I presented him with the two wrapped “TWISTER” gifts. Before I let him open them I said, “I know it’s “TWISTED” we have to wait to celebrate your birthday but here is a little something so hopefully you won’t let it blow you down.”

Before we cuddled and watched the movie together we Played the Game Twister. I just have to say I have not played Twister since I was a kid but surprisingly it was better than I remembered! And it was so much fun playing just with my husband! He really is my best friend.

Blu-ray U2 Concert

My man is the ultimate U2 fan. We have been to half a dozen concert over the years! We were so excited when U2 was headed to our town, yet again! We hurried and bought tickets and started the countdown. Unfortunately, the lead singer, Bono, broke his back! Poor Bono and poor us…especially my husband! U2 cancelled the concert and we were devastated. Keep reading….there is a happy ending! Well, the good news…U2 had already been around most of North America and they were getting ready to release a DVD of the concert we were suppose to go to! The best part is…they released the DVD TWO days before my man’s birthday! So…for his birthday I gave him the U2 concert experience he thought he would never have!

Sports Fan

My husband is an avid Jazz Basketball Fan. For his birthday, I wanted to surprise him with a night he could remember so I purchased tickets to one of the ‘good’ games (I checked with my brother…I’m not up on all my NBA teams.) At the last minute, I bought him a Jazz hat to wear to the game and for everyday use afterwards. He LOVED this gift, and it gave us a date night to remember!

You could use this for ANY team…pick your man’s favorite and get him a small memento (hat, shirt, key chain, etc.) and tickets to see them play. He’ll remember it forever!

Pop Up Picture Book

Being sentimental is very important to me. I enjoy trying to incorporate real feelings into presents or cards that I make for my husband. It always gets a great reaction from my sweetie. We enjoy doing these nice things and I often see that he will try to beat something that I just created for him. Of course they usually aren’t as creative as mine but they are just as special because they come from the heart.

Well for his birthday a little while ago I decided to make a pop-out book to showcase some of the pictures(memories) that made me smile. He loved it and it was super easy to make. All you need is scrapbook paper, 4 pieces of cardstock, and pictures that you want to showcase. Then of course any embellishments or phrases that you want to include. This present took about an hour and a half to make and my sweetie loved it so much. We talked about all the memories that we shared from the pictures that I included.

Golf Pills

Everybody knows that in order to make sure your golf game is where you want it to be….you need to take your daily…GOLF PILLS!! I can’t remember where I saw this idea, but I laughed out loud when I read the outside of the pill bottle…and then I set to work making one of my own to give to my own talented golfer! Here are the materials you will need to gather: (Hint: I found my “pill bottle” at Michael’s Arts & Crafts…it was the perfect size!!)

I created the bottle label in Photoshop (Since it was so similar to the example I saw…I didn’t feel comfortable giving out that download.) You can totally change it up any way you want. I loved the one I saw SO much…that I used a lot of those sayings. I then printed it and cut it out.

Onto the bottle – after emptying the sprinkles from its bottle (and hopefully using them on a YUMMY cake of some sort…) and taking off the label it came with, I spray painted the inside orange. (Hint: If the label is not coming off….you can spread peanut butter on it and let it sit for a few hours. THEN – wash it all off. It works, promise!) This was tricky….if you spray TOO much of the orange spray paint…it will drip inside. I would suggest doing a light coat, letting it dry, and then if it’s not to your liking…try it again. You may want to start on this before working on your Photoshopped label…since there are a few steps involved. After the bottle was ready, I adhered the label with spray adhesive. Be careful not to use too much! A light coat (if you work quickly) will work just fine!

And there you go! A fun little present for the avid golfer in YOUR family!

P.S. I also typed up a super cute “official” document (rolled up in the picture above) proclaiming who the “Top Ten” golfers in the world currently were…and you better believe my man was on top!

100 Reasons Why I Love You

A fabulous present that will work for any age birthday is a ” 100 Reasons Why I Love You” book! This is a picture of the book I home-made for my husbands latest birthday. He just turned 30 so that was the lucky number I used to make the book. It has 30 pages, each one with a different reason and picture to boot! Check back at the end of the month to get a step-by step guide to how I put this unique present together. It really was soo inexpensive to make because I just used items that I already had…….like cereal boxes, No joke! Watch for that post near the end of January to get the step-by-step know-how on how to make this book just as I did!

Shadow Box

My favorite part about a birthday is the PRESENTS! I don’t only like to receive the presents, but I love to GIVE the presents. My husband was an amazing example of this the first year we were married. He gave me a sewing machine on HIS birthday! Yes, you heard right, I was supposed to be giving him the present, but he turned it around on me! It was such a huge surprise. That year he taught me how important it is to focus on your spouse’s ‘likes’ and hobbies. Ever since then I have really tried hard to focus on his hobbies, things he is interested in, or on things he is doing that year. A couple years ago I really wanted to make his birthday present extra special. Joseph is a former baseball player and I really wanted to do something with all his great memorabilia from his baseball days. He also likes homemade presents so I got the idea to make him a shadow box full of his baseball stuff.

This box contained his old baseball jersey, a bat that he split in half (hitting a ball so hard), an old ball he used to practice with, and then I laminated newspaper clips that he kept on his stats/rankings in his state. I had SO much fun putting it altogether because I knew that it would mean so much to him. He of course LOVED the present, but he has told me it is mainly because of the thought and effort that went into in doing the present. So, how does this translate to you? Think of something that your spouse absolutely loves and create a present that builds on that. Your spouse will not only be impressed with the present itself, but realize how much time and thought you put into making their birthday an amazing one!

What is the best gift you’ve ever given your guy?

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Our fabulous blogging buddy, Colette, has offered to give away some of her FABULOUS creations! She recently created adorable printables for her followers to put together their very own Birthday Organizers! You will be able to stay on top of everybody’s birthdays for the year! Guess what?!? She is offering THREE of those for FREE!

AND…if you just can’t wait….she is offering ALL “Dating Divas” readers a discount through the length of the giveaway {next Wednesday night} CODE: “DIVA20″ = 20% ALL PURCHASES

If you want to see even MORE details/pics on this LOVELY Birthday Organizer…..click HERE! *sigh* I love it! :)

OK….it gets even better….are you ready for this? When you go check out her Etsy Shop {which is a requirement to enter the giveaway}….and you let us know what your FAVORITE printable is of hers…..and you just happen to be one of those THREE lucky winners?!? Well, she is gonna throw in that printable that you said you liked…for FREE! What a sweetheart, huh!! Enough of me…..here is the talented woman herself…..

Hi, Diva Readers!! My name is Colette and I am the gal behind a fun blog called My Computer is My Canvas. My blog has allowed me to share my passion… and that is with digital design and PRINTABLES!!! I share lots of freebie printables to help you stay organized, I love creating printable art for Seasons and Holidays; plus I like to post design tips/ideas and digital tutorials each month. I opened an Etsy Shop last year to share my most *FAVORITE* printables and hope you’ll take a minute to stop by and browse around!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Wanna Enter THIS Giveaway?

So….if you would like to enter THIS giveaway….you can do so by combining the following information….in ONE comment….

Subscribe to The DATING DIVA Weekly Newsletter {top right-hand corner of the website} & let us know you are an official “newsletter reader” in your comment….AND….checking out Colette’s Etsy Shop, looking through her awesome printables, & leaving a comment back on this post letting us know which printable is your FAVORITE! {Please include ALL of the above in just ONE comment. Thank you!!}

Would you like an EXTRA SEPARATE entry??

Spread the word about THIS giveaway via email, blog post, text message, Facebook, or Twitter {Please re-post your actual ”Shout-Out” that you sent to all your friends in your comment below & let us know which networking method above you used. A link-back to that post/tweet/etc. if possible, would also be great!}

The giveaway will end next Tuesday night, January 17th at 11:00 PST. We will announce the THREE winners on Wednesday, January 18th on our Facebook Fan Page – so don’t forget to check back to see if the winner is YOU!!