Little Gifts To Brighten Someone's Day

I love gift giving. There is something about tangible, holdable expressions of love, that speaks to my eclectic, sentimental, old soul. I love planning gifts for people in my life, and something I am always striving to get better at is giving gifts for no real reason. In this blog post I am sharing so many ideas for gifts, they can be just because gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts, gifts for when your friend is sad, gifts for when you just want someone to feel loved, and at the end some small gestures that can also be gifts.

All of these have some element of diy or assembly, if you’re looking for single item gift ideas, check out my gift guide.

(all photos are from Pinterest, I do not own any of them)

Bouquets 
Flowers are great gifts (especially for last minute purposes), but I have fallen down a rabbit hole of bouquets that take a little more effort but are amazing gifts.

Makeup bouquets - these are flower bouquets and you can add your friend’s favorite beauty products on skewers and incorporate them into the bouquet. I think it’s really cute if you use a specific color scheme.

Book bouquets - I think this is maybe the cutest gift on the list. It's a unique way to gift books by mixing them in with flowers.

Coffee bouquets -  These are my most favorite of the bouquet type gifts. Small flower arrangements, another little gift the person may love (a lot of people are doing sweet treats or beauty products), and their favorite drink (it doesn't have to be Starbucks or coffee, I’ve seen these made with canned drinks as well). This gift to me seems so intentional yet perfect for any old occasion when you just want to brighten someone’s day.

A couple of other fun bouquet ideas I have seen are, art supplies bouquets, and bouquets made in water bottles, mugs, and other travel drinkware.​

Simple DIYed gifts

Claw clips - bedazzling or painting claw clips is a really cute and personalized gift. You don’t have to be very crafty for this, just attach adhesive gemstones or paint with simple designs.

Decorated Photo Frames - this is another super easy but very sweet gift. Decorate the outer part of a picture frame with gemstones, seashells, paper mache, stickers, or handpaint a design. Then put a picture that will mean something to your friend.

Annotate a book - This is probably the most high effort gift on the list, but it can be so thoughtful. Your annotations can be as simple as underlining and highlighting, or can be full of deep observations, artwork etc.

Altoid tin wallets - these are nothing new in the DIY world, they’re adorable and kind of timeless. Empty mint tins decorated with scrapbook paper, beads, photos and other mementos. As a gift you can customize them to fit the recipient’s aesthetic. I also love the idea of curating little items to go inside the wallet, such as lip balm, cash, breath mints, and cute little trinkets.

Gift Baskets

My favorite kind of gifts to give or to receive are gift baskets. I love curating all the small gifts into one thoughtful and put together gift. They can also be really inexpensive, you don’t need a big expensive item by just using small things like snacks, candles, books, stationary, stuffed animals, and literally any small cute thing you can create a really thoughtful gift. I love how much room for creativity there is, and how it can truly fit any budget. Here are a few really fun variations and ideas to get you started.

Pack a purse - Instead of just giving someone a purse, I've always thought it would be fun to fill the purse with purse essentials. A little bag inside with feminine products, painkillers, and cough drops. Gum, tissues, granola bars, lip gloss, and a tide pen stuck into the pockets. A little polaroid of their dog, best friend, boyfriend, or mom. A  gift card in a pocket if you feel like putting a little more money into it. Anything you think that person would love to have in their purse. If you want to go the extra mile you could also get them a bag charm that fits their personality.

Pack a backpack - here’s another little variation that would make a really great graduation gift, or first day of school gift. Filling a backpack with school supplies and essentials. It can honestly include a lot of similar things to the purse, but with an emphasis on school supplies (this of course will vary depending on what they’re graduating from or to).

This same concept can translate across so many types of bags and interests here are a few ideas to get you started - a book bag filled with annotation supplies and a travel coffee cup, a backpack for travel with travel essentials such as a neck pillow and their favorite snacks, a hiking backpack with general survival essentials, a beach bag with sunscreen, beach reads, and Poppi sodas.

​Favorite things basket - This is perhaps the simplest idea on my list (and also one of the most inexpensive gifts depending on how you go about it), but it also says to the recipient "I see you.” Fill a basket with their favorite things, I mean snacks, candy, tea, chapstick, breakfast cereal, perfume, seeds from their favorite flowers, travel guides from their dream destination, books by their favorite authors, candles in their favorite scents, something that’s their favorite color, any little thing that reminds you of them. I think a gift like this is so thoughtful and caring and it fits any situation where you want to show someone how loved they are.

​A Jellycat themed gift basket - I, like every other basic girl out there, am obsessed with Jellycats. These adorable stuffed animals can be the basis for an adorable gift basket. So many of them are food themed or a single color. I love the idea of basing a basket on the Jellycat you are gifting. You can put in the food the jellycat is, you can add in beauty products they love that match the color theme, items in a similar color scheme. Jellycats aren’t only for girls, there are a lot of really fun animal and sports themed ones that you could use as a base for a gift for a guy as well.
Here are a few ideas based on my favorite Jellycats to get you started:
The croissant Jellycat paired with fresh croissants, jam, french inspired tea, a beret perhaps, maybe a book set in Paris.
Vicky Teapot Jellycat with tea cups and tea and fresh flowers.
Fleurette Tarte aux Fraises Jellycat in a strawberry themed gift basket with everything strawberry printed, flavored, and scented.
Any of the Jellycat bunnies in a monochrome themed basket.
And last but certainly not least, the Oats Bowl Jellycat with different oatmeal packets, pajama pants or socks in blue stripes, and fresh fruit.

Monochrome gift baskets - I say monochrome as in one color, but I also want to challenge you to think outside the box. One color, or perhaps one idea. You could make a gift basket that’s all pink, or you can stick to a theme like roses or the beach. It’s all about creating a cohesive gift basket that touches on something that person really loves. It could be any color of the rainbow, or it could be bows, cars, bunnies, hearts, Minnie Mouse, whatever you want.

A book themed basket - This is a concept that I have used before, and it’s one of my favorites. All you need is one book that you know the person will love and a few little things to help curate a reading experience. I once bought my friend a devotional book I knew she would love and added in Bible annotating supplies, tea, and candy that I know she loves. You can give the recipient things to create a general cozy reading experience (things like fuzzy socks, highlighters, mugs, hot chocolate, their favorite snacks), or you can make the items uber specific to the book choice. 
As an example if I were gifting someone Anne of Green Gables I might include raspberry flavored soda, a cute blouse with puffy sleeves, a pressed flower bookmark, and chocolate caramels, maybe along with some tea and a highlighter set. Again you can really curate this to your budget.

Now, finally here are a few gift ideas for those moments where you just need to brighten up someone's day.
Basically anything paired with a little handwritten note -

• Their favorite coffee with a note written on the top of the cup.
• Candy, snacks, literally any surprise treat they might like paired of course with a handwritten note.
• Their favorite soda or energy drink with a note tied around the can with a piece of ribbon.
• Just a good old handwritten note (can you tell I really like handwritten notes)

Other ideas:

• Food doordashed to their house so they don’t have to cook after a long day.
• Homemade cookies, or muffins, or bread (or buy it from a bakery). Bonus points if you put it in a cute basket or something like that.
• A digital gift card to a place they love
• Diyed bookmarks (I am putting them in this category because they can be very simple to make.)

And if you can’t do any of those things, remember that kind words go far, memes, random funny videos, etc can always bring a smile to someone’s face, and often a phone call to let someone know they’re not alone is what they really need.
Don’t underestimate the power of praying with someone whether what they’re going through is good or bad. Communication with the creator of the universe is a gift in and of itself.

Which of these gifts would you like to either give or receive? Do you have any ideas to add to the mix?

Belle Thomas

Belle is the writer and dreamer behind An Old Fashioned Girl. She is passionate about reminding girls of their identity in Christ, classic books, history, Louisa May Alcott, and earl grey tea. ​​