Pin It and Do It

Over the weekend I made the time to catch up on a bit of blog reading.  I have missed connecting with all of you and thoroughly enjoyed catching up on your literary as well as personal lives.

One meme that appeared on several blogs was Trish's Pin It and Do It Challenge for December and while I did not officially register to participate, I did think that I would join the "pinners" on this last day of the challenge.

My Pinterests tend to focus on photography and food, although I can see using the site for craft and reading inspiration in 2013.  The Pin that I would like to share today, however, falls in the realm of Creative Gift Ideas.

As the children have grown up we find that Christmas gift surprises are more and more difficult to pull off.  And truth be told, we have learned that parental tastes in clothing, music, movies.... well, just about anything, is not the same as a twenty-something.  So for the past several years we have filled stockings with small, inconsequential items and then wrapped a check for the "large" present.  Of course, some years have been more financially lucrative than others, and this year was one of the more lean holidays.

While the end-product was a bit less than perhaps anticipated, it was my hope that a unique wrapping would make it special.  And this is where Pinterest came to the rescue:

Kleenex Money Box

The idea is simple - and did not take nearly as long to assemble as I had anticipated.  But the true joy was the look on each child's face as they opened the gift of tissues....only to discover the true present within.  We had fun watching them pull the dollar bills out of the box, and then carefully separating each one into a tidy sum of cash for their own personal use.

There was also another website that illustrated several different, creative ways to give money.  I plan to refer to this again and again for future ideas - not just for Christmas, but other fun gift-giving occasions.