Show Someone You Care; Buy Online Without Lifting a Finger

An article about a busy mum's quest to buy the perfect present for friends and family. She is in search for a gift that is thoughtful, personal, heart-warming and only take seconds to buy. Oh and one last thing; she doesn't want to have to leave her computer to find it.

I like to buy thoughtful presents. I always have. So unless people specifically ask for vouchers, I always feel they're a bit of a lazy gift from someone who couldn't be bothered to think of something more personal. I enjoy buying flowers for people when there's no occasion, just to let them know that I'm thinking of them, but not for a birthday or Christmas present. I also like wine as much as the next stressed, sleep deprived parent, but do I want it in place of something that shows a bit of creativity? No, not if I'm perfectly honest. (I'll still drink it though, obviously.)

A Solution
Here's my dilemma; I want to buy thoughtful gifts, but not ones that take hours of traipsing round shops to buy. So I've decided I'm giving photo gifts this year. After all, what could be more personal than giving a picture of your little cherubs for loved ones to treasure? I've also discovered that I can buy photo prints online in a variety of formats, so there's something for everyone. I do so love online shopping, don't you?

For example, I'm thinking of buying the grandparents an acrylic block photo of the kids to put on their sideboard. They can then admire the miracle of their grandchildren as they sit dreading the next call for babysitting.

Alternatively, a large poster photograph would be perfect for my dad. He lives in Spain, so buying him presents can be somewhat of a nightmare. He could roll it up, store it safely in his suitcase and then display it proudly when he gets home (without having to pay baggage excess).

I could benefit from this too. As an 80s child through and through, I still like to have photographs that I can hold in my hand and flick through, or display in an albums. My photographs are my memories, after all. I don't want them to be indefinitely on a computer until one day when hell freezes over and I get round to printing them out.

I could also get out of doing crafts altogether with my children if they had photo stickers to make into a collage for my brother or sister-in-law as a Christmas gift. And instead of gift tags, I'm going to start placing a sticker of my darling offspring on the outside of gifts so if the card gets detached, they'll still know who it's from.

So, I'm sorted for the rest of the year. Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day, grandparents' birthdays, brother and sister-in-laws' birthdays and all of Christmas. Who knew buying photo prints online as gifts could make me so organised and thoughtful without even having to move away from my computer?