The best gift anyone has ever given me has been a bag of sea shells. They cost nothing, but it was a profoundly moving moment to realize this person had been saving the sea shells I'd been handing him since I was a child.
One Reddit user asked:
What are inexpensive gifts you enjoy receiving?
and the comments section absolutely reaffirmed what I felt in that moment. It's not the cost that makes a gift great - it's the sentiment and message that the gift conveys. A really good gift tells the person that you know them, you see them, you think of them and appreciate them in some way.
Gold and diamonds aren't the only way to show that. Sometimes all it takes is something little like:
A Tired Nurse and Mother
My husband has bought me expensive jewelry including diamond rings etc.. But one of my favorite things he has ever done for me was when I came home from work to a steak dinner on the table. I'm in nursing school and working as a CNA so it meant a lot to be able to just come home and eat a nice meal that I didn't have to cook.
I also love it when my kids give me anything. When The Minions movie came out I had mentioned that I thought the minions were cute. My oldest daughter was about 6 at the time. We went to McDonald's and she got happy meal with a minion ornament thing and she gave it to me. I hung it in my rear view mirror and there it stays! I've had it for about 5 years now.
My youngest daughter gave me a little coaster thing that has a frog on it that says "mom." It sits on my desk and put my cactus on it.
Socks
spongebob socks GIF
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I feel like the threshold of adulthood is purely based on whether you're disappointed or excited about getting socks for Christmas.
I'm away on a short break this week and treated myself to some new thick socks for all the walking around we'll be doing (10 miles today BTW). Pulling on new socks every day is wonderful. I also bought new bamboo fabric underwear too. Bliss.
Dude I used to think people were joking when they said this, but man, getting socks gets me so excited, especially bulk packs.
Hand-Made
Anything handmade. I just appreciate the sentiment behind it even if it's cheap you took the time to make it for me time your not gonna get back. So I love when I get handmade gifts
This. Every year, I'll write in my Reddit secret santa that if they're crafty, I'd love something they made. Only ever received one, but it hangs in a place of pride on my Christmas tree every year and I keep the hand painted card on display in my workshop year round.
Professional Gifting
A handwritten card, flowers, nuts, fine-tip pens, a potted cactus, gift card for movie tickets (before this year, at least), craft beer 6-pack, kitchen implements (like nice wooden spoons or really sharp scissors), a handsome journal or notepad, solar phone charger.
I used to be the buyer for all employee gifts at my company, not because I worked in HR or admin, but because I like it and am good at it.
Pick Your Pick
A bulk pack of guitar picks, every person who plays guitar will know how much of a pain in the ass it is to lose a pick.
- Verne_
I buy them by the hundreds - keeps me going for about 5 years, because for every 2 I lose, I find 1.
- squ1bs
I used to lose them all the time. Then I made a DIY transparent one as a joke and of course I've never lost it. I've had it for over 2 years now and still use it...
Mars
A Mars bar. It's my comfort food. My hug to myself. My pat on the back for making it through a hard day. When a friend who knows all this gets me a mars bar it's such a beautiful gesture, I cry every time.
Happy Birthday Jack-o-Lantern
jack o lantern halloween GIF
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Every year on my birthday (late October) my friend gives me a pumpkin from her garden, and I always use it for my jack-o'-lantern. I love it!
Positively Positive
Home made cookies, a hand drawn comic, even a fancy bar of chocolate is under $7. Clean the kitchen, sweep/vacuum the house, or a foot rub.
Nothing beats positive attention.
- seadecay
Movie Candy
Any kind of those $1 boxes of movie theater candy. I'll take them all!
I once put together a little gift basket of these for one of my kids as part of his birthday. He LOVED it. That was years ago and he has continued to ask for that every year, and to request the same thing in his stocking at Christmas. He always says he doesn't need anything except a $20 Steam card, and boxes of movie candy.
Rocks Rock
Interesting shaped and/or colored rocks people have picked up while outside/on a trip. Find a rock that's purple or looks kind of like a heart? Maybe one that's green with colorful flecks? One made perfectly smooth by water? If you bring it to me I will be happy. (I wish I could afford a rock tumblr.)
I also like rusty old square nails, bits of old broken pottery, and shards of purple glass. I hope someday someone will bring me seaglass or I find some.
And There's Cake Involved
My husband will on his way home from work sometimes at our favorite bakery (the one that made our wedding cake) and bring me home a cupcake. A sweet gesture and there's cake involved. Can't beat that.
A Special Scavenger Hunt
A Starbucks latte always brightens my day, flowers, chocolates and I still love getting stuffed animals even as an adult lol I once woke up to a 'scavenger hunt' of handwritten notes with a clue to the next one and a lovely compliment on each. That makes me feel so special
I actually have to ask not to be given jewelry or clothes because even I struggle finding things I like and it's too much money for the risk lol. Some guys have been legit offended by this? But I'm just being honest
Not Hard To Please
puzzle rubix cube GIF
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Puzzles.
I love puzzles... things like rubik's cube or variations of it, wooden puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, any puzzles.
I'm not a hard person to please.
Before He Needs It
Honestly I find it more fun to find out what those things are for my husband. Like sometimes I'll pay extra close attention to his shampoo brand if it's low and then get him more before he realizes he needs it. Basically if I can take like 5 minutes of my time to make his day way better today/tomorrow, I'm all about those "gifts".
The Card Counts
I personally love getting cards. Even without any sort of gift. I feel like these days we don't really take the time to say nice things to people, particularly not in writing, and cards are a really great way to do that. They can also be kept as a sentimental thing and they're super cheap. You can make your own with just a piece of paper and a pen.
- auditail
Basmati Jeans
Fave from Mom: she took this old pair of Guess jeans that I wore to threads in some areas. She keeps old jeans for patching, projects and the like. 5 or so years on, she had taken the jeans and sewn them into one of those microwavable rice bags, you know for when you have an achy neck.
It smells like basmati, it's my old jeans, and she sewed a belt loop on the top for hanging even....melted my heart, and I'll have it forever.
Thought Of You
Anything that comes with the person giving it to me saying, "I saw this and thought of you!" Whether it's a drink or a treat, or a little flamingo or cat thing, or a cool pen... just the fact that someone thought of me and knew it was something I'd like really means a lot.
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U/lit3rallyuseless asked: What doesn't deserve the hate it gets?
​Film and media are probably the biggest contender for being hated on randomly. It may seem harmless, but not always deserved.
Actors are people too!
Actors who played characters that people didn't like.
Really if you hated the character then the actor did a good job (assuming that was the role).
The best cartoons.
nice day summer GIF by PBS KIDSGiphyChild cartoons. Some are actually really good, even as an adult.
I feel like watching cartoons aimed at generally a younger audience allows for you to be reminded of some life lessons, I know I forget some things, or didn't realise others, or it at least partially renews my awareness of something I should still like or appreciate
This doesn't deserve awards, it's just my opinion that is apparently shared by many.
This man did nothing wrong.
Guy Fieri, he literally is the nicest person in the world but since he looks like he was electrocuted by mountain dew people want to saw his head off.
Even before that, I was witness to his other charitable work. A few years back, Santa Rosa was hit by some terrible fires and he showed up at a few shelters and personally cooked up and served some killer buffet food. No cameras, no massive team of PR, just a dude with an assistant to keep him on schedule to hit up other shelters in the area. Guy Fieri legit earned a lot of respect in my book for that.
You know who DEFINITELY doesn’t deserve hate? Animals. They’re just living their best lives, and need to be left alone.​
The best cats.
Black cats.
We got a black cat for the first time last year. I've since formulated the theory that black cats might get some of their reputation from the fact that people can't see them well in the dark and so they seemingly appear out of nowhere and they might be instinctually cautious because they know people have a tendency to kick them while walking in the dark. Our black cat is the sweetest cat I've ever known.
They get a bad rep.
Discovery Sharks GIF by Shark WeekGiphySharks. They are beautiful, complex creatures, deserving of respect and, like any wild animal should be left alone in their natural habitat, but they get this reputation as vicious bloodthirsty monsters. This is only because every shark attack is news, and only then because they are so rare. More people are killed EVERY DAY by mosquitoes than sharks kill in a year.
Any apex predator that has remained evolutionarily unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, whose existance predates TREES, is deserving or our respect and admiration. Shine on, you crazy cartlaginous fish, shine on.
So cute too!
Opossums. They're neat little critters. They eat tons of ticks that carry Lyme disease, (mostly) don't carry rabies because their body temp is too low, and they're the only marsupial native to North America! They get a bad rap because their first defense is to hiss and bare teeth, but failing that, they just play dead.
If you don't have the predisposition to hate them, you'll find they're pretty cute too.
E: this is about /opossums/, the north American species.
Kiwis, I feel for you, but this comment isn't about your possums.
​Hating on other people for just living their lives also seems to be a big contender for things that don’t deserve to be hated on.
This is so true.
Unemployed people. A lot of people genuinely are looking for work and did not want to lose their last job/it was beyond their control (like a layoff) but they get so much hate and called lazy by most people. I know too many unemployed people that are actually really trying hard. They definitely aren't lazy. (Not saying lazy unemployed people don't exist, but to be fair, so do lazy employed people too lol)
Leave the weather man alone!
Fox Raining GIF by Family GuyGiphyMeteorologists. They try their best to predict the weather based on patterns, models, and data. They're not perfect because predicting the weather is insanely difficult. When they get it wrong, I think we should go easy on them. It was probably an outlier result almost no one could have foreseen.
I've seen people get angry over the meteorologists for getting it right. Like they control the weather - it is their fault we are having rain, that kind of BS. Never made sense to me, but hey, I have plenty of relatives I clashed with growing up.
Please stop being d*cks to these people.
Customer service associates.
I hate when customers think that I, the minimum wage person forced to sit there and listen to them yell, am personally responsible for every policy they disagree with. Like, ma'am, if I had that much power and influence, I wouldn't be sitting here on a Saturday evening serving you.
Wholesome and necessary.
People don't deserve hate they give themselves when they are not doing too good at the moment.
I'm in a weird place and I didn't know I needed to read this. Thanks buddy.
If you haven't heard it from anyone else today, I'm proud of you.
It seems like people hate on things simply because they think they're meant to hate them. But you can always be the change and make an effort to stop being an a**hole about certain things.
No matter what though, sometimes haters gonna hate