The other day, I was working, in tandem with my
friend, Jane, on a "secret sister" questionnaire for the annual crafting retreat we attend every December with four other friends. At the retreat, each of us is assigned a secret sister.
The secret sister leaves thoughtful gifts in random spots at our retreat house for her assigned sister throughout the 4-day retreat...in front of the person's bedroom door, at her crafting table, on the staircase, etc.
The gifts are labeled with the person's name so she can find them...and the recipient doesn't know who her secret sister is until we do a "reveal" on the final day of our event.
It's kind of like the "Secret Santa" idea if you're familiar with that.
Jane created the questions for the form and I worked
on getting them all onto one page and adding some fun design elements.
Having this questionnaire prevents gift clutter for us. It gives the gift giver information like what colors that
person likes, what types of items she has enough of or would like more of, the scents she likes or if she prefers unscented, the type of music she enjoys, her favorite hobbies, and so on.
It helps ensure that the gifts each of us receive are those that we can use and won't end up as clutter. It acts as a "wish list."
If you and your family members
and/or friends often buy gifts for each other, having a questionnaire to use as a guide is extremely helpful. The actual gifts can still be "surprises" but those surprises are based on what the recipient will actually enjoy and use.
P.S. On another note, while working on this questionnaire, my friend, Jane, and I were going back and forth via email many times...and it just so happened to be the day after I was corresponding with one of my business colleagues, also named Jane.
I proceeded to accidentally email the questionnaire to Jane (my business colleague) not once, but twice. I noticed I did this within a few seconds, apologized, and business colleague Jane was so sweet about understanding (she chuckled and said it was "so human"), but oh-my-word! Not once, but twice!
So my snafu is a good reminder: When you are working quickly on something and sending a whole lot of email messages back and forth, don't be so quick to hit the send button. First, take a deep breath and ask, "Am I sending this to the
correct person?" And then ask yourself the same question again before pressing send.
