It’s that time of the year again – the Holiday season is almost upon us. Now’s the perfect opportunity to bring everyone you love together and spend some quality time with family and friends. Showing your love and appreciation in the form of a thoughtful gift is something most of us look forward to for months before the holidays. Getting the perfect gift, however, is not an easy task, especially for people who already have pretty much everything they need. And with the joy of the upcoming holiday season come the frustration and panic. That’s because usually when it comes to gifts, we often think about material objects.
If you’re looking for a way to avoid unnecessary stressful situations, like spending the last few hours right before Christmas Eve in a crowded shopping mall, or simply want to boycott the pure consumerism we live in (while you also save you hard-earned cash), we have the right solution for you. Here is a short but sweet list of ideas for non-material gifts that can bring just as much joy and will make you the Star of the festive season.
1. A personalized playlist or a dedicated poem
Some of us still remember the time when mixtapes were a thing. What was then a creative way to tell someone you really liked them can still serve the same purpose. The only difference is that nowadays your personalized playlist will be in a digital form. Just carefully choose some tracks that will remind the person of the good times you shared together. Maybe put together a compilation of tracks from their teenage years. Be creative! You can create and keep the playlist in your pCloud account. Send it via a download link, so the person can download it anytime. Make it extra cute and brand your download link using the Branding option in pCloud for an additional personal touch, your love one will appreciate.
If you are someone who likes to write, why not challenge yourself and spent a couple of hours coming up with a poem, dedicated to the person you want to surprise. Print it out on a nice piece of paper and give it to the person. If you feel extra brave, you can recite it out loud on the Christmas Eve gathering. You can still use a pCloud download link to share it, though!
2. The most precious gift – some of your time
We are so wrapped up in the idea that gifts should be material things that we often forget that the most precious gift of all is your time and attention. So how about you gift that this time around? You can spend a whole day off with your kids or visit your grandparents for an afternoon coffee or tea. Everyone needs a hand once in a while, so you can offer your friends to babysit their children or cook dinner for them. Think of a way to really spend some quality time with your loved ones, and they will surely appreciate it much more than another physical item they need to think of where to store.
3. A new skill
Acquiring new life skills happens throughout our whole life. You never stop learning, as they say. Challenging yourself by learning new things keeps your mind bright and helps you achieve your goals. Gifting a loved one a class or an online course is a great option, you can consider. There are courses for pretty much anything you can think of – be it a cooking class, photography course or an art lesson. To keep it extra low-budget and combine it with spending some time together you can teach someone something you are excellent at – like how to make that delicious banana bread you are famous for or showing your grandparents how to use a new software or a computer in general.
4. A list of helpful apps
Modern life is so busy and there is so much information and options out there that make us get overwhelmed so quickly. So why not do some research and come up with a selection of apps that can potentially make someone else’s life easier. Show a loved one that you really know them and care for them and choose a few useful apps that they can download on their smartphone with just a click. There are apps for everything. You can start with a workout app or a water drinking app, because everyone needs to be healthy. A meditation app could come in really handy as well. You can also recommend your friend or loved one the pCloud mobile app. It’s so easy – just use the Invite a friend option and the person will get a notification that you have invited them.
5. A family experience
Great memories are something everyone cherishes. After all that is all we will have one day, right? Spending your time creating those memories is priceless. What better time to share the love with your family and friends that the Holiday season? Invite them over to a nice dinner or a museum visit. Doing some good for the environment like planting a tree or cleaning a nearby park or beach can make for some wonderful time spent together that will make everyone feels special on top of that. Another great idea would be to plan a road trip together. This can sometimes be a bit spendy but the memories you will be able to make beat any price tag. Either way don’t forget to take tons of pictures and share them with everyone after the trip! For that you might want to check our recent tips on how to successfully manage your photos and videos in pCloud or another helpful blog post on pCloud’s upload link as a quick and easy file sharing option.
So there you have it – our guide for some non-material gifts, that can put a smile on the face of someone you love. Your closest people like family members and friends deserve to show them our appreciation and share some nice time with them this holiday season, whether you bring a physical gift or not.
Sharing is caring! So if you find this list helpful, send it to someone who might need some useful gift ideas as well.