Planning for the Future...Way in the Future

Nostalgia is powerfully evocative. If you can, you might want to consider hanging on to some things for the future. For example...

GET IT BEFORE YOU FORGET IT

If you get a brilliant idea for a perfect gift, get it sooner rather than later. At least write it down so you won't forget. I've had a Christmas present waiting since the end of December 2019, because I had the opportunity to get it then and didn't want to miss it. I also have a book that I'll pair with a knit baby blanket when a particular friend has a baby--it's a story about a present being broken on the way to a party, the same way the gift I gave my friend for her wedding shower broke.

Plus, the gift that broke--a tea set from her registry--was an inside joke from our childhood

In the past, I've also saved things I found at secondhand stores, waiting for the right time. Once I found a book about a duck family and put it away for when my brother had his first child (like my friend, I knew he wanted a family). He almost got a little teary when I gave it to him and his wife after they announced a baby was on the way--six years after I found the book.


PLAN AHEAD

Some gifts might take a while. Making vanilla extract only takes two ingredients, but requires months to be ready to use. When I grew a cutting of my great-grandparents' houseplant that I inherited for my grandfather (their son) as a birthday present, I needed to start growing it several weeks in advance. Last Christmas, I gave some of my family pumpkin and watermelon seeds from my garden. That meant that when I harvested the plants, I had to remember to set aside the seeds, let them dry, and package them to last until the following spring. I lost them twice in that time! Fortunately I found them again both times, but I should have learned the lesson the first time. I plan to do the same with flower seeds in the future, and I have a better system now!

Be on the lookout for things that can be used for gifts. Bits of wedding invitations can become custom Christmas ornaments. When I knitted dishcloths for party favors at baby showers for my nieces and nephews, I saved a few to give them for housewarming presents when they're adults.

Labeled, just in case

Think of things to mark the passage of time for anniversaries or birthdays, like things made in specific years.

This proof set is from the year I got married--I already gave my husband the penny on our first anniversary, the nickel on our fifth, and the dime on our tenth. The quarters will wait for our twenty-fifth, but I'll likely not wait for a fiftieth anniversary for the half dollar, and definitely not for a hundredth anniversary for the dollar!

You might also have access to some special memorabilia, like clothing or jewelry that belonged to a deceased loved one. Personal effects can be given as is or made into keepsakes, like a throw pillow made from fabric cut from a favorite shirt or earrings made into suncatchers.

I made these throw pillows from fabric a friend's late mother had saved:
one for my friend, one for each of her grandchildren

Plus a few bookmarks and a Christmas ornament from the last few

These medals belonged to my late aunt. I've kept them safe, and have been passing them along when my siblings and cousins have children, so her great-nieces and -nephews have something of hers

SCHEDULE IT

If you want to mark a particular occasion, leave yourself reminders. Paper or electronic calendars are good options, and some email services let you schedule emails for later. As in the picture of the dishcloths, I label gifts that I'm saving. Aside from the possibility I might forget why I'm saving something, there's a chance I'll need to trust someone else to take care of it for me after I'm gone.

Reminders are also good for gifts that require several steps. My parents have three kids; when the last of us was about to get married, I had an idea to get pictures of us siblings together at each of our weddings and put them in a nice frame for a Christmas present. I had gotten married eleven years before and my wedding pictures were taken on film, and unusually sized film at that--plus since I hadn't been planning this already, I needed to zoom in on one of the pictures to crop just us. I ended up having to track down a specialty photo place and wait a few weeks for them to get the pictures developed, and they were also able to make other prints for Mother's Day (Mom with each of us at our weddings), Father's Day (Dad with each of us), and the following Christmas (Mom and Dad at each wedding and at theirs, since that Christmas was shortly before a milestone wedding anniversary. It would have been easier if I'd thought to get those poses at the time, instead of hoping there was something salvageable more than a decade later!

SAVE IT

What do you with a gift while you hold on to it for months or years? You need a dedicated spot to keep it, so it won't get lost. My sister-in-law has a shelf in her closet, I keep two boxes under my bed--whatever works for you. Just be sure it's safe!

Christmas on the left, everything else on the right