There are always unforgettable experiences and joyful, nostalgic moments to celebrate. My motto is: there is always a reason to give a thoughtful gift.  Whether you're celebrating the new addition to the family, the happy bride and groom, or the optimistic graduate, there's always an opportunity to gift. Wedding season has begun, graduation and Mother's Day are both right around the corner. These are all perfect opportunities to make others feel loved and valued.
 
I'm pretty sure giving gifts is one of my love languages. Finding or creating the perfect gift gives me all the feels. This isn't the case for everyone. Giving, other than money, flowers, or gift cards, can be a daunting task for some.
 
Below, I am sharing a few of my ideas for ways to give meaningful, thoughtful gifts for those upcoming special occasions.

Wedding
 
The invitation has been received. You know what you're want to wear (because that's important too), but now, the gift.  Everything is already purchased off the registry, now what? Finding the perfect gift can be no easy task.
 
A thoughtful gift idea for the happy couple could be a watercolor of their wedding day. Ana of IdeasToPaper offers custom wedding portraits that are a perfect gift to give.
 
A gift basket filled with items for their new home or things for them to enjoy together are great ideas.  This gift includes The Date Night Cookbook, Mr. & Mrs. trinket tray, let’s stay home oversized pillow, picture frame, throw blanket, and tote.

Mother's Day
 
Mother's Day is almost here, so it's time to pick the perfect gift for your mom and other special women in your life.
 
Are you feeling a little pressure to come up with the perfect gift that expresses how much you care? Gift baskets and boxes are always a great gift idea, but don't forget about the new mommies and those who have lost their moms.
 
Fill the gift with items mom can use and enjoy, things only for her and not something she has to share with others.
 
This gift includes a picture frame, candle with matches, a love trinket heart tray, to-do list pad, lemonade but you can always add something a little stronger, a healthy treat, or add some chocolate. 

​Graduation
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It’s that time of the year, and since we can't reverse the clock to turn our kiddos into little ones again, we might as well celebrate, right? We are hoping and praying for the graduating class of 2020 to be able to have a graduation with their peers, family, and friends. We are all looking forward to seeing the graduates in their caps and gowns, marching down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance, and receive their diplomas. Thoughtful gifts for these graduates can include items that motivate, encourage, and celebrate there all work. Gift items that will prepare them for college or the workforce.
 
This gift includes a happy pop-up encouragement card, Life is Now wooden block, Think Big notebook, College Survival Playing Cards, and Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years interactive book. These items come inside a pine box with a matching school color ribbon. 

Money is one of the most emotionally loaded topics out there - we love money, hate money, obsess
over money, ignore money, resent money, hoard money, crave money, bad-mouth money; money is rife
with so much desire and shame and weirdness. The way you handle or don’t handle your money affects
every area of your life. You may overspend it, hoard it, give it away to others, buy items you can’t
afford, or worse…. Just avoid it, burying your head in the sand. Whether you’re rich or poor, you have a
lot of money or a lot of debt; you feel great or terrible about your money, these are all determined by
your beliefs and behaviors.

Your beliefs about money influence your behaviors – what you do, how you do it, and even how you feel
every single day. You’ve had a relationship with money your entire life. Based on that relationship,
you’ve determined the significance of money, the importance of what money can give you, and the
driving force behind why you do what you do concerning money. Understanding your relationship with
money is critical to managing your money successfully.

Your values play a leading role in how you spend, save, and make financial choices. Values are the
feelings and personal meaning or significance you assign to having a thing: the house, the clothes, the
trip, the lifestyle you choose. In just a single day, we make many choices about what we value by how
we spend our money.

Goals are different. Goals are the tangible things you want from having money. Reaching financial goals
is as dependent on the choices we make with the money we have as it is on our level of income. But
when you think about what having or reaching the goal would give you, it could be security, freedom,
confidence, or any number of things. Those are your values. If your goals support your values, you’ll be
more likely to prioritize them, which gives you a greater chance of accomplishing them.

Most people’s most significant problem with money is they don’t know where it all goes. That’s because
you’re unconscious of where it’s going. How will you know when you have “enough” if you don’t know
what your lifestyle costs? The only way to become conscious is to begin tracking your spending habits.
How much of your spending is deliberate, purposeful, and goal-oriented? Evaluate your spending
habits. Marie Kondo style things and decide what lights you up and brings you joy. Many discover that
they’re spending money in small ways that add up and sometimes don’t match their priorities. Often, it
is the low financial decisions we make on a day-to-day basis that have the most influence on our
financial well-being and future economic security.

Develop a spending plan instead of a budget. Budgets are like diets – they rarely work because they
feel restrictive, and we don’t stick to the plan. More important than building a pile of money is
developing a plan for that money. While hopes and dreams can motivate us, they’re often open-ended
or vague. That makes it hard to build a plan to reach them. Instead, a spending plan prioritizes how you
spend your money so that it goes toward things that really matter to you.

Building wealth is relatively simple: spend less than you earn, avoid debt, and invest for long term
growth. Simple, but not easy. When you have clarity and focus on what is important to you, financial
decision-making becomes much easier. But if you don’t tell your money where to go, you’ll always
wonder where it went.

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