Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Packing and personalising gifts: bags, ear-ring books, literary pens, pendants, tee-shirts

When I travelled to Japan as a student, I won a place on a trip staying for free with families from the local traders' or masonic lodge type societies and I needed to take four or more gifts in luggage which I would be carrying on and off planes and trains, up and down staircases on the Trans-silberian railway over Russia.

I took with me tea towels from London because I could take several which would weight little, take up not too much room, were not fragile or breakable, and if they had pictures and words they were good for people to practise their English, start a conversation with me, frame them or use them.

Now that you can buy tea towels from overseas they are not such a novelty. Tee-shirts are another possibility.

A third gift for somebody who has everything would be personalised jewellery. For example, visiting an author, you could make tiny book rings, pendants or ear- rings. You can buy lots of small size gifts of a literary nature from the literary gift group.

The pens are £1.50 each and a set of five for about £6.50. You may have to add tax and postage.

An alternative is to make your own gifts. Personalise them by using the cover of a famous out of copyright book, or your own book or the recipient's favourite book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5uegOpZmzY - video on how to make a book to attach to a pendant or key-ring.

Another gift for a traveller is a tee shirt with a map of the train lines at their destination, or a bag with a map of the train lines.

Or a travel diary.

A gift for a person you are visiting, a person visiting you, or to take for yourself on your travels.
A christmas gift, such as a literary bag imprinted with books, literary jewellery, a tee-shirt, socks with Edgar Alan Poe, stocking fillers, gifts to speakers at a Christmas party, gifts for yourself on your wish list, something to save for your next holiday or business trip.

http://www.theliterarygiftcompany.com/jewellery-2-c.asp

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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