Holiday Season Challenge - Keep It Simple

I lost count how many times I found the perfect gift and then, concerned about how inexpensive I did it for, went out and bought an expensive gift that had no meaning. I thought about this while reading The Simple Dollar's post, "Children's Gifts - Don't Spend A Lot On What They Don't Want." In it The Simple Dollar discusses birthday presents for a two year old. When thinking about what the child would want most, things like Hot Wheels cars, drawing paper, and books came up. Ask the child and it was apple juice. Out of the mouth of babes. In my own experience, I think of a couple of key times this was true for adults as well. For my best friend's first child, I knit her a blanket. At the last minute I panicked because I had only spent about $5 on the yarn. I ended up purchasing a silver spoon and sent it with the blanket. Before you think I totally lost my mind, I did purchase it at a going out of business sale for about $30, but when she called to thank me, she kept raving about the blanket and just mentioned the spoon. Moral of the story, the cost of the present isn't important, the thought is.