Tapping Your Talents

A good friend of mine (shout-out to Liz!) is getting married in a few short months.  Weddings are an insane time of gift giving.  I love giving presents as much as the next girl, but a shower gift and a wedding gift?  Not in our budget this year.  Liz was asking me about shower ideas when it dawned on me:  I have to get her a shower gift, too!  I’ve had her wedding gift in mind for awhile (no worries, I’ll do a post about it after the wedding), but I had no clue what else I could give her on our budget.  She is definitely one that likes personal, handmade gifts.  I would much rather go out and buy a gift, and if gift wrapping is included I’m game! 

The last time I had to do something big on a budget was our wedding.  Luckily, Zach and I have A LOT of super talented, artistic friends.  We tapped them out for as much as we could.  Photographer friend: check.  Bossy friend to deal with vendors and do hair: check.  Pastor friend: check.  We managed to have a beautiful wedding and reception for 100 people on about $5,000.  Well, this girl over here isn’t without some talent!  I have my cosmetology license, so I could have offered to do her wedding hair as her wedding gift, but I wanted her to have something tangible (post in June!).  So, I thought and thought about what to give her as a shower gift that would cost time and work, not money.  She has always complimented my handwriting, so I offered to hand address all her invites.  Having a professional address them would cost about $1.50 per envelope (or so I found when I Googled it)!  She is estimating 88 envelopes, so $132!  I know I’m not a professional, but my grandma thought I hired someone to do mine.  Yeah right.  Those bad boys were addressed at my parents’ dining room table by yours truly.  Addressing invitations is also one more thing to check off her To Do list.  Right now, that is the one thing she wants the most!

So, evaluate your talents.  Play an instrument?  Offer to play while guests are arriving to the ceremony or even during the ceremony!  (Please only do this if you’re really, really good and play a pretty sounding instrument.  It’s hard to turn someone down, and no one wants to walk down the aisle to Canon on the trumpet.)  Planning a big event?  Ask your friends to help!  A lot of people underestimate their talent and wouldn’t think to offer it.  You might have a cousin that’s really good at hair, or a brother that is just starting out in photography.  Use ‘em and abuse ‘em.  Well, don’t abuse them, and only use them if they’re truly willing.