Several years ago after my grandfather died, my brother delivered me a bin full of odds and ends from my grandfather’s garage, which consisted of a few tools and thousands of screws, hooks, buttons, buckles, nails, small saw blades, snaps, doo-dads, thinga-majigs, and other small, weird things from another era (my brother thought his was funny since it was pretty much useless stuff).

So, in my sincerity and creativity, my 3 year old son and I created paperweights out of this stuff for Christmas gifts that year.  It was a good way to remember our late Grandpa Frank too, since it was his junk. :)  And my son had a blast creating it as well.

Stuff needed:
1) Small block of wood for base of paper weight
2) “Junk”
3) Glue - we used some really cool glitter glue I found in our kid’s craft stuff
4) A permanent marker to sign the bottom of the master piece

After giving this gift my dad said, “thanks for the junk!”  The next morning he said that he layed awake that Christmas eve and contemplated the true meaning of Christmas and decided that we as a family should change the way we give gifts.  Oh and they all still display those “junk” paper weights proudly on their desks.

If this does not grab you, another winner has been to frame original poetry written to an individual.

Cheers and thanks for the inspiration.

- Submitted by Keith A. Klassen of Sacramento, CA.

Posted by jason in ideas |