When I was a little girl, too young to even be in school, my mother worked nights, so in the mornings after everyone else had left for school or work, she would let me "read" for a few minutes on the bed while she woke up to the new day. I always had a pile of books available to me. I loved that, so reading quickly became known to me as an important and fun thing to do. Years later as a preteen and teenager, on lazy summer days I borrowed my mother's books and devoured them.
Years have passed, but my mother and I still share our love of reading and reading (and crossword puzzles) are still hobbies that she loves. So on birthdays and holidays I gift her books, usually ebooks because she can increase the font size (also, if I gift it to her and it turns out to be a book she's already read, she can trade it for a different book or a credit without downloading it, so there's that advantage, as well). Since I can also set these purchases up in advance and schedule the date when Amazon (in my case) sends the emails to her to know that she's been gifted books, I have plenty of time to research, pick and choose.
But gifting an ebook often seems like a bit of a cold enterprise. There's no actual object to unwrap, no ribbons or bows. So, I try to dress things up a bit. I buy (or make) a nice card. Then I set up a separate Word file, copy and paste images of the books along with any info I want to include (titles, authors, descriptions, my own personal notes on each book), write any kind of message I wish to convey, print it out in color and enclose it in the card.
Here's a portion of one of my drafts (not particularly fancy, but it was a starting place. Obviously, it needed fancying up along with more of a personal message and a suitable greeting card to go with it).
Alternate methods (some may involve mailing a small package):
Version 2: From a simple start like this, you can dress things up a bit. Print out larger versions of the cover (or covers), fold a decorative piece of paper in half, affix the image to the front like a book cover and write a personal message inside. If you have several books you're giving to the same person, enclose all these "books" into a pretty box, add wrapping paper and a bow.
Version 3: Buy a small and simple photo book (I used to get these in the mail as giveaways for charities. They're probably still sold at dollar stores). Print out the images of the book covers, put each one in a separate page of the photo book and wrap it up.
Version 4: Embellish. In addition to your book list (or your pretend books from version 2 or photo books from version 3), add in some of the things the recipient might like to enjoy with the book (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, a nice mug, snacks, mood music as background music for reading, a simple throw for those cold evenings).
Version 5: (No need to leave your house for this one). Purchase multiple ebooks, schedule them to arrive on consecutive days (kind of a 12 days of Christmas idea) and send an ecard or a an email or text with a photo of the book cover (or simply a pretty holiday image and message) for each day and each book. And if you want to go all out and send out a video with you singing a 12 Days of ebooks song, go for it!
One last note on gifting during the days of COVID: I understand that not everyone feels comfortable receiving physical things during a pandemic. That makes gifting ebooks even more special. If you don't want to send a paper card, there are so many ways to make beautiful images online. I recommend Canva as a free service. It's drag and drop and super easy to use. Create your image, add it to an email or a word file and then send it online, letting your special someone know that you're thinking of them, and books are on the way!
Have fun thinking of other variations on ways to creatively send ebooks during the upcoming holidays!
Best wishes!
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