Gift Giving Treasure Hunt

On the subject of gift giving, let me back up to the beginning of January, when my niece's birthday gift was late. While I debated sending her the hand-knitted mittens one at a time as I finished them, I just couldn't do it after all. Instead, I embellished her greeting card to reflect the purple one mitten theme ...

Inside it read ...

Just cracks me up!

And even further back, when the Granddaughter was just a little thing learning how to read, she'd often say something like, "No thanks, I don't want to read -- you just go ahead and read it to me." So I came up with the Treasure Hunt Reading Game -- I even wrote about it on Hubpages a couple of years ago -- where I made up clues that led her to presents. The catch was, she had to read the clues to find them!

Now we're up to current times and what we did on Valentine's Day for the 14-year-old Granddaughter. Same concept ...

We put a gift bag on the kitchen counter with an oh so cool gift sent by her Auntie ...

and the first note that read, "Happy Valentine's Day! To get your gift, you'll have to do a little work." Then I drew a small picture of piano keys and a music symbol that directed her to our keyboard where she found a gift bag with an iTunes gift card and a note that read, "Enjoy your music. You don't suck but the vacuum does." This sent her to the hall closet where we keep the vacuum. {Oh Lord, she didn't even know where the vacuum was. How long have we lived in this house???} The gift bag in this closet contained a $20 bill with this note, "A little spending cash for the mall. Now get some exercise." She did know where the treadmill was and found a big gift bag containing her Minky blanket.

The treasure hunt was fun for all of us and she felt very special.

Later that evening, Hubby and I exchanged Valentine's gifts. He gave me a gift bag with a lovely package of dark chocolate covered caramels and a note that read, "Happy Valentine's Day! To get your gift, you'll have to do a little work." What???

That's right, my sweet and hilarious Hubby used the same gift bags and notes and sent me on a treasure hunt for Valentine's presents. What a hoot! Mine included an iTunes gift card, a $20 bill and a gorgeous new watch.

And in case you're wondering, his unimaginative, lonely single gift bag from me contained an Aerosmith CD (loving Steven Tyler on American Idol), the DVD "A Few Good Men" (You can't handle the truth!) and a watch cap that I knitted for him. Now that's true love!