gift ideas  (excerpted from Present Perfect)  

Give a time capsule from the year of his or her birth. Assemble information (sports highlights, news headlines, politics, fashion trends), music recordings, movie posters, radio show recordings, and other paraphernalia from the era.

Make a "This Is Your Life" audio or videotape. Include messages from former friends, classmates, teachers, teammates, coaches, college roommates, business associates, and others from bygone days.

Give a watercolor, sketch, or charcoal drawing of her childhood home or lakeside cabin. Or commission an artist to sculpt a replica of her boat.

Design and make (or have made) a quilt from blocks depicting accomplishments and events in her life. Or depict an important aspect of her life in a painting, needlepoint pillow, or cross-stitched plaque.

Engage the services of a genealogist or family historian to research the recipient's genealogy or write a life history.

Give something from his or her alma mater.   

Give her a beautiful keepsake letterbox in which to put the letters, poems, and love notes you promise to write her over the coming years.

Children will enjoy personalized books in which they become the star of the story. Titles include: My Birthday Wish, My Fishing Adventure, School Fun Book, The Big Circus, The Sibling Book, My Dinosaur Adventure, and many others. Phone: 800/394-4168. Internet: www.createabook.com.

Order a custom jigsaw puzzle made from a photograph of the recipient. Available from Phuzzles. Phone: 708/660-1050. Internet: www.phuzzles.com.

Give a custom-built birdhouse designed to look like the recipient's own house. Lindsay and John Beaudry in Ontario, Canada make beautiful custom replication birdhouses. See their work at http://www.birdhousestudio.ca/. Or call them at 705/286-6535.

Brookstone's talking photo frames and photo albums are perfect one-of-a-kind gifts for just about any occasion. Phone: 800/351-7222. Internet: www.brookstoneonline.com.

Present Perfect: Unforgettable Gifts for Every Occasion is filled with ideas for personalized gifts and many other creative gifts. In addition, you get tips on gifting etiquette, shopping, wrapping, special presentations, and much, much more. To order the book, click here.

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Have any personalized gift ideas you'd like to share?