linenandlavender.net: shopping days...

image via Côté Ouest Dec01-Jan02

I'm all cozy at home shopping on-line today...making my way through my list of family and friends. I thought I'd take a moment to share one of my favorite gift ideas- a magazine subscription.

Here is how you can make a magazine subscription special and on par with any gift you give this year:

If you can opt for a bit of a splurge, it's fun to gift a foreign magazine in their favorite genre...whatever they are passionate about. For me, living here in the U.S., that would include anything from Côté Maison or say, Belle (Australia) or the French edition of Elle Decor...These range in price from $39-$110 and up.

Once you decide on the magazine, make it special by printing out a photo found here or elsewhere on-line or pulled from a magazine if you happen to have something that will work well. You are looking for something that is best representative of the magazine's content...a dreamy image of a chateau for a French design magazine, for example.

Image by Olivier Hallot for Art et Decoration as seen on linenandlavender.net

Put the image in a simple black frame (or any frame you think they will like/re-use) and wrap in a box along with a handwritten note expressing your holiday wishes and why you thought they would enjoy this particular magazine. (Include the subscription start date, length and any other pertinent details you received when ordering so they have all the follow-up info handy.)

Of course, the very best part is that this gift continues on for months after... They will be thinking of you each time they open their mailbox to find another issue waiting for them!