Wipe out!

Let me be the first to say that gift giving is not a love language that I speak very well. (I'm referencing "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. If you haven't read it, I HIGHLY reccommend it!) First of all, "gifts" --outside of our parents, siblings and kids birthdays, and Christmas- are not in our budget. And, second, I don't get to SEE many people on their birthdays, so it seems kind of silly to show up a week (or month) early or late with a gift!

That said, on Friday night we had our small group over to celebrate a 30th Birthday. Being that I'm home now and have TIME, and that I was seeing this friend-- with the sole purpose being to celebrate her birthday-- I thought it would be nice to give a gift.

Recently, on Pinterest, I had seen some fun ideas such as: 30 suckers with a sign that read "30 sucks" or a cute jar full of bubble gum with a sign that read "30 blows." But they're so "negative." (I mean really, is 30 that bad? I don't know, I'm not there yet!) I started to think about how I can make it positive (30 rocks?) and do so by spending no money.

What do I have 30 of around my house? Cookie cutters-- "You're 'cut out' for your 30's!" But I don't want to give away all of my cookie cutters! (Some dear friends gave my hubby 30 golf balls, with fun things-- quotes, etc-- written on them!)

Meanwhile, I was chatting with my brother and he shared a story involving toilet paper. (It's not what you might think-- it involved missionaries, running out of money, and a toilet paper survey-- in a nutshell.) Voila! That's it!

And that chat gave birth to this...

On each of 30 "plies" I wrote an attribute of the Proverbs 31 woman, which I so easily see in this friend. A cute bow, a gift bag, and there you have the gift that keeps on giving. Oh, and it was free ;)

Now that's something my budget REALLY liked to give!