The 12 Days of Christmas Gift Box - Pass it On!

I want to share with you a project I did last year.  I'm not showing it to you to get a pat on the back, but rather I'm sharing it in case you know someone who is going through a difficult time right now and could do with a fun surprise this Christmas.

Last Christmas I had a friend that needed cheering up so I decided to give her a box filled with twelve presents that corresponded to the verses in the Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas.  I had read about doing this on-line (a quick google search will reveal lots of ideas) and thought it would be a fun way to surprise her with some fun at Christmas. I left the box on her doorstep on December 24th in secret, but she figured out it was me in about 2.5 seconds.

Anyway she loved it, and has told me many, many times how that gift was the one bright spark in her holiday that year and brought such comfort and even healing during Christmas, both for her and her children as she let them help her open the gifts.  In fact it was so important to her that she saved every last piece of paper I gave her.  When I was over at her house last week doing a crafting evening she brought down all the pieces for me to see.   I've taken photos of them so you can see what I did.

I brainstormed different possible gifts to go with each of the verses of the carol, so I had some choices depending on what I could find in the stores.  Basically the gifts I used were -

First Day - a pear made of stone that I bought at Ten Thousand Villages

Second Day - chocolate turtles and a bar of Dove soap (see the photo below)

Third Day - a chic scarf compliments of the French hens
 
Fourth Day - four messages from the 4 calling birds (they were all inspirational messages that I found on-line)

Fifth Day - a tin of pineapple rings

Sixth Day - an egg-shaped candle left behind by the six geese-a-laying

Seventh Day - a bottle of Fresh Water hand soap compliments of the swimming swans

Eighth Day -  a box of milk-white narcissus bulbs to plant

Ninth Day -  a pair of socks used by the nine ladies who were out dancing all night

Tenth Day - a shoe Christmas ornament left behind by one of the Lords-a-leaping (see the photo below)

Eleventh Day - a piping hot drink (hot chocolate mix)

Twelfth Day - I drummed up some cookies (you can see the tin in the photo below that was made to look like a drum)

I also included two versions of the twelve days of Christmas that I found on-line.  The sublime one included the real meaning of all the gifts (I found it here)  and the ridiculous one was a funny series of letters from someone who receives all the gifts mentioned in the carol (I found it here).  The letters starts off all sweet and thankful and by the end she is a wreck because her house is full of geese and cows and people dancing etc.

It was a lot of fun being creative and thinking of little gifts that matched the verses in the carol, making the little notes that went on each of the gifts, and then planning how I was going to deliver the presents.  I have to say, though, by far the best part was that I brought some happiness to my friend.  I'm passing on this idea just in case you have a friend in need.  It is a really fun way to brighten someone's Christmas.

Update:  For a more recent post with lots of tips and more gift ideas for each of the twelve days see this post.

Linked to Strut Your Stuff link party at Somewhat Simple