A LETTER FROM A READER
At 67, My Granddaughter Asked Me How I Always Know What To Get Her
I've never written anything like this before, and I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing it now, except my granddaughter asked me something last week that I still haven't stopped thinking about.
Nan, how do you always know what to get me?
That's what she asked, unwrapping it before I'd even finished making the tea. She wasn't really asking about this one gift. I think she was asking about all of them, going back years.
I didn't choose badly, not really. Nobody decides to give something forgettable. You choose the safe thing because it's easy, and then years go by.
HOW IT HAPPENS
You don't set out to become the one who always gets it right. It just happens. You get one gift right, early on, and somehow that quietly becomes what everyone expects, without anyone ever actually saying so.
For years mine was candles, or something from the same three shops, dressed up a little differently each time. Nobody ever complained. But I started to wonder, some years, whether anyone could tell.
The gifts were always perfectly nice. That was almost the problem.
WHAT I HAD WRONG
Here's where I got it wrong, in two ways.
The first was assuming that finding something properly different for each person meant hours I didn't have, searching through shop after shop. It turns out that's not true, not when there's a whole range of designs to choose from in one place, each one actually different, not just a different colour of the same idea.
The second was sillier, if I'm honest. I assumed something with a print on it would look a bit twee, a bit novelty-shop, not something you'd actually want sitting in a proper room. It doesn't. It's properly illustrated, the kind of thing you'd choose for how it looks, that happens to have cats on it.
See The CollectionMine Is Poppy Cat Parade
It's from Olivia Bennett Melbourne, a small Australian shop that's spent thirteen years making the everyday things in a home a little less forgettable. Mine has two cats on it, sitting on a stack of colourful books, a couple of small butterflies near the spines. My granddaughter has been mad about reading since she was small, and somehow ended up with two cats despite swearing for years she was a dog person. I don't know why it never occurred to me before that a gift could just be about those two things, properly, instead of something safe and generic.
It's properly made, too. The quilting is soft but structured, so it stands up by itself whether it's full or empty. The design wraps the whole way round, so it looks considered from every angle, not just the front.
Word Got Around Fast
Her mother rang me that evening, just to say she'd never seen her that pleased over something practical. My sister asked about it a few days later, after seeing a photo of it in her room. And when my other granddaughter came to stay last weekend, she wanted to know why she hadn't gotten one too.
Nobody has ever rung me about a candle.
THREE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SINCE
One. It's not just for one person. I've since picked a different design for my sister, for a friend's new grandbaby, for my other granddaughter who's never read a book she didn't have to. Each one properly different, not the same idea repeated.
Two. It arrives a little flat, and that's normal. Mine looked slightly squashed straight out of the box, it's soft fabric, not a rigid shell. A minute of shaping it by hand, then pop a couple of books or a throw inside, and it holds its shape beautifully from then on.
Three. It's printed, not embroidered. I'll admit I assumed otherwise at first glance. It's a proper high-detail print, not stitched thread, which is exactly why it wipes clean so easily and why the colour hasn't faded a bit.
ABOUT THE PRICE
I'll be straightforward about this, because that was the thing that made me pause too.
Poppy Cat Parade starts from $64.95 AUD. It was $219.95 AUD.
My first thought was that it was a lot for what I'd normally spend on a smaller gift. Then I thought about what I was actually replacing, years of candles and gift sets that got used once, or not at all, and quietly moved to the back of a cupboard.
It's from Olivia Bennett Melbourne, a small Australian shop, she's closing after thirteen years to move overseas, and the shop is clearing what's left before it does. Once a design like this sells out, it isn't coming back.
See The CollectionWHAT I WOULD TELL YOU IF WE WERE FRIENDS
If you and I were sitting at my kitchen table and you asked me about this, here's what I'd say.
Have a think about whoever's next on your list, the one you always end up defaulting to the same sort of thing for. If you actually know a little about them, their designs cover far more than you'd expect.
It's a small thing. But being the one who's thought about matters more than being the one who's spent the most.
She asked me how I always know. The truth is I didn't, not this time, not until I actually looked properly.
— Sharon
POPPY CAT PARADE | QUILTED STORAGE BASKET
$219.95 AUD $64.95 AUD
- Soft quilted fabric with a folk-art cat and book design, all round
- Printed design — wipes clean, colour doesn't fade
- Holds its shape beautifully once filled
- Folds flat to store or take with you
- Three sizes, from a single gift to a family's worth of storage
- Free Australia Delivery
Moving Sale on now. Once Poppy Cat Parade sells out, it's gone for good.