I’m quite possibly the world’s worst gift-giver.
“They say” that you show love in the way you feel loved. The fact that I do not feel loved when you buy me a gift, is abundantly clear in my nearly non-existent gift-giving prowess. I’m a Quality Time girl, which is why I will be chasing you down for your most valuable asset (your time) until the day I die. It’s why creating the HeartStories Girls Night Out is all about being face-to-face. It’s the secret sauce of all of life, at least to me. But it’s also why it’s incredibly important for me to surround myself with a team of people who are passionate about all the other ways people feel loved, including giving beautiful, thoughtful, meaningful gifts.
We do that at GNO too!
Have you ever heard of the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman? He says they are:
l. Words of affirmation – using words to build up the other person.
2. Gifts – a gift says, “They were thinking about me. Look what they got for me.”
3. Acts of Service – Doing something for them that you know they would like.
4. Quality time – giving someone your undivided attention – both talking and listening.
5. Physical touch – holding hands, hugging, and all forms of touching as expressions of love.
“Out of these five, each person has a primary love language that speaks more deeply to you than all the others. Discovering each other’s languages and speaking them regularly is the best way to keep love alive in relationships.”
If you’re my friend and “gifts” is your primary love language. I’m sorry. I try, I really do. I love you. And I hope somehow you’ll understand that gifts simply don’t compute in my brain. So most of the time, rather than buying you something that I don’t know if you’ll even like, I will opt to buy you a gift card. But if I do buy you some meaningful and thoughtful gift, it will likely be wrapped in a gift bag (that I picked up while trying to get that “one thing” at Target and got distracted by the $1 – $5 section they stuck right in the middle of my path). Or, like the gifts I gave to my amazing mastermind sisters, I may have bags, ribbon, and really good intentions ready for this gift that actually was very meaningful to me, but by the time they arrived, the ribbon hadn’t touched the gift. So, I just handed it right over. No card. No wrapping.
I really do love them, though.
When we give beautiful gifts like this at HeartStories Girls Night Out, it takes a village. This photo represents a HeartStories village coming together like you wouldn’t believe to create these gifts for our Girlfriend Holiday Party Table packages! The list of those involved in this effort outside of our actual HeartStories team included Taylor Toffee, Love Letters Handmade, The Scout Guide, Wine Glass Writer, All Things Patti, Esperance Aesthetic Wellness, Joia, and Gift Wrap Girl on The Go! It was truly a team effort, and they knocked it out of the park.
What’s your love language?
What makes you feel most loved? Do you find that you show love more easily in that language than the others?
Do you intentionally employ your village to show love to others in their love language?
I want to hear all about it!
to more love,
Crystal
p.s. If you need a last-minute gift for a woman in your life, you can give the gift of One Word Girls Night Out on January 9th! What a great way to kick off the year! I don’t know about you, but I see pretty clearly how it can meet ALL five of the languages of love. 😉
1. You’ll be reminding her that she DESERVES this. (and her One Word will affirm her all year long!)
2. It’s a gift! (You could even print it out and wrap it!! Imagine that!)
3. You can give her a ride (or get a sitter, or an Uber, or all of the above!)
4. You can go with her or buy a ticket for a friend to go with her.
5. You can sit close, hug her repeatedly and even hold her hand while at GNO. (And if you don’t, I most likely will. I’m a hugger, people.)
