Thoughtful present: A party in a box

A few weeks ago I saw the live streaming of the National Theatre production of Angels in America at my local cinema. It was in two parts shown over two consecutive weeks. The first part was 3 hours 20 minutes and the second part was 4 hours 20 minutes (each part had a couple of intervals thrown in.) It was an epic play with amazing performances by the whole cast, and the staging and lighting were of a very high standard as well.

What stayed with me afterwards was ability the whole cast had to remember what was in essence the duration of several plays. And furthermore had the high energy to give thought provoking, funny and sensitive performances night after night.

I’ve written to a cast of a show before when I thought it was really good, but I thought that wouldn’t be enough this time. My sister Lucy knew someone who worked at the theatre itself and he advised against giving anything baked. The first thing I thought about when leaving the streaming of the play was that the cast need a long holiday, but I’m not a millionaire so I couldn’t send them to a tropical island!

I then thought that letting their hair down and having a party might be the next best option. So I visited one of my favourite shops Tiger and bought things to make a party in box or party package which has a nice ring to it. Novelty glasses were the main contributor, and I also bought some funky straws and disposable shot glasses. In a stroke of luck, I also found some sashes that said ‘I was hot in the 80s; which was pretty apt as the play is set in the 80s!

I dropped off the party pack to stage door early this evening. Who knows if it will be used at a party they may have. Even though there were a few well-known actors in the cast including Oscar nominated Andrew Garfield, I’m sure they’d appreciate a surprise thoughtful present from time to time.

Random act of kindness: Good customer service should be rewarded

Last week I was heading towards the hill at the end of my street for a brisk walk when I got stopped by a stranger asking me where the nearest hotel was. It was the next street along and as I hadn’t any urgent plans I thought I’d walk her there myself.

We got to the hotel and she hadn’t booked anything in advanced and she was a bit startled at the cost. She asked me if I knew of any other hotels and luckily I did as I used to work at one close by. I gave them a call and unfortunately they were fully booked. You would think that would be the end of the conversation but the receptionist went onto give me the details of other hotels close by, and their contact details. To save me time calling around she even checked Booking.com to see if there was availability. Bear in mind this hotel was fully booked and not gaining anything by helping me, I thought she went above and beyond.

Upon talking to the stranger some more I found out her name was Lisa and she’d travelled from France and was back up to Edinburgh the next door, not before presenting a poster at an event at a university. She was extremely tired, so even though the hotel I showed her to was the more expensive option, she booked a room there.

So there was the random act of kindness that I helped a stranger get a hotel room, but I also wanted to say thanks to the receptionist at the hotel I called. Luckily I was still in contact with the Front of House Manager, so I contacted her just to double check the name of the receptionist. I then wrote a little note and bought a bar of chocolate and dropped it off at the reception desk.

I’ve no idea if she has received it or her reaction; that’s not important. What I thought was important was that good customer service that goes above and beyond is recognised, which sometimes isn’t the case. Sometimes it’s easier to make a compliant because you’re hoping for a refund of sort, some sort of personal gain. Having worked in a couple of venues I recognise that at the end of the day venue staff work really hard and put up with a lot.

And who doesn’t like a free bar of chocolate? Free food always tastes better!

Thoughtful presents: They don’t always go right

Throughout this blog I’ve mentioned random acts of kindness and thoughtful presents that I’ve given. Social media has a way of being able to highlight when things go right, but if I did that all the time then it wouldn’t be real life. Things go wrong and this week a thoughtful present/act of kindness went wrong.

One of my creative friends was going through a tough time as a family member was in and out of hospital. When I hear somebody I know is going through a tough time, I have a reflex that I have to do something to make things better. Not to solve the problem because I haven’t got a magic wand in life. I just feel a surprise present, act of kindness or whatever you want to call it, might make a tough day a bit better.

So back to my creative friend, I thought making some granola bars might do the trick. They’re a good source of energy and healthy. I got my friends address and like all acts of kindness I was all set to do a doorstop drop off because some people get awkward in accepting kindness. I was all set…and then I saw on his Instagram that he was on holiday! So I had a batch of granola bars but with nowhere to go. Luckily with anything I bake; family, flatmates, and work colleagues are happy to eat them. 

This isn’t the first time a kindness idea hasn’t gone the way I planned it. A friend of mine last year had her first baby. She had lost her mum when she was a teenager and although she had female relatives around her, I thought it would be great to get some advice on motherhood from some well-known mum’s. I wrote to around 15, and had planned to write to more. But I only got 2 replies; one was from JK Rowling’s people saying she doesn’t reply to individual letters. The other was in a week of writing and was from Jo Elvin, who is the editor of Glamour magazine. She wrote a lovely letter for my friend and really put the time into writing. I didn’t get the outcome I wanted, maybe I just wrote to the wrong people.

And when I did a random act of kindness day I tried to give a dog a bone! It’s seriously hard to do. The owners are close by and would get suspicious of a stranger giving their dog a bone. In the end I just had to leave it in a park and hope a dog would find it!

In the news you hear lots about random acts of kindness and the successes, but you hear less about the ones where the intentions are good, but don’t pay off. They should be rewarded just as much because at the end of the day, doing something for a stranger is a risk, you don’t know how they’ll react whether it will be good or bad.

If an act of kindness doesn’t pan out, don’t be put off. It’s all about timing and sometimes even acts of kindness, however great they are can have a case of the right place wrong time. And if you’ve experienced that in an act of kindness you’ve done, I urge you to keep going, and I applaud your efforts.

Now does anybody want some granola??

Thoughtful presents: A year long wedding present

Just over a year ago Kate and Dan got married. Kate is sisters with my flatmate Rachel and I’ve known the couple for many years. I’ve noticed over the past few years that most couples who get married request money for their honeymoon, and unless I don’t know the couple very well, I don’t really like giving money as I feel it’s just going to spend it on drinks which will then be in the toilet a few hours later!
 

So where possible I like to be thoughtful, and with Kate and Dan I thought what could I do different? Coming from a Wedding Coordinator background I often wondered what married couples talk about once the wedding is over. All that build up and then it’s over in a day. I wanted to keep the celebration feeling last a little longer.

The traditional present for the anniversary of the first year of marriage is paper. And with this in mind I decided to give Kate and Dan a paper related gift every month in their first year of marriage. The first present I gave them was on their wedding day and this was a newspaper, which they both really appreciated as they were meaning to get someone to buy one but they forgot. It’s a great keepsake, and it’ll be pretty interesting reading in the future.

Other presents included:
•    The number one fiction book the day they got married.
•    A scratch map.
•    Disposable cameras, photo album a list of things to take pictures of for a photo scavenger hunt.
•    Paper craft kit
•    A paper brussel sprout (you guessed it, this was December’s present)
•    A book about the best bars in the world
•    Lonely Planet magazine
•    Draw your own caricatures set
•    An address book which I turned into a restaurant guide, to list all their favourite restaurants
•    A jigsaw puzzle.

Their final present was my favourite present and it was personalised paperchains. Thanks to a sale on Not on the High Street, I managed to get these half price, so it was a bonus that I got a bargain. The set included over 50 strips to make paperchains with, and you could choose up to 16 images, so I chose ones from the stag and hen do’s as well as the wedding itself.

 

I really liked how they turned out, and Rachel set them out for Kate and Dan when they all went on a family holiday to Greece. They even wore them as wristbands.

I had a lot of fun thinking of different presents on the same theme. I had some initial ideas when I thought of the theme, but was glad other things popped up on the way.

Challenge within a challenge: Back in events

Challenges come in all shapes of sizes; in our daily lives we can be challenged, even if we don’t set these challenges ourselves.

From 2009 to the start of 2013 I worked in events, and then until February this year I worked in team support and PA roles. However, this sort of work was mundane to me and it made me realise I wanted to work back in events. Getting back into events work was a challenge enough as the large majority of the time potential recruiters and employers could only see my most recent employment in support roles and not see beyond that, and the fact that I had 5 years of solid events experience.

Last year I decided to take matters into my own hands and in a small way try to make things happen, and started volunteering at charity networking events to get my foot back into events. I did this for a year and as a result of volunteering, the company I was doing this for actually did recruitment as well, and ultimately put me forward for the job I’m now in today.

I’ve been in my current job since the start of February and it’s been a bit of adjustment getting back into events. I thought it would be easy but there is a difference between being busy as a PA and busy in an events role.

Tomorrow I start working on a week long course which is a very high in demand revision course for 150 delegates total spread over 5 days. The set up and the days themselves are complex and long. I was at work on Friday night till 8.45 setting up with my manager. There are lot of circuits of different materials and different sets of timings that all the delegates have to abide to. The real kicker is I have to be at work at 6.30am, and commuting in it will be a really early start for me (3 or 4am!)

There are several things I’m nervous about; exactly how tiring will it be? How will I keep up the energy up, it will fill like Groundhog Day as every day is an identical set up. Will I make mistakes?
I was thinking to the last 5-day event that I worked on was back in 2012. It was a 5-day residential course which took place in Loughborough. It was a great week, the faculty were lovely and the core team of me, the events coordinator Emma and our colleague Ashley from Washington worked really well together. Ashley and I became quick friends (as pictured below) and she showed me to Michael Buble singing about Russian Unicorns which will always make me laugh. I still hope to visit Ashley one day in Washington. Although it was a long week, surprisingly I still had time to train for Tough Mudder everyday in the gym for an hour as soon as the gym was open. I’ve no idea how I managed to get the energy for that and how I was still standing, but somehow I did.

With tomorrow I’m hoping that my neighbours don’t have late night parties tonight (letters have been posted.) My outfits for the week have been planned, my evening light meals will by the end of today will have been made. I plan to read some of my favourite books each night before bed, and listen to a Desert Island Disc each night to help me sleep. Eat, commute, work, commute, read, relax, sleep repeat will be my week. Bring on Friday evening!

Thoughtful presents: Music in the future, from the past

A couple of months ago my friend Michelle had a baby girl called Millie. It’s her first child and I’ve had a few friends who have got children and I’m also at a loss at what to get. Toys and clothes are the obvious, but babies grow out of clothes quickly and move on from toys just as fast. I got my thinking cap on as to what I could get that might last a little longer and then I had an idea.

Michelle did a clever thing which not all my friends have had children have done, she text me after a couple of days saying what date Millie had been born on. Sometimes you hear about when babies arrive, but they don’t mention their birth date. This is all important in the present that I got.

What I bought was the album which was number one at the time Millie was born, and the number single. Although with singles no longer being readily available, she ended up getting another album. Millie’s full name is Emelia and Elbow had the number one album with Little Fictions, and the number one single was Shape of You by Ed Sheeran. So it was a week of the letter E. It was also a good thing she arrived when she did, if she arrived earlier then she would’ve got a Justin Bieber song as the number one single!

I wrote a letter with the CDs and the present and letter are to be opened by Millie when she is older and starts appreciating music and likes reading letters. So I’m hoping this will be 6 and upwards. The letter states how I know her parents, why music is important and how it’s a great thing to enjoy and help you through the good times and the bad, and how fun it is to dance.

I really enjoyed writing the letter. I’ve given Michelle the choice of when she gives the present to Millie. She says it’s going to be in her wardrobe until that point. I’m excited for the future and when Millie will open her present. I want to start backdating this sort of present with other friend’s children, especially the ones that are a bit older. It will be really interesting to see what music was number one when they were born.

Thoughtful presents: Supporting exam madness

Whenever I talk to one of my friends, if they say they are struggling, or down I automatically think what can I do to help them. And recently my old flatmate Faith said she was right in the middle of exam madness. She’s currently doing law exams and they are notoriously tough. Although I haven’t done law exams to the depth that Faith is I did do GCSE Law and NCTJ Law exams at uni. Both of which I found really difficult and I even failed the NCTJ one first time round.

Studying for exams around full time work shows even more determination and even more energy than when studying for exams at school. I didn’t want to bombard Faith with useless things, but I thought a visit to Paperchase might brighten up her studying days, and also to use a 20% off voucher that I had as well.

I got scented highlighters, because it’s a small reference to Legally Blonde when Elle Woods gives her resume in and it’s scented. I got a little gratitude book where you write 3 things that make you happy each day, so that could provide positivity during stressful times, novelty sunglasses just because they are funny and laughter is good for stress.

Food also made an appearance and after some research I found that pumpkin seeds and blueberries are great for brain power.

Faith was really pleased with the gifts and she said that pumpkin seeds were her favourite so that was the perfect choice.