Christmas Gifts Under $20 for Someone Far Away
Twenty dollars and a border is a hard brief. Half the budget goes on postage, the parcel arrives in January, and what fits in the box is a candle. Gifts that travel as a link skip both problems. The best of them are not things at all but somewhere to be: a small house the two of you share in the browser, which arrives the moment you send it and is still there in March.
Make a house for them
See what it’s like
An evening in, from two cities.
Happy Christmas. The fire’s lit.
Look round before you keep itThe terrace and the living room are free to try, with no sign-in. Walk round, play something, and only keep the house if it feels right.
Ideas to start with
Things to do there, and to leave there.
- Look round before you keep it
- Snap with Nana June
- Their name on the door
- The plant
Do it together
Things to do there together
Look round before you keep it
The terrace and the living room are free to try, with no sign-in. Walk round, play something, and only keep the house if it feels right.
Snap with Nana June
Nana June knits by the living room fire and plays Snap. Losing to her is a shared experience worth having.
A tune left on the piano
Two octaves, and a record button. Play them something, even badly, and leave it to be found.
Leave something
Notes to leave for them
“Happy Christmas. The fire’s lit.”
“Look in the jar. Then call me.”
“Your drink is on the bar.”
Make it yours
Ways to make it theirs
Their name on the door
Choose “A house for” and type their first name. It goes on the door, and the key is theirs.
The plant
Either of you can water it, once a day, and it grows a leaf for each day it is watered. By spring it is proof the present was used.
The jar
One small thing a day, folded up, for the other to take out.
Magnets on the fridge
Eight magnets, forty characters each, from either of you: the in-joke, the address, the thing you would have said in person.
Why it works
A place, not a parcel.
Most budget gifts for someone far away spend the budget on getting there. A gift that travels as a link spends all of it on the gift, arrives on time in any country, and in the case of a house, keeps going after Christmas instead of going in a drawer.
Complete the occasion
Other gifts under $20 that pair well
A pop-up card with your voice on it
Gathered’s pop-up cards are a painting that stands up as it opens, with a music-box tune, your words and, if you like, your voice. Sent as a link, like the house.
One photograph, printed and framed
Order a print from a shop near them so it skips the border. One good photograph beats a box of small things.
A book, if others want in
If the whole family wants to give something together, a book everyone adds a page to costs less than any of their postage.
Questions
Before you begin.
Is there anything to post?
No. It is a link, so it costs nothing to send and arrives the moment you send it, in any country.
Will it arrive in time for Christmas?
Yes, whenever you send it. Send it by mid-December so there is time to look round before the day.
Does it cost anything?
No. Keeping the house is free during early access, and a house kept now stays free. The person you give the key to never pays.
What does the house cost?
Nothing, during early access. Every room is free to try, with no sign-in, and keeping the house is free too, with the key. A house kept during early access stays free for as long as Gathered runs.
Another idea
A book from everyone who misses them.
When it is more than the two of you, send one link and let everyone add a page: a message on a painting, a voice note, a song, their photographs. Free to make, and free to send during early access.
Start a book See how the book worksGive them a house for Christmas
Make the house, put their name on the door and send the key. Look round the terrace and the living room free before you decide.
Make a house for them