Happy birthday! I made you a Pinterest board.

My previous post concerned Pinterest as well.  I've been on a Pinterest tangent lately.  In fact, I've started calling Pinterest "my guilt-free facebook."  If I spend half my morning on facebook, I feel a little guilty.  It shouldn't take me that long to catch up and comment on the daily news of my friends and family.  However, I can fart around on Pinterest for an entire morning and call it "research" for my business and blog.  He-he-he!  Research.  Right.  :-)

The truth is, I LOVE Pinterest.  I am a truly visual person, plus I love to save up links.  So it's just perfect for my needs.  Pinterest has completely replaced my bookmarking system.  Plus, it's so pretty!  Oh, I could go on and on about my Pinterest crush, but I must get back to the original purpose of this post.  Now here's the question I'd like to propose to you all:

Can you give a link to a Pinterest board as a gift?

Let me start by describing the board.  This board would be themed to suit the personality and preferences of the person in mind.  Perhaps they have an owl obsession (I do!), or they love to cook.  Maybe they are gardening fanatics or are wannabe photographers.  Do they have a favorite TV show or a celebrity crush?  Do they have the dry sense of humor that would appreciate some witty sayings or funny cartoons?  Trust me, there are "pins" to meet every category.

Next, let's examine it's worth.  Of course, it wouldn't cost you a cent to create.  You would only have to put forth effort, time, and consideration--all things worthy of a friend.  What would it be worth to the recipient?  That's harder to measure, but I suppose it depends on the quality of the board.  Who wouldn't appreciate links to useful information?  Can you quantify the amount of amusement one could get from seeing an impressive collection of their favorite things?  Hmmm?  Hard to identify.  I would say that at the very least, a Pinterest board could be considered worth as much as greeting card.  Varying degrees of time, effort, and consideration are put into choosing a card for a friend.

How would you present such a gift?  That's up you.  I've done this twice and sent the link via email for one friend and in a birthday card for another.  Neither of said friends had Pinterest accounts at the time.  With the link to the board, they didn't have to be active Pinterest members to appreciate the gift.  It didn't take long before they joined Pinterest themselves.  When they did, I listed them as contributors to their boards.  That way their gifted boards are now visible among their personal boards.

What if your friend is already on Pinterest?  On the plus side of this instance, you will be able to see what they have already pinned and avoid redundancy.  On the minus side, it would be pretty hard to compile a board without your friend knowing about it.  Your friend would most likely re-pin everything you came across anyway.  How to get around that and keep an element of surprise?  I can think of 3 solutions:

1. Stay up real late the night before and create the board while your friend is sleeping.
2. Create a secondary Pinterest profile for the specific purpose of making a board to gift.
3. Tell your friend about it in advance.  They can watch with glee as meaningful pins are added to their gifted board.

Here are some real/virtual gift combinations that I think would be cool:

• Give a set of knitting needles and some yarn along with a Pinterest board filled with free knitting patterns and techniques.
• Give a crockpot along with a Pinterest board chock full of slow cooker recipes.
• Give a DVD along with a Pinterest board that includes bios and interviews with all the cast members.
• Give an antique side table along with a Pinterest board dedicated to furniture refinishing or home decor.
• Give a set of mason jars along with a Pinterest board filled with mason jar crafts.

All of those examples give the recipient something to do and some inspiration to do it.  I like that idea.  How about you?  What do you think?  Would you consider making the friendly gesture of constructing a Pinterest board for a friend?  How would you feel about receiving such a gift?  I'm dying to know, so please leave a comment.

Happy crafting (and pinning!) and big hugs from Montana,

While you're here, please press this button and vote for your favorite entry.  Anyone can vote once a day throughout the month of February.  Thanks!