AQUA BAGS

I made a huge error in judgement last Christmas. The gift was a good idea. It was the marketing that was the mistake.

It all started in September when I began shopping for charm bracelets for each of the girls. I wanted to get the charms for different events in their lives and I wanted to include the grand parents in on the giving. In my mind it played out perfectly and the girls were going to love it. After all, it states in the book "The 100" by Nina Garcia, that every stylish girl must have at least one charm bracelet. I had purchased a copy of that book for each of them the year before.

I was so excited on Christmas morning to see the girls faces when they opened their bracelets. I had saved a couple of gift bags from Tiffany's and I strategically placed each bracelet in a bag and carefully laid it under the sparkling Christmas tree. This was going to be great.

There was a grave tactical error in my plan. The girls assumed when they saw the "aqua bag" that I had spent oodles of money at Tiffany's for each of them. When they opened the pretty package, they were hugely disappointed and unhappy with me the rest of the day. "Mom, that was a cruel trick" and "Mom, how could you do that to us" and "Mom, don't ever try to be clever again" were some of the quotes that I suffered through on that day.

This year I am going to be smarter with my wrapping abilities. I am using only ribbon.