You Are Special Today

The “Special” Plate

When I was growing up we had a plate we called “the ‘special’ plate.” It was red stoneware and had the words “You are special today” written around the rim. The “special” plate was used for birthday girls, after graduations, etc. We used to joke about the phrasing. “What, so I’m not special any other day?”

We haven’t been as faithful about using our own “special” plate, but we have one, too. I wanted something unbreakable because we were starting out with small children, so we designed a plate with Mak-It. And since we were designing our own, we changed the language up a little. Our plate says, “Today is a day to celebrate you” (and we call it the “celebrate plate.”)

I learned something this month from Thinking Outside the Gift Box. What my mother probably knew, but I didn’t, is that the red “special plate” is traditional! Beyond just my family or a handful of customers who had this particular plate, I mean. According to “Georgia,” a friend of the author quoted in the book, “it was a time-honored tradition among the early American families that when someone deserved special attention, they were served dinner on a red plate.” Apparently these inscribed “special plates” are merely a modern way to help keep this tradition in remembrance. (And, frankly, the beautiful China plate really is more “special” than our plastic one. Now that the kids aren’t all so little, it might be time for us to find something more beautiful.)

Other Ways to Make People Feel Special

Thinking Outside the Gift Box is full of ways to make the people around you feel special. The idea is to provide you with dozens of ideas for gifts that are creative and meaningful but not necessarily expensive. To me, not all of them are “gifts,” per se. I mean, they are all gifts, ultimately, but not all of the variety that we associate with gift-giving occasions.

Some are more like little acts of kindness that let people know they’re important to you. (These could be especially helpful if someone in your life has the “love language” of gifts, and you don’t. I know this is something I often struggle with.) Little things like buying (or preparing) someone else’s coffee, because “coffee tastes better when someone else buys it for you.” Not literally, of course, but there’s something about knowing someone cared enough to do something just for you, that makes the enjoyment of it that much sweeter.

Others — like the special plate — are traditions or habits you can establish that emphasize the importance of people.

And then there are many that really are “gifts,” in the more classic sense of the term. One of my favorites is the “This is the place where…” section. This is all about ways to creatively record shared memories as a gift to a loved one. It’s amazing how much a single, seemingly minor, shared memory, place, or item can spark a cascade of memories.

My husband’s Facebook account displayed a “memory” yesterday of a significant mileage number in his car. It stood out to him because yesterday morning that same car’s odometer passed a new milestone. It’s just a car. But he’s had that car since before we met. Thinking about how long we’ve had it and how “faithfully” it has served us reminds me of other, related memories. The balloons our friends stuffed inside and the confetti they crammed in the air vents the day we got married. Seeing that car standing out like a lily among thorns when we parked it in the middle of the woods while camping for our honeymoon. Taking our firstborn to church for the very first time. Still finding confetti in the air vents years later, when the dashboard had to be disassembled for a repair.

And that’s just one small car! Can you imagine the memories you can stir up with a whole house, or apartment, or town, or school?

Lauren’s book is chock-full of ideas like this, to help you make your gifts rich with meaning, even when you aren’t rich in dollars and cents. The ebook is $9.99.