My Valentine’s gift spoiled itself
You know that feeling of an important occasion coming up soon, and you're still unsure what to get for them? How to impress them, something that would say "I care about you" but at the same time not something trite? I had that feeling. It was on Friday, February 13th 2026, at 8:05. How do I know the exact date and time? It's printed on the bill of my spoiled gift. But about it later. \ \ I always thought of myself as a thoughtful person. Especially if we talk about significant ones, like close friends and family. And it's not just my opinion. I have proof. For example, when I ordered a set of turquoise teacups for my best friend. They were not just a regular cups, they were specific ones, Vintage Fiesta Cup by Homer Laughlin. We were fans of a TV show The Mentalist, both re-watched it at least dozen of times, and were obsessed with this main character, Patrick Jane. He was always drinking tea in their CBI office and that tea has become his signature and an artifact of the show.\ \ Anyways, I found the exact set of 2 cups on Etsy, told his girlfriend about it so she could receive a delivery and then give it to him on his birthday (loads of logistics, cause I was Canada and they were in Germany). And his girlfriend after finding out about my idea said to my friend "He loves you more than I do". Ha-ha! I took that as a compliment of course.
\ My main love language, how I like to express love, has been gift-giving for a while now. In my early dating days, I didn't have a lot of funds to spare, so I had to be inventive: did a lot of hand-crafted presents, watercolour postcards, hand-written letters etc. You know how they say "Attention is what matters". All I had was my time and some creativity
Let's get back to day-before-Valentines', year 2026. Me and my girlfriend at the time decided to celebrate our Valentines a day before and went to this taco place we loved. I had an idea of a present and even jokingly "tested" it once or twice before actually committing, so I thought it would land well. The idea was the half-marathon submission in Toronto. So after ordering food and after getting our drinks, I excused myself to the bathroom, pulled up the RaceRoster website and started filling out the info as fast as I could: her name, billing address, phone, email, card number, confirm. I walk our of there maybe 3 minutes later and see her face lit by the phone. \ She got a notification and went to check it out. My surprise was spoiled just like that. And you can see on the Bill, it says "Gift - Half-Marathon".
\ I don't blame the platform, they're just an example. But imagine how better it would be to have a planned delivery, a digital unwrapping experience as close to the analog world as possible: confetti inside, the silk bow, untying the ribbon, open the lid, and here it finally it. So. much better. You enjoyed the anticipation. Unfortunately, there is no such thing on the market, so I decided to build my own.\ \ The moral of this story: don't spoil your surprises, if you can. And stay tuned for Geefter updates, once I have everything ready, you'll have that magic reveal.\ \ Max