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Thinking of you gift boxes, for no occasion at all

Every other shelf on this site has a reason attached to it. This one has none, and that is the entire argument for it: a box on an ordinary Tuesday with no birthday, no news and no apology behind it is the rarest thing anybody gets in the post. It says somebody thought about them when nothing made them.

No occasion, no reason. I pack every box by hand here in Canada and write your card out myself.

Four boxes for no occasion, $99 and $119, and the rest of what I pack underneath.

Nothing in these says thinking of you on the outside. It is a plain box with your handwriting in it.

The Premium Cozy Comfort Box, a thinking of you gift box packed by hand in Canada
An example of the card, written in your words

Sam. No reason. You were on my mind this week.

From Els

The Premium Cozy Comfort BoxOne size, about four things.$119Buy now: The Premium Cozy Comfort Box, $119

Four boxes for no reason at all

Four boxes, from $99 to $119. Three of the four come in two sizes. The larger size of one is that same box with about two more things in it, picked the way the rest of it was picked. None of them has an occasion printed anywhere on it, so the same box works for a friend having a bad month, a parent three provinces away and somebody you simply have not seen in too long.

Not quite it? Every box on the site is in one place, sorted by price and by who it is for. Browse all of them and pick something else for the person you are thinking of.

Other boxes that suit somebody you are thinking about

Each of these is sold here for another reason as well, so nothing on this page renames them.

If you want to spend more than this

These four stop at what these boxes cost. An unprompted gift that is too large stops being a nice surprise and starts being a question the person has to answer, which is the opposite of the point. Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead: $119 for the smallest, $189 for the middle one and $299 for the fullest box I pack.

If you want to send something substantial to somebody far away, the two below are $299 each. Neither of them is a thinking of you box, so your card would have to carry the whole reason. Nothing on this page is a smaller gift for costing less.

Or start from every box I make, sorted by priceThe whole range, $70 to $299, including the sizes between these and those.

With no occasion, the card is the entire message

On every other shelf the box explains itself. Here it does not, so whatever you write is the reason it turned up. Two honest lines are plenty, and the best ones tend to be specific: not that you were thinking of them, but what you were thinking about.

Stuck on the card? People start with something like:

"No reason. Just you.""You were on my mind.""Thinking about you this week."

A few you can send as they are, or change at checkout:

  • No reason at all"No occasion, no news. You were on my mind and I wanted you to know it."
  • To a parent far away"I think about you more than I call. Have a cup of tea on me and I will phone on Sunday."
  • For a friend having a bad month"I do not have anything useful to say about any of it. I am here, and I am thinking of you."
  • When you have both been busy"We are terrible at texting and I still think about you constantly. Nothing has changed here."
  • Long distance"Too many provinces between us. This is the closest I can get this month."
  • Short"Thinking of you. That is the whole message."

There are more lines worth borrowing in my guide to writing a gift card message.

An example of the card, written in your words

No reason for this, which is rather the point. You have been on my mind all week.

From Els

How to choose one when there is no occasion

With no occasion to work from, the only useful question is what sort of week they are having. That is also the thing you probably already know, which is why you are on this page rather than on one with a date attached to it.

If they are going through something

The Warm Hug Box at $99 or $119. Something soft, something warm and nothing that asks anything of them. This is the box for the friend whose news you do not know how to respond to, where the box is doing the responding.

If they live a long way from you

The Premium Cozy Comfort Box at $119 is the fullest one here, and distance is the case where a bit of weight in the parcel is worth paying for. A phone call is free and a box is an event, and the two do different jobs.

If you keep meaning to text back

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Cozy Cup Comfort Box and the Sweet Thoughts Box. Two small ones, for the friendship that has gone quiet because both of you are busy rather than because anything is wrong. A box with no occasion on it restarts a conversation better than an apology for not writing does.

If there is genuinely no reason

Then send the one you would like to receive and write two lines. The whole value of an unprompted gift is that it was not owed, so do not invent an occasion for it in the card. No reason is a better card than a made-up one.

When there is a reason after all

Thinking of you is the shelf for no occasion, and it is also where people land when the occasion is one they would rather not name. Three of the others are more specific about it.

If somebody is ill and getting better, the get well boxes are matched to the kind of recovery rather than to a mood.

If there has been a death, the sympathy shelf is quieter again: grey boxes, a grey ribbon and nothing celebratory inside.

And if you are the reason they are having a bad week, the apology boxes say that without pretending to be a coincidence.

You are not expected to send all of them. It is worth knowing the next one is here when it comes around.

Questions people ask me

What do you send someone for no reason?

Something small enough not to demand a response. An unprompted gift that is too big turns into an obligation, and the point of this one is that nothing is owed in either direction. The Cozy Cup Comfort Box at $99 or $119 is the one I would send.

Is a thinking of you gift right for somebody going through a hard time?

It is often the best thing to send, because it does not name what is happening. Illness, a separation, a job lost, a diagnosis nobody is talking about yet: a box with no occasion on it lets you show up without asking them to explain anything or to be brave about it in a reply. If there has been a death, the sympathy shelf is the more careful one.

What should the card say if there is no occasion?

Say what you were actually thinking about. The generic version of this card is the phrase on the shelf label, and it says nothing; a specific one says everything. Two lines about the thing that reminded you of them beats a paragraph of good wishes, and I write whatever you type at checkout onto the card by hand.

Can I send it straight to them?

Yes. Put their address in at checkout and type your message, and I write it onto the card by hand before the box is closed, so the note from you is the only thing in there with words on it.

Do you ship anywhere in Canada?

Yes, free anywhere in the country. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. I can't promise an exact arrival date, which matters less here than anywhere else on the site: nobody is waiting for this one. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will land.

Can I send a box back?

All sales are final. Every box is food, skin care and other things that can't be sold on once they have left here, and each one is packed by hand to order. If you have a question before you buy, write to me at team@swipegifts.com.

Thinking of you gift boxes, packed by hand in Canada

Every gift with an occasion behind it is partly an obligation. Birthdays, weddings and Christmas all get marked because they are on a calendar, and everybody involved knows it. A box with no occasion attached is the only kind that is entirely voluntary, which is exactly why it lands harder: the person opening it knows nothing made you do it.

There are four here, from $99 to $119, and none of them has an occasion printed on it anywhere. Three of the four come in two sizes. The larger size of one is that same box with about two more things in it, picked the way the rest of it was picked. They cover the usual reasons people send one without a reason: a friend having a grinding month, a parent in another province, a friendship that has gone quiet, or somebody who would simply like some chocolate on a Wednesday.

Each is packed by hand here in Canada and ships free anywhere in the country. There's no price on anything inside the box. You write the message at checkout and I copy it out by hand, and on this shelf the card carries more weight than anywhere else on the site, because there is nothing else on the box to explain why it came.

While you are here

If you are not sure which one to send, write to me at team@swipegifts.com and tell me who it is for. I read every email myself and I answer them.