Best Birthday Present EVER? The Evanston Wallet.

Our oldest child recently turned 10 and for weeks we wracked our brains trying to come up with a unique, special and awesome gift. We set our budget at $100 to match the significance of turning 10 and thought and thought and thought...

Then my husband suggested we do an Evanston-themed birthday gift. No he does not consult for this blog and no I'm not pretending it was his idea when it was really mine. As many of my friends know, I am the first person to take credit for an idea that is not mine, but that's not the case this time.

We made a list of 10 stores and restaurants in Evanston that our son A. had been to before, B. showed an interest in and C. that he could walk to. Then my husband spent several weeks going to each store and purchasing a $10 gift certificate. To wrap all the different-sized and shaped certificates we made a huge wallet out of a manila envelope, put each certificate in a numbered envelope and voila!

In the lead up to his birthday our son asked for all kinds of clues about his present. Tips on clues; the present starts as one thing but turns into many other things like Legos, it's a gift that keeps on giving, you'll have to work to really use the present. Basically we tortured him with clues that led him nowhere.

I'll be sure to post some images of the purchases that get made with the gift certificates to help you out when creating your Evanston wallet for that special someone.

Some of the stores that made the list for our son; Dave's Rock Shop, Toys Ectera, Cinemark, Andy's Custard, Red Mango, SeaRanch Sushi.

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Thank you for reading my blog "Evanston Newbie", a project that I am using to chronicle my new life in Evanston. Do you have favorite Evanston bakeries, bike shops, events that you can recommend? Send me an email at thelisadshow@gmail.com and I will post my review on this blog. -Lisa Degliantoni