6 Practical Genealogy Things to Gift Yourself this Year
Alright all you family historians out there! This one’s for you! What gifts do you gift yourself? Are they all fun or are they super practical or both? Do you give yourself permission to buy gifts for you or do you give them to others? Yes, you can find amazing joy in giving the right gift to others, but don’t forget about yourself. Here are six ideas that hopefully will inspire you this year. These ideas may not all be in the “fun” category, but they will help you with your genealogy journey as long as you give them a try.
Books to Gift Yourself
The best book that I have given myself is Professional Genealogy by Elizabeth Shown Mills. This book is amazing if you want to take your genealogy researching to the next level. It helps explain the how’s and why’s of becoming a professional genealogist. It’s the foundation of many genealogy businesses out there.
The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy is another one for the genealogist’s shelf. It has tons of tips and tricks for researching any American family tree. Many of the ideas are already online and done through Ancestry and FamilySearch, but it still has things to offer.
Any book that can help you see your ancestors more as people than information is good. I like to read biographies or historical fiction about the times or the culture that my family lived in. It may not be exactly what my ancestor went through, but it gives me a general feeling of closeness to them.
The best “book” I’ve gifted myself for the past two years is my family yearbook! It is the most treasured book that I own besides my actual family history. So this year might be your year to start a family yearbook and just do something to preserve those memories!
Family Tree Magazine Subscription
This one is both for researchers and hobbyists. This magazine covers all genealogy departments. Ideas such as preserving heirlooms, restoring photos, creating DIY projects, and gather tools for researching are talked about here. I loved it because I could pick and choose what I wanted to read out of the magazine. Sometimes, I wanted to use it to gather tips or tools that I would use later. At other times, I would go deeper into articles or author’s websites to learn more. I’ve also recently found that there are many family oriented ideas in the magazine and on their website.
RootsMagic software
You need a software program that you can trust with all of your hard work, right? This is the one that I trust right now. I have found that Rootsmagic works great for clients and for my personal use. Find a software that does multiple things just because it’s more efficient.
Subscriptions to Online Resources
If you can afford paid websites, then go for it! Actually, most of the subscriptions that I’ve run into are reasonable. But it all comes down to your budget and how strategic you want to be with your money. My favorite paid websites are Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, and Newspaperarchives.com. These work well at covering most of the genealogy records that you will use. So these subscriptions are great for the holidays because you can determine if you want to pay for a month, three months, etc.
Cute Office Supplies to Gift Yourself
Do you really want me to spell out how important CUTE office supplies is to your morale? Need I say more!!!
Genealogy Online Courses to Gift Yourself
We all need to learn more about our chosen hobby/job. What better way to do that then to enroll in a course? I know this one may be a time commitment. However, do you want to use the same amount of time learning what you need on your own or do you want someone else to put all of that info in one easy spot for you. It’s the same amount of time, but it’s less of a mental drain on you. So maybe this year is your year to get some genealogy education in for you. Family Tree Magazine has many options for online courses.
Conclusion
So, what gift will you give yourself this year? Be honest with yourself and then get that gift! Please include you in your list of gift giving this year. It’s not being selfish to take care of you by getting that one thing that will help you in your genealogy journey.
And in the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!
Tiffany
P.S. Check out these other posts about genealogy gift ideas below…
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