Fun Goodbye Gifts

Farewell presents can spark a mixture of sad and happy nostalgia, as you search for the perfect way to commemorate the times you've shared with a friend, colleague, neighbor, classmate or teacher. Tap in to your creativity to craft a remembrance that combines your best wishes and fond memories with a touch of whimsy and humor, reflecting your connection in a gift that becomes the newest enduring and special moment shared between the two of you.

Movies & Flipbooks

Whether you're planning a gift for a departing friend or a co-worker who's leaving for a new job, turn your love of making movies into a one-of-a-kind farewell present. Look for footage you've already captured and add new scenes that help tell the story of how much you'll miss your friend or officemate. On your home computer, edit your video into a “mockumentary” that celebrates your special friendship. To add a unique companion gift, turn a favorite footage sequence into a flipbook using stills you pull out of the movie footage. Print out the set of images, stack them together and fasten the stack along the left edge. When the gift recipient riffles through the pages, the sequence comes to life as the images flip past.

Picture Cookies

If you love memorializing special occasions in the kitchen, especially with your baker's hat on, create a batch of cookies that serves as an edible picture book. Try out new cookie cutters in shapes that suit the chapters of your story or cut out freeform cookie shapes by hand with a knife. Use varied colors of frostings, sprinkles and food-grade ornaments to paint with images that show treasured moments you've spent with a colleague or teacher. In a conventional oven, a large batch of oversized cookies may take extra baking time, but if you use a convection oven, you may be able to hasten the process with shortened baking times and more cookie sheets in each batch.

Mock Passport

To celebrate a friend's impending departure on an international trip or for a new job overseas, use your digital camera and your computer to make a mock passport that chronicles your friend's travels through life. From an official-looking photo page with a humorous take on vital statistics through visa "stamps" that reflect personal and professional milestones, you can use your notebook or desktop computer and printer to create the pages. Take them to a copy shop or quick printer for saddle-stitched binding that places staples at the fold line of your document. For a special cover, select a decorative sheet of leatherette at a craft store.

Technology

Send off your favorite neighbor in style with a present that can create memories the two of you can continue to share. A digital camera or a tablet with a built-in camera, makes a great addition to your traveler's technology tools, especially when you include memory cards to extend the range of the gift. To make the present even more personal, include a handmade scroll that details a long list of the potential scenes and moments your friend can photograph to share with you at a distance.