Are you looking for some inspiration this festive season for you or your loved ones? As the peak professional body for optometrists we challenged ourselves to come up with 10 inspirational (or at least fun!) ideas that catch the “eye” this festive season.
We hope you find some worthwhile suggestions from this list to help wrap up gift giving in your house.
- To help keep glasses scratch free, can we suggest a new glasses case as a great gift idea? They come in all shapes, sizes and materials – everything from personalised cases that allow you to design them with your own photographs or perhaps from a famous artist, a bit of bling, some Indigenous Art and everything in between.
- How about some quirky socks that have the classic optometrists eye chart on them or, even better, your own personalised eye chart, using your own words.
- What about some eyewear jewellery? Once considered old school, glasses chains have made a stylish dash down the runway of time and are now one of the fashion accessories du jour. Mother of pearl, gold, silver, tortoiseshell, rhinestones, colourful wire – there is a chain to suit every personality. And on the jewellery front, The Cool Hunter has an incredible range of stunning eye brooches for your eccentric but discerning aunt.
- Sunnies are also a brilliant gift (top contender: yourself) and we recommend always buying them from your local optometrist to ensure that they comply with the necessary Australian standards for our harsh UV radiation.
- Are you, or do you know someone who is always losing their glasses? There are lots of clever ways to store and organise them – everything from special storage boxes for multiple pairs or display stands such as moustaches, sparrows, heads and even clay elephant stands hand-made in Peru for charity.
- Moving away from glasses-themed ideas, what about some eye cream to keep your eyes looking great. There are a multitude of choices available and in every price bracket possible from less than $10 to those valued in the hundreds of dollars.
- A little pillow of heaven could also be the answer – designed specifically to place across the eyes to help with relaxation, eye pillows come in all colours, fabrics and shapes.
- And then you could consider a cushion, plate, apron and the myriad of other decorator and clothing available with eye motifs - or you can make eye-themed fabric yourself!
- For younger children we recommend a copy of The Flying Optometrist who travels in his little red aeroplane from his city-based practice to remote outback towns. This great little yarn was written by Joanne Anderton and it is widely available in bricks and mortar and online bookstores.
- We close our list with another idea for kids – Spot It is a colour matching game of cards that is great fun for little people. Similar to Snap, players match two cards with the same symbols in a game designed to test visual thinking and coordination.
We hope these gift ideas have sparked some inspiration for you. But of course, we believe that the greatest gift of all that you can give yourself is to have a comprehensive eye examination with an optometrist to ensure that your eyes are kept in top health.
