Solving Those Birthday Gift-Buying Blues

Holliston native Laurie Jason was a third-grade teacher at Hopkinton’s Elmwood School from 1995 until her daughter was born in 2003. Now she has started a business to help answer the bedeviling question of what to get your young children's friends or their birthdays with My Into List!

With her daughter and son now 8 and 6, respectively, that means lots of birthday parties and birthday gifts.

“When I would ask my children what things their friends were 'into' they would simply shrug their shoulders,” said Jason, now a stay-at-home mother in Mendon.

She says when she would email or call the birthday child's parents, busy as they were planning the party and leading the rest of their lives, they might not respond or would offer vague gift suggestions.

So Jason made My Into List!, which asks birthday children what colors they like, books, TV shows, movies and more.

For $7.99, parents get a notepad with suggested areas of interest.

Parents and children can answer the questions of what the children are "into," fill out the list together and tuck a copy into the birthday invitations. No extra postage needed.

Parents may even discover a topic their child is interested in they didn’t know about.

Children are excited not only to get a party invitation but to have ideas straight from the birthday child. Moms and dads too. My Into List! doesn't name specific gifts, just areas of interest, so a child's creativity can come into play when choosing a gift.

Jason had thought about the idea since her daughter started school, the birthday invitations started arriving and her children's shoulders started shrugging.

She decided to act last summer, revised and refined her idea many times, and picked up emotional support and technical input from her  husband.

Finished product in hand, Jason gave My Into List! to family and friends to test. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive, she said.

"People are so grateful to have this information at their disposal," she said. "Now they cross their fingers when opening invitations, hoping to find a 'My Into List!' tucked inside."

"My Into List!" has a Facebook page, a website and a phone number (774-573-6545) for ordering.

You can also see what it looks like and buy it at PlayTown Express in Hopkinton, Kingdom Cuts in Franklin, The ABC Store in Milford, Plaster, Paint & Party in Hopedale, Planting Island & Gifts in Milford and in Holliston.

If you have a business and would like to sell My Into List or any questions for Laurie, here’s where to contact her.