Every year my mom asks that us kids submit a Christmas wishlist to her by August 1st. This gives her 4 months to pick us up gifts that we actually want/ask for. This year I did something a little different. Rather than handing her a hard copy of my list, I created a Secret Pinterest Board that only she and I could see. Any time I saw something that I wanted, I simply pinned it to the board. Each link led directly to the item I wanted so that all she had to do was click it and it was in her shopping cart.
Now, I made it private for one main reason; my friends shop my Pinterest for gifts for me. I made it a secret so that only my mom would see these items and I wouldn't get two of something.
But I have all kinds of other secret Pinterest boards as well. Work related, finance related and personal. It's a handy tool to have; think of it as a safe for all of your links.
Step One: Go to Pinterest feed. Click on the person icon in the top right corner of your screen.
Step Two: Once you're at your Pinterest profile, click on the create a board button.
Step Three: Give your board a catchy title...or something practical. Make sure you toggle over to "yes" where it says "Secret". Hit "create" to generate your new board.
Step Four: If you want to share this board with someone else, click the plus sign next to your avatar. As I mentioned before, I shared my Christmas Wishlist board with my mom so I typed in her name here. If this person is not on Pinterest, you can also invite them to join using this route.
Once your board is created, you will find it allllllllll the way at the bottom of your profile page. I whited out all of my secret boards (muhahahaha) with the exception of my Christmas List so that you can see what it looks like.
As you can see, right aboe the word Christmas there are two faces there. That's me and mom (tell her hello!),. The face of anyone who you have invited will appear here once they accept the invitation. This invite will be sent to their email address Pinterest has on file.
Mom loved the idea of having this board to refer to when shopping for me. According to her, she "Clicked a few times and I was done shopping for you in minutes!".
Since I'm feeling super generous today, I took a screen shot of what mom and I see when we access the list.
As you can see, a lot of my list revolved around my trip to Alaska, my obsession with Abraham Lincoln and things for around the house. Those boots? Yep! I got them. Since she also purchased me the travel wallet, packing cubes, binoculars and GoPro accessories, I'll delete those items. She also made me a new wreath, those wood block ornaments and I actually now have a tobacco ladder and a wreath (although mine is a magnolia wreath one).
This gives mom an updated list of items that I still want. Now, throughout the year I can add things as I see them and cross my fingers that I'll get them for my birthday or Christmas!