Giving the Gift of Wonder.full Moments
How often do you find yourself at a total loss over what to
gift a close friend or family member? Lord knows we’ve all been in that
quagmire, frustrated beyond words because we want our gift to capture the
recipient’s interests and reflect our own creativity.
We rack our brains
replaying conversations in our heads, scouring for hints of needs or wants. We trek
from shop to shop, hoping inspiration will kick in and we’ll unearth that
perfect “aha” present. And in the end, after hours of aimless ambling about and
finally homing in on something, anything,
we hand it nervously to our beloved, muttering a prayer underneath our breaths.
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| Photo credit: www.budsies.com |
It has to be easier, right? I mean, at Christmastime alone,
we often have at least half a dozen presents to fetch, and two or three are
real head-scratchers.
Saria Hanna Moutran must have suffered her fair share of gift-hunting
before conjuring up a new approach called Wonder.full. The
concept is fairly straightforward. You’re in a bind as to what to get your best
friend, lover, mom, or colleague. But rather than lavish upon them some
material banality, gift them an experience.
Those experiences fall under six unique categories:
Gourmet, Adventure, Love, Glamour, Harmony, and Super Moms. Within each bracket,
more than half a dozen activities exist, and it is wholly up to the recipient
to take one up and exploit it within the one-year allotment.
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| Gift catalogs come in a tin box, and recipients can choose their own adventure |
For example, consider the Gourmet catalog. There are two
different price thresholds, $90 for “Yummy Gourmet” and $140 for “Fine Gourmet.”
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If you’re a chocolate aficionado, you could engage in a
one-on-one workshop with L’Atelier de Chocolat’s Pierre
Abi Haila, crafting your own chocolate tablet under his guidance.
Whisky fans can benefit from a 2-hour whisky tasting and
masterclass for two at The Malt Gallery, with a take-home bottle to boot.
How about a taste of Asia in an exclusive diner à deux courtesy of Chef Wael Ladkani at Jai Kitchen?
You could opt for a tour of Lebanon’s ultimate farmer’s
market Souk el Tayeb and horde a basket of select products.
You could plan a day trip to Ammiq in the Bekaa region and
gorge on lunch with a companion at Kamal Mouzawak’s acclaimed Tawlet.
You could rub shoulders with Chefs Nazira and Cynthia at their catering institution in Beit Mery.
Or you could do as I did and go explore Ixsir’s lush winery
in the mountains of Batroun, where a swift tour and complimentary tasting of
their Altitude, Grand Reserve, and EL labels will have you thirsting for more
of the elixir.
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| The underground naturally cool wine cellar at Ixsir |
Saria’s in the business of making memories through unforgettable
experiences. In fact, each of the gifts she’s assembled in the Wonder.full
repertoire reveals a carefully curated purveyor who knows his way around his field
of expertise. Moreover, an unmistakable love of adventure and learning characterize
each experience, which speak to the senses and elicit life’s small
pleasures.
After all, as Wonder.full’s slogan so aptly goes, when was
the last time you did something for the first time?
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I would love to give/receive one of these! The choices are just right!
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