Cost: $54.00 plus shipping

The mailman recently delivered a strange package. It was a box of plants. Our significant other was surprised. We had neglected to tell her about the impulse buy—that we logged onto Etsy, searched “succulents,” and bought a whole damn boxful to be delivered second-day air from the Succulent Source.

We say impulse buy. But this was premediated. We’d been in the market for succulents. We had big plans to scatter them around our home and our office. See, we find succulents to be attractive, low maintenance plants. That is, they don’t easily die—important because we sometimes forget to water our houseplants.

The big box stores sell succulents. They are expensive, boring, and not particularly healthy. Would you look at my succulents? How remarkable! How diverse! How vigorous! Expensive? Well, yeah, we didn’t save any money, especially with the shipping. But, these awesome succulents were grown with tender care on a family nursery—at least, Etsy tells me so.

Looking for unique ideas? Buy a big box of succulents. You can pot them and distribute them to your friends or co-workers. They will surely cherish the gesture. Or, you can keep them like we did. We give ourselves great gifts. How do we know just want we really wanted?