My Aunt LOVES to read. Between the two of us we read 6 or 8 books each week sometimes. I have recently joined PBS and I know she would absolutely love it as well. I want to get her all set up as a Christmas present. I can't spend more than $25. But, I have a stack of 10 books all ready that she can enter right away to be swapped. I also have my own postage printer at home, so I can weigh all the books and print the postage they need to be mailed. (she is unemployed and has no extra income right now). I thought about putting $10-$20 into PBS money as well, to be used to mailing any books she enters into the system.

I want to set it all up ahead of time but I don't want her to get the confirmation emails and such, so I am going to box up all the books with a note and do it on Christmas morning with her.

Am I missing anything important? Will  she have enough to keep her going for awhile in credits and postage do you think? This would be for supplementary books - things she can't find at the library or books she might want to have around a little longer than a library book, etc.

I will also add a note for a quarterly or somesuch contribution to her PBS money and/or stamps for mailing books, etc. so she can keep using it and it's more budget friendly for me by spreading it out.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

Chris

I think this is a fabulous idea!  It's something you can do with her, which is a great gift.  It sounds like you have your bases covered.  Just to reinforce your idea that you should not set it up ahead of time, you are correct about that.  You'd have to give her email address and then she'd be getting the emails (because you can't use your email for another account)

Chris,

You can also give a gift certificate for credits or a Box-O-Books subscription right from the PBS Kiosk. Either is printable, and you could even wrap it up to give her on Christmas. I love the idea of putting some money in her account for postage. This is a great gift, I hope she loves it.!

Cheryl

I would give her an account with PBS money, but I don't think you have to give any books.  That way she can immediately start ordering some books and then she can post these books after she has read them to get more credits.

How sweet! I had thought about doing this for my Grandmother. Maybe for her birthday, when I know I will have the money to help support her postage (she is on a fixed income since my Grandpa died). I just planned on buying some credits for her account and putting some PBS money on there for her postage.

What a great idea!! Maybe you could include a pack of bubble mailers to get her started? After she orders some stuff she could try and reuse the ones that come to her.

I'd print out a bunch of info about PBS for her and then help her sign up on Christmas Day for her own account.  The basics like what PBS is about and how it works.  You could wrap that up along with the gift certificate from the kiosk (if you decide to get one).  Or, make your own gift certificate for her on your computer.  "Good for one PBS membership and $x.xx in postage to get you started"

Once she's got an account set up, you can buddy her some credits to get her going too, I bet she finds something she wants to order right away.