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A triple-play for giving on holidays and other special occasions

The holidays are all about giving – and sharing. So are occasions such as birthdays, graduations and religious rites of passage.

On those occasions we give gifts. And we give money, especially to children. There’s a time-honored tradition of giving money to children, whether to teach them the value of money, or to provide for their future.

Now comes a new idea about monetary gift-giving to children. It’s the brain child of Barbara Lewis, a former service provider to The Rose Hotel, and now a regular visitor to the hotel. Lewis is a locally-based public relations agent – and a grandmother.

Barbara Lewis and her wares. (Photo courtesy of Bay Area News Group/Doug Duran)

It was Lewis’s grandsons that inspired her to develop a series of holiday greeting cards named Spend Save Share, a product of her new company, TripleGift Inc.

“This all developed from a very personal mission to educate children about money and the responsibilities as well as delights that come with it,” she told the Tri-Valley Times, a local newspaper that wrote about her new venture.

Lewis created birthday cards for her grandsons that contained three pockets, each for holding cash. One pocket for money to spend, one for money to save, and a third for money to share. The cards triggered discussion about money, saving and philanthropy. That got Lewis thinking about the value of getting kids across the country to talk about and better understand those topics.

And with that a new greeting card company was born – after she handled essential matters such as trademarks, focus groups, stock offerings, card design, printing and web development.

By design, TripleGift is an online business driven by Facebook, Twitter and Spend Share Save blog.

“That method provides convenience and ease of purchase for all customers, especially those who typically mail cash, checks or gift cards to the children on their list,” Lewis said during her interview with the Contra Costa Times.

That’s not to say Lewis doesn’t see the wisdom of having a presence in brick-and-mortar retail outlets. Stores as far away as Rochester, N.Y., are carrying TripleGift cards.

The cards offer colorful depictions for the money’s for the December holidays. Future plans call for designing cards for more occasions – such as birthdays and graduations – as well as cards tailored to a broad range of races, ethnicities and age groups.

Lewis shares her personal journey and ideas for saving money and charitable giving on the TripleGift website. The site also has many resource links that will put you one click away from non-profits and other organizations dedicated to animals, education, nature, the arts, and local or global children’s charities.

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