Trivia-Themed Money Gift Using Printable Gift Card

Today is my nephew Timothy's 24th birthday (!) so that means it's time to share my latest money gift idea. It is essentially a trivia challenge that starts with a printable gift card. It took me about 40 minutes to make, but you can spend more or less time depending on how much you want to challenge your recipient. It's a great option for someone who lives far away, as there are no shipping costs and no mailing time required. 

This is what Timothy received via email: 

He has already solved it and redeemed his gift card, so if you feel like figuring out the answer, go for it. The answer is below, so if you do want to solve it, do it before reading on. The full answer is at the bottom of the post. 

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Trivia-Themed Money Gift Using Printable Gift Card

Start by buying a printable gift card, sent to your own email address. I used Amazon, but any gift card that you can redeem online will work. Do not buy an eGift card. Those come with a link, not a code. 

Within a few minutes, you'll receive your card. You don't need to print it. Just pay attention to the code. For Amazon, the format is XXXX-XXXXXX-XXXX. 

Now it's time to get started. Open up a new document. Take a screenshot of the printable gift card so that your recipient knows where to redeem it (see the Amazon smile below the 'Happy Birthday' graphic?) and put the image at the top of the document. Then type the instructions, then spaces and hyphens to match the format of the gift code. Now you're ready to write the questions. 

The first 2 digits of Timothy's code were G8, so I typed "What is G8" into Google to see what came up. First was a Wikipedia article about the Group of 8 (G8) and next was an article about the Pontiac G8. Timothy is very interested in geography, so the first topic was a great choice for him. I read the article and carefully constructed a question that could only be answered with the letter-number combination of G8. 

You don't need to give clues in 2-digit sections like I did, nor do your clues need to be so challenging. For a young child, I might give the following clues to generate the same answer, G8:

                    1. What is the 7th letter of the alphabet?

                    2. How many sides does an octagon have?

You could use math equations, state abbreviations, sports players' jersey numbers, or literally anything else when designing your questions. Just be sure that there is only one possible answer. I had to be very careful how I wrote question 5-6 since there are multiple events in the Olympics with a letter-number name.  

Speaking of K4, I was really frustrated that the code had K4 twice. It was hard enough writing one question for that particular combination! But the next pair, KM, couldn't be easier. If you have two letters in a row, that's the perfect chance to ask a question about a famous person with those initials. 

I was hoping that UM or AW were chemical symbols that I'd forgotten about since that would have been a fun clue, but alas, no. I think my question for UM is the weakest of the bunch. I do like the one I came up with for AW though, since it fits in with Timothy's interest in geography and travel. 

Happy birthday, Timothy! Two more months to figure out a money gift for Christmas. Yikes. 

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Answer: G8C3-K4K4KM-UMAW

An Alphabetical List of Countries Visited

I have no plans to visit all the countries of the world, but I thought it would be fun to see how close I've come to visiting a country that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Because there is some controversy about whether certain entities are countries, I'm using the United Nations list of Member States as my source. I'm also including their two Permanent Non-Member Observer States on my list of countries. There are no countries that start with W (Western Sahara is considered a Non-Self-Governing Territory) or X, so the maximum score is 24. Let's see how I do! 

Photo Source

A
Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize
Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica
Denmark
Estonia
Finland, France
Germany
H
Italy
J
K
L
Mexico, Monaco
Netherlands, Norway
O
Panama, Portugal
Q
R
Saint Lucia, Spain, Sweden
T
United Kingdom, United States
Vatican City
Y
Z

So my score is 13/24. I'm sad that it isn't 14/24; Luxembourg was supposed to be on that list. Someday. Or maybe I'll visit one of the 8 other L-countries eventually. 

Unless I missed one, my number of countries (as defined by the UN) is 25. Yet, my Visited Countries Map shows 34. That map includes entities like Aruba (Constituent Country) and Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory). I think Aruba is the only one that would make a difference to my alphabetical list.

What is your score out of 24? Let me know in the comments!

Senior Sunset

I made a page about Trevor's Senior Sunrise for the 2023 BYSS World Series while playing for the Scrappin' Banshees, so it's only appropriate that I made the Senior Sunset page for this year's competition! Trevor didn't take any photos during the event (sigh), so the only pictures I had to work with were the group photo the principal shared, plus the picture I took of Trevor when I picked him up. And a third photo. Did you spot it? During Senior Awards, Trevor was named "Most Likely to Save the Planet" so I took a picture of his trophy, fussy cut it, and used it as an embellishment.  

This layout scored a grand slam for the Banshees: one point for using 2+ patterned papers, one point for the arrow (on the group photo), one point for the outdoor element (moon and trees paper), one point fo the journaling, and an extra two points for the sticker borders along the top and bottom. 

Between this layout and yesterday's, I contributed 10 points to the Banshees. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to win the game. We're now tied at one game each for the Banshees and Twisted Scissors. This weekend's game will determine the Series winner. Go, Banshees!

Land (check!) Water (check!) Sky (check!)

Back in May, Trevor's Scout troop did a weekend campout (land) that included canoeing (water) and a flight in a private plane (sky). The Scouts were divided into two groups: one went out in the canoes while the other went up in the air. Then they switched, so everyone got to do both activities. Trevor already had his Aviation merit badge (it was the first merit badge he ever earned); the Scouts who didn't were able to complete all the requirements for the badge. 

I used 8 photos on this page - seven in the grid, plus a photo of the plane in the sky as an embellishment in the upper right. 

Land - Water - Sky (affiliate link)

This was the first layout I made for Game 2 of the 2024 BYSS World Series. 

I used 2+ sentences of journaling, two arrows (the 'Nature' and 'Fresh Air' stickers), three patterned papers, and an outdoor themed element (cloud die-cut). That's a total of four points for my team, the Scrappin' Banshees. Go, Banshees! 

Davis, California: Art in Public Places

In 1973, the city of Davis, California started the Art in Public Places Program. For 51 years (and counting), the City has allocated 1% of all public funds for Capital Improvement Projects to go toward art. The result is a city packed with sculpture, murals, tile work, paintings, and other beautiful features in the public areas. 

Trevor has been living in Davis since we moved him into the dorms on September 17. He loves UC Davis and is thriving. In addition to his classwork, he's volunteering at the California Raptor Center (where he did his Eagle Project and part of his Senior Project), has joined multiple clubs, and is spending a lot of time with his new friends. Fortunately for us, he made time in his schedule to meet us for lunch one day in downtown Davis. 

But before we met him up with him, we walked around downtown specifically to see the art. 

  

Steve and I both went to college in Davis and have spent a lot of time there over the decades, but this was the first time we used the City's public art pocket map to guide our stroll. 

We saw a good amount of the public art within a few blocks of downtown, but that is only part of the nearly 200 pieces of public art within city limits. It's impressive. 

  

Davis is a really special city and well worth a visit if you haven't been.