The $100 Challenge: How My Passion for Giftmaking Made a Comeback
- Mawarni Adam
- Oct 21
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
When it was first announced in July 2025, I was skeptical about the RM100 SARA (Sumbangan Asas Rahmah). It is the program by the Malaysian Government (MyGOV) to help the Malaysian Citizens/ the Rakyat with essentials.
I thought, "How far can a hundred bucks go, anyway?"
I'm not a great cook or baker to turn essentials into sellable and worthy cooked or baked goods, but I can create and imagine seasonal gifts. So I got creative by offsetting the exact 100 Malaysian Ringgit amount to get non-essential craft supplies, and made the first 1-2 of the Christmas gift prototypes and samples, which led to the creation of more samples. They say muscle memory is real, and I couldn't agree more. My hands immediately knew what to do as soon as they touched the materials - the ideas just flowed, and the things just came together, one after another.
As it turns out, this self-imposed RM100 mini challenge was not just a fun project but a soul-healing one too - my old passion for giftmaking for the festivities, which had lain dormant for years, made a comeback, and I'm excited about it! Truly, it's been over 15 years since I put this much thought into it.
Best of all, being able to do it again for the festivities now will hopefully enable me to hire a few single mothers to help with the gift production and assembly, like I did 14-15 years ago, and elevate their household income a little bit, albeit seasonally.
Throwback to 2011
Thank you MyGOV for inspiring and catalysing this moment. I guess with a bit of creativity and a lot of heart, the RM100 can really go a long way.
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The Year Was 2008
Giftmaking started as a hobby for me in 2008, during my maternity/sabbatical leave from a banking role. I had reached out to a friend who owns an event management company and asked if I could do doorgifts and client appreciation hampers, and the answer was yes. I did them, took some photos and uploaded it to the Blogger site (remember that Y2K site?). This gallery was purely for my own consumption, a personal gallery which was not meant to serve as a commercial platform at all. Then one day, I got an email or a call (I can't recall) from PNB Darby Park, asking if I'd like to send in a proposal for their upcoming festive gifts. I asked them how did they get my contacts, and they said the "website", which was the Blogger site. I hadn't worked on a Powerpoint proposal for months up until that point because I was on sabbatical, but I whipped up a deck with gusto anyway, prepared samples, pricing, and presented to them in person. Soon after the meeting, I got the greenlight for them that I had won the contract, my first ever festive gifts contract. And the rest was history. I spent the next four years building the giftmaking business, and then made an exit from it when corporate world came calling again in 2012.
AI and Gift-giving
I think everything has to go through the AI vibe check these days. Naturally, AI crossed my mind during this process, so I asked AI if it could replace gift-giving. And this is what it had to say...
"No, AI cannot replace gift-giving because it lacks human intuition, personal connection, and emotional intelligence, which are crucial to the act of giving a meaningful gift. While AI can be a powerful tool for brainstorming and finding gift ideas by analyzing data, it is not a substitute for the thoughtfulness and effort a human provides to make a gift special. The personal element of knowing someone and understanding their emotional needs is what makes a gift valuable, a task that is beyond AI's current capabilities."
There you go. Good to know!
So, get your Christmas gifts organized today! My team and I can help. Reach out to us at maspecialty.store@gmail.com
~M
About Mawarni
Mawarni Adam is a marketer and brand builder. She is a 2x business founder and has worked with individuals and companies for over 20 years, helping them shape, sharpen, and strengthen their brands through strategic branding, integrated marketing, communications, and customer experience. She is a mother to two daughters and writes about her personal experiences in topics she is passionate about, such as self-growth, women's advocacy, and community development. Read her full bio here.
