that's a wrap

(photo courtesy of brooks brothers)

I thought for today I would share some of the gifts that I have given to my husband for Valentine's Day.  Before kids we used to take turns (every other year) planning special romantic dinners and nights away for each other.

I had always wanted to have dinner at Tavern on The Green in NYC and one year my husband made reservations for us.  For my gift to him I decided it would be fun to give him a new outfit from head to toe to wear to the restaurant that evening.  I gave him one piece of clothing at a time throughout the day with a quote attached to each one.

With a pair of socks it said, "True love is like a pair of socks.  You gotta have two and they've gotta match"
With the underwear, "Humility is like underwear, essential, but indecent if it shows"
And, for a new sweater the quote said "I have to much money invested in sweaters"  Bob Hope

You get the idea! 

(photo courtesy of black diamond rings)

 Another year we decided to go to Boston for the night.  I thought it would be fun to organize a special scavenger hunt for us.  Some of the things we had to find were:

~ the largest diamond ring at Tiffany's
~ a cup of hot cocoa at a restaurant that had the number 14 in the address
~ a sample of new perfume and cologne and pick one out for each other.
There were many more, but I can't remember them all!  You can make this up for any place that you might be visiting for Valentine's day or a special anniversary.

(photo courtesy of amazon)

 

One last idea I'll share is when I organized a night away at a local bed and breakfast.  I was trying to think of a creative way to tell him about our plans so I gave him some items to use for our night away along with the lyrics that I had rewritten to a love song.

L is for the way you look in red (with a  red bathrobe)
O is for your orange juice in bed (I made him breakfast in bed)
V is very, very romantic with strawberries (I made chocolate covered strawberries)
E is for even more, bath tub time with bubbles galore (I gave him some bubble bath and some truck shaped bath tub toys)......

These days with three small children in the house our Valentines Day's are more like take out and a movie.  But, I wouldn't trade them for anything!!!!  I would love to hear about your plans for Valentine's Day.  Anything special planned?

that's a wrap

My baby is one today!  I still can't believe it.  I was having a hard time deciding about what to get him since he is our third child and we just celebrated Christmas.  His older sister (age five) decided that the perfect gift would be a jack in the box.  We found this Eric Carle one and I have to say that it is darling.  The box is tin and it has a soft caterpillar inside that pops out after the song plays "pop" goes the weasel.  I love that my daughter thought of this gift all by herself.  It was the perfect gift for a one year old.

that's a wrap

On Monday it was my daughter's teacher's birthday.  Since I am the room parent I organized the gift and made a special treat to bring in for her and her class.  The first picture is of the gift,  a wreath with paper leaves tucked all around that told the teacher why each of her students are thankful for her.  The second picture is the wreath wrapped and ready to give her.  The last picture is of the treats I made.  The teacher's favorite candy bar is a kit kat so I made her some kit kat cupcakes.  I used a box mix and added some chopped up candy to the batter.  I also topped them with the candy and some leaf sprinkles.  My daughter's teacher was surprised and really touched by this gesture.

that's a wrap

This is a gift for a three year old girl who is having her party this weekend.  We got her a pair of pink cowboy boots!  To go with them we are also giving her the book "Armadillo Rodeo" by Jan Brett .  I wrapped it in red and white polka dots and used a piece of bandanna print paper for the gift card.

that's a wrap

 It has been a busy week in our house.  My daughter started Kindergarten on Tuesday and my son goes to pre-school tomorrow!   I saw this idea and thought it was the perfect thing to send in with my son on his first day.  I filled a lunch box with a hearty fern (I asked at the garden center for a suggestion of a good classroom plant).  I used a pencil as the garden marker with a sticker that says "bloom where you're planted".  I hope all of our readers have had an exciting and fun first few days/weeks of school too. 

seven year itch



 ( photo courtesy of Claire Murray)

My husband and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary while we were at the Cape.  The traditional gift for seven years is wool.  Perhaps that is how the "seven year itch" originated!  Anyway, I was planning on getting my husband a monogrammed cashmere blanket and a movie, but since we are in the middle of summer here in Connecticut, curling up with a wool blanket was the last thing that I wanted to do.  Instead I thought it would be fun to go pick out our present together while we were on vacation.  Claire Murray makes beautiful rugs and since they are made of wool it seemed like the perfect gift and new addition to our bright yellow kitchen.  This is the rug that we ended up purchasing.  I love it and we were able to get it at a great discount too!  I haven't picked our movie yet if anyone has any suggestions.  I was thinking of something with seven in the title.  "Seven", "Snow white and the seven Dwarfs", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".  You get the idea.  If you want to learn more about our anniversary traditon you can read about it here.

teacher gift

Just like last year, we contributed money for the teachers year end class gift.  And, just like last year, I also gave them a little something special from us too.  This year I gave them each a small cube of Vera Bradley paper (my daughter signed her name on the first sheet) and a flower pen that we made and stuck in a terra cotta pot.  I included a note with this quote: "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust
It was just our little way of thanking the teachers for all they have done to make our daughter love school.

that's a wrap

The photo above was taken on my son's birthday last week.  I didn't get to fancy since I knew he would rip them open quickly and because I had quite a few to wrap!  I choose this picture becuase it goes with one of my wrapping tips which is to stock up on patterened wrapping paper in a color that you love.  Red is my favorite color of choice.  It works for any occasion especially on Christmas and Valentine's day and it is the perfect color for a girl or a boy.   I have red/white paper with stripes, polka dots, stars and even hearts.  It works for everything!  If you can buy the paper in bulk- even better!  I got this particular paper from BJ's wholesale club and it has lasted for a very long time.  If you have a fun wrapping tip let me know.  I would love to hear about it.  More on wrapping next Wednesday.

christening gift idea

(photo courtesy of Chasing Fireflies)

I recently received an e-mail from a reader that asked me for some suggestions for a christening gift. I love the catalog Chasing Fireflies and thought these adorable polka dot crosses would make a lovely gift along with this "First Prayers" book illustrated by one of my favorites, Tasha Tudor. I also recommended putting them in a monogrammed LL Bean Bag. What are your go to gifts for such an occasion?

going from 1 to 2

It seems like a lot of my friends have just had number two or are expecting their second child soon. I thought I would share what I did to help the transition of becoming a big sister for my daughter. Her birthday was two months before my son was due and she received a bitty baby (American Girl) doll as a gift. Since I was having a scheduled c-section and knew I was going to be in the hospital for 4-5 days I bought small gifts for my daughter - from her new brother- for each day that she visited me in the hospital. I put them in take out containers and labeled them each with a number. Then before she came to see us each day I pulled out the box and left it for her to open. Inside the first box was an "I'm a big sister" t-shirt that I got here. The note read "I know you are going to be a fantastic big sister! Love, Finn." For the following days I got her small things for her baby doll. The second box had a blanket for her doll. The third box had a little stuffed lambie (my daughter has a stuffed lambie that she used to carry around with her everywhere) with a note that read "because every baby needs a stuffed lambie." The fourth box had some new pj's for her baby doll. She loved the gifts from her little brother and she adores him to this day.

Another idea that is similar to the doll is to have your first born go to Build-a-Bear to make a new teddy for himself and maybe one for his new sibling too. Then the gifts could be new items for his bear. They have diapers, bibs, and even booties available for the bears! Later this week I'll share a gift I gave to a friend using this similar idea.