that's a wrap

One of our friends has a birthday on Cinco de Mayo, so for his birthday I made him a blackberry margarita kit!  I included all of the ingredients and added some fun straws and mason jar glasses with chalkboard labels.  I wrote two nicknames on the glasses and wrapped the whole thing in cellophane. 
I celebrated my own birthday on Friday and had my sister in law and her husband here from Ireland for the whole weekend. It was a wonderful way to begin my 41st year.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, filled with family, friends, and lots of celebrating too!

that's a wrap

 

 

A fun gift idea for your friends and neighbors with kids is some homemade sugar cookies and a decorating kit.  I found personalized plates (sometimes you can find them for sale on Zulily) and put some homemade sugar cookies on them.  I included frosting and a container of sprinkles.  I attached the recipe for the sugar cookies to the plate and I found a plastic light bulb shaped ornament that I filled with sprinkles to attach to the decorations.   

brown paper packages tied up with strings

 

 

Some of our dear friends recently moved to Colorado.  We always used to go get our Christmas trees together so I thought it only fitting to send a gift with a "going to get your tree theme."  I packed fleece hats for the little boys so that they would stay warm.  Cocoa with marshmallows and some mini peppermint schnapps nips for the parents to add to their cocoa.  A CD of Christmas music to play in the car and a homemade ornament to hang on their tree.  I just printed a picture on some vellum paper and stuck it in a clear plastic ball.  I figured if we couldn't go together to get our tress that at least they would know that we were thinking of them when they went to get theirs.  I popped it in the mail the day before Thanksgiving because they were in Connecticut celebrating the holiday and I wanted to make sure that it made it to Colorado before they got home and went to get their tree.  What about you friends do you have any fun traditions around going to get your Christmas tree?  I'd love to hear them! 

that's a wrap

As the end of the school year approaches lots of children have year end projects and/or exams.  I always find cute packages of pencils at Michael's craft store.  Wrap up some with a ribbon and tuck them into your child's backpack.  They will "get the point" that you love them and are thinking about them.

that's a wrap

I can't let any more time pass before I share some of the great gifts that I received for my fortieth birthday!  My friends and family are incredibly thoughtful and creative.  The picture above is a gift that my son's preschool teacher's gave me.  40 lollipops in a flower pot with a "40 sucks" sign tucked inside.  My kids really enjoyed this gift too!  Another friend gave me a beautiful tea towel and wrapped a certificate for an Italian cooking class (at Sur la Table) inside that we are going to this weekend!  Can't wait!  Another friend gave me what I like to call "Martha in a box." A beautiful box filled with aprons (one for me and one for my daughter) a copy of a recent Martha Stewart magazine, some MS labels, a cutting board with a picture of my kids on it and a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma!!!!  Another friend gave me an adorable tea cup and saucer filled with tea and cookies and wrote Happy four-TEA-th!  My sister in law gave me some red picture frames with a gift certificate for a camera!  I received flowers from friends and family that live far away and endless cards, calls and emails.  I was spoiled and I loved every minute of it.  How lucky to be celebrated by such loving and thoughtful friends and family.  I am truly blessed. 

mother's day

So, it seems that this year's mother's day theme is rainbows.  My daughter brought the flower home from school on Friday. Isn't it darling?  The children decorated a piece of paper and the teacher slipped it between two clear plastic cups.  Genius. This would be a great activity for a birthday party.  I love it!!  The bottom picture is the gift I put together for my own mom.  My mom says she "doesn't believe" in mother's day, but she is my mom and I like to get her a little something to celebrate her.  I think I may have mentioned this before, but my mom is the BEST letter writer I know.  So, I found this wonderful box of rainbow note cards and envelopes and knew it was the perfect gift for her.  I also got her some rainbow pens and put a picture of her with my children in a tiny frame.  I also attached the following poem to our gift.  Isn't it perfect!  Hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow.  My favorite gift is of course the three little ones that call me mom.  I will be spending the day playing with them and it may involve some lobster, ice cream, and a carousel ride too!!!

Mothers are like rainbows,
After a dark dreary day.
Mothers will cheer you,
And brighten your way.
Her arms will enfold you,
Close to her heart,
At times when you're sad,
Of the tear drops start.
E'en tho' the rainbows fade away,
Mother's love is constant,
And is here to stay,
Our dear heavenly Father made,
Mothers and rainbows galore.
So their beauty like a masterpiece,
May be enjoyed o'er and o'er.

Jane L. Nance

american girl doll store

On Saturday we went to the American Girl Doll store in NYC.  My daughter's big birthday present was a trip to the store to pick out some matching pajamas for her (and her doll) to wear to her birthday party on Sunday.  I love giving gifts of andventures! We had an amazing time. 

that's a wrap

This was a present for a one year old boy.  We gave him the book "If I Could Keep You Little".  There is a line it that reads "If I could keep you little, I'd decide on matching clothes.  But then I'd miss you  choosing dots on top and stripes below."  So to go with the book I got him a polka dot onesie and some matching shoes.  I wrapped it in cellophane and tied it with some blue tulle.  I attached a craft paper tag with a miniature clothespin. 

that's a wrap

One of my friends loves scones.  All summer I had intended to make her some. I knew I was going to see her one afternoon last week so I bought all of the ingredients. Then I ran out of time.  I decided the next best thing would be to make her a basket with all of the ingredients and the recipe and let her make them whenever she wanted.  I measured the dry ingredients and put them in a mason jar.  I even included a stick of butter and tucked in some paper napkins with strawberries on them.  I printed out this recipe and tucked it inside too.  This would also be a lovely hostess gift or a thank you to someone who has been "berry" sweet. 

that's a wrap

A fun idea to use when wrapping a gift is to include part of the gift in the wrapping.  In this package was a dress for a two year old girl.  I bought two hair bows to match the dress and used them (on the ribbon) on top of the gift.   I love how the hair bows look like actual ribbons on the gift.  They are an inexpensive and fun detail to use when wrapping a gift for a little girl.  You can also use a scarf, belt, or tie for a similar look for an adult.

we never "tire" of loving you dad

Since my husband just got a new car I decided that it would be fun to do a car theme for father's day this year.  I got three gifts for him- one from each of the children.  The first one was a travel coffee cup with a picture of the kids on it.  The second was a custom key chain with a shamrock and the third was a new CD.  I found a card from tiny prints that said "we could never "tire" of loving you dad".  On the first gift I wrote: "grab your coffee". On the second gift I wrote "and find your keys".  On the third "put on the tunes" and in the card I wrote "and head for the breeze".  We all got in the car and headed towards the ocean where we dined on delicious lobster rolls for lunch.  It was a fun day and my husband really loved spending time with the children.  After all they are the reason for the celebration.  I hope you got to spend the weekend doing something fun with those you love too!

that's a wrap wednesday

I LOVE to wrap presents.  In fact, I think it might just be one of my favorite things to do!  I wrote a post with some tips for buying gifts for children that you can read about here.  I thought it would be fun to post pictures of gifts that I have wrapped along with occasional gift ideas and/or wrapping tips on Wednesday's.  The gift pictured above was for a "rock" star!  It had a CD of music and a rock star t-shirt inside. 

teacher gifts

Another one of my "go to" gifts is the LL Bean Bag. This year I am giving them to my daughter's pre-school teachers. As I have mentioned before she has 5 teachers. So, this year we went in on this gift with two other families. I had them monogrammed with the first letter of each teachers last name so that anyone in their respective families would be able to use them. I added a sheer tartan ribbon and heart gift tag to add a punch of color and inside each I tucked a red poinsettia.

i ♥ candy canes

I found these pink and green mini candy canes at Target. Aren't they adorable? Then I remembered an idea I saw in a Real Simple article that turned mini candy canes into hearts. They suggested using them to top cupcakes for Valentine's Day. I thought they would make cute additions to my holiday packages. The directions can be found here. They are really easy to make and only take a few minutes. They would also make a great gift if you bundled them in a cellophane bag with some mini marshmallows and cocoa.

thankful 4 hugs

I am thankful for so many things this year. One is my daughters pre-school teachers. To let them know how much we appreciate their hard work and dedication I made these little favors for them. I filled cellophane bags with Hershey Hugs. To make them a little more special I ordered some stickers on etsy that say Happy Thanksgiving with a picture of a turkey that I stuck on the bottom of each one. I stamped "Thankful" on one side of the "4" and "your hugs" on the back. I tied them up with some brown satin ribbon and will deliver them to school tomorrow. You could make these with different candies and messages or use them as favors or place cards at your Thanksgiving dinner.

gift idea

I gave this gift to my sister in law for her birthday this year. She mentioned that she liked the shoes so I started with those and then found some fun things to put inside. The card read "wishing you a year filled with..." and then I wrote "shoes for long walks, tissues for good health, ribbon for pretty gifts, etc." Wouldn't this be fun to do with a pair of high heels? The possibilities are endless.

an apple for the teacher

Last year, for the first day of school, I gave my daughter's teacher a chrysanthemum. I attached a note that read: "Looking forward to a great year. Let me know if I can do anything to help! Love, N's "mum." This year I thought it would be fun to do an apple theme. I found these tiny apple pies- they are only about 2 1/2 inches in diameter- and I included a napkin and fork and tied them up with some red/white twine. A small gesture to let them know just how much they are appreciated.

turning the big 4-O

My husbands birthday was on Friday. Since he was away from his homeland of Ireland and all of his family there I made every effort to make his day extra special. When trying to figure out what to get him for a gift, I finally decided that it would be fun to give him 4 gifts that started with the letter "O" to coordinate with his turning the big 4-O! The first gift was from our kids- some professional pictures of them that I had framed. We served him coffee cake with a candle in it and the card read for our "daddy-o." The second gift was an Orange box- filled with some running sneakers that we delivered to him at work (which is where he usually runs). The third gift was some Oakley sunglasses that I gave to him for the car ride to his party and the fourth gift was a bottle of Whisky called OBAN that I gave to him at the party and had all of our guests sign. My husband was so touched by all of the effort I put into making his day special that he actually came home with a dozen roses and the sweetest card for me- on HIS birthday! I am truly a lucky girl. I will post some of the details from the party later this week.

celebrating wedding anniversaries

(This is the hotel in Ireland where I had my wedding reception 6 years ago!)

Next week I will be celebrating my sixth wedding anniversary. I thought I would share with you some ideas from past anniversaries. I like to use the traditional anniversary gift themes and make them my own. Also, since my husband and I both enjoying watching movies- I choose a movie to go with the theme too. For example:

Year 1 is paper. I bought my husband tickets to see Les Miserable on Broadway in NYC. I also bought the movie version so we could watch it over and over again and remember our fun date to the city.

Year 2 is cotton. I gave my husband a monogrammed cotton apron from Williams Sonoma and a gift certificate for a cooking class here. We ended up choosing a class that had a Provencal theme - which was perfect since we went to Provence for our honeymoon. My movie choice was "No Reservations."

Year 3 is leather. I bought my husband a leather bound copy of a Peter Mayle book. While we were on our honeymoon (in Provence and Paris) we read aloud the book "A Good Year" by Peter Mayle which is set in the French countryside. The movie version of a "A Good Year" with Russel Crowe came out around the same time and was a perfect accompaniment for this occasion.

Year 4 is fruit or flowers. Since we are usually on the Cape for our anniversary I decided we would have a picnic on the beach with fruit and flowers. We watched "A Room with A View" which has a great picnic scene in it.

Year 5 is wood. I found a wooden buoy from Pottery Barn with the number 5 on it and gave it to him while we were on the Cape. As a funny coincidence we ended up having dinner at a restaurant that had wooden menus! We watched a Woody Allen movie- but you could also watch anything with Elijah Wood or Woody Harrelson.

This year, for our sixth wedding anniversary, the theme (or traditional gift) is candy. As is tradition, we are leaving for the Cape today. Stay tuned for my gift idea and movie pick- I will post them when I get back next week. I think this year might be my favorite!!!

a big fat Greek Bridal Shower

One of my friends sent me this photo yesterday. She used this idea from one of my Valentine's Day posts and turned it into a wedding shower gift for her friend. I love that she used blue and white for Greece and I also love that the theme for the shower was based on the honeymoon destination of the couple. Thanks for sharing this me Maureen. I am so glad you were able to interpret one of my ideas and make it your own!