Now that the long winter has ended and warmer weather is gracing our days, you notice yourself going out more, accepting more invitations to get-togethers and find yourself seated at some dinner parties so you might be needing some nice, easy Spring-like hostess gifts for these impromptu meets. Or maybe you made so many excuses to spend time outdoors you find yourself in dire need of a last minute birthday present that doesn’t scream “I forgot!”

Photo courtesy of Paper Source

Pick the flowers (or plant!) in the same fashion. What will make them all warm and fuzzy inside? Their favorite flower? Something in season? Are you giving them a housewarming gift? Maybe an easy to care for plant is in order. A hostess gift? What flowers will go well in the dining room that you are bringing them to?

You even have the opportunity to make this more feminine or masculine (yes, men like flowers too!) depending on the colors and patterns you choose and the addition of or even the way you tie a bow.

Tip: For men, don’t tie a traditional bow, simply wrap the ribbon around and secure with double-sided tape or get a nice necktie and attach this as your “ribbon” instead!

This is a great way to personalize any plant or bouquet, whether you’ve spent a bunch or grew them yourself!

Visit Paper Source for an incredible selection of papers and ribbons!

Don’t you love this easy and beautiful take on giving someone flowers?  Who would make something like this for?  Leave me a comment!

Happy gifting!

sport toys

coffee maker, called the AeroPress,

here

1. It’s compact and lightweight – About the size of a coffee cup, in fact. Not only is this a space saver that will make a great housewarming, dorm or office gift – its size and portability make it the perfect gift for someone who travels but is serious about their coffee.
2. It’s really versatile – This makes is a great and unique hostess gift (because isn’t that bottle of wine trick getting a little stale?) for the person or couple you know who loves to entertain.  It makes 1-4 cups of coffee or an espresso-like brew, which allows your recipient to tweak each cup to the drinker’s taste by adding more water, hot milk or just serving in a snazzy espresso cup.
3. Fast -Your recipient can brew up 1 or 4 cups in the same amount of time (about 40 seconds start to finish, once you have hot water, so you could easily double the amount of coffee for a larger group in twice the time – not bad!).  Get the water hot enough (not even to boiling point) stir for just 10 seconds and press for about 20 seconds.  This means even if your hostess friend wants to make 8 cups of coffee – say her guests want 1 espresso, 4 lattes and 3 regular cups of coffee (one on the weaker side please!) it will take her far longer to get the cups out of the cupboard than it will to brew all 8 cups of coffee.
4. No breakable parts and easiest clean up – Let’s compare it for a moment to the ubiquitous French press.  Your travelling mate can’t very well pop one of those in a suitcase.  Too tired and you press down wrong and you’ve got a lovely cup of grounds, wait too long and it’ll put hair on your chest, not long enough and you might as well have had a cup of water and, I don’t know which of these is worse, putting it int the sink just a tad too hard and having bits of glass everywhere or the God awful cleanup of getting all those little grounds out of the metal mesh.  The AeroPress has solved each and every one of those problems! Oh, and it tastes better too!
5. Nothing to break – there is no wiring to break, no glass to break…it is built so simply yet I imagine it will last and last.
6. No expensive filters to buy – It comes with 350 filters and replacement filters are only $6.50 (for 350 of them!)
7. The filters are  small and eco-friendly -  You can reuse them and, even if you don’t, a years worth of filters use less paper than a newspaper.  Not a lot of post-consumer waste from these little guys either!

Any coffee lover would love this gift. The camper, the college kid, the hostess, your best friend, parent, traveller, busy mom, for someone at the office who doesn’t have a lot of space but still wants to drink something better than the stale pot of coffee…if they love coffee they’ll love this gift.

How to personalize it? Give it to them with mugs or espresso cups, present this to the traveller right before their next trip, send it to the office of the person who likes to have their daily coffee break there.  If you know what kind of coffee they enjoy most, give them a bag of their favorite beans or grind to go along with it. Don’t forget to wrap it up nicely!

Now I’m going to go make myself of coffee…, no, I’m not joking – I absolutely love the AeroPress! Here’s a helpful tip for anyone you give the AeroPress to – don’t press too hard! Pressing hard actually makes it more difficult to press the plunger down. If you really take the time to press slowly, the plunger eases down very easily and smoothly. Yes, you get spoiled because it takes so little time to make coffee and that 20 seconds seems like an eternity but, really, it is the fastest and best cup of coffee ever.

Happy gifting!

Make Your Own Party Hats!

Maybe I’m corny, but I think that the little things like hats and noisemakers are even better (and safer!) than alcohol. Here are a few of my ideas for how to make these hats into great gifts:

• * Bringing homemade hats to a party you’ve been invited to would be a hostess present!
• * Making some for a party you are throwing is a great take-away gift for your guests.
• * You could even have this be a party activity – get the supplies and have guests make their own!  Not only a great take-away gift but also the gift of creating a fun memory.
• * Is there someone that you would love to spend New Year’s with but can’t? Make a hat for them (let them assemble the last bit and ship it flat) and a hat for yourself.  Take a pic of yourself wearing the hat and send it along with a request for them to wear it with you to ring in the New Year.  You can even send them an invitation for a Skype date.

Can you think of ways to use these hats as great gifts?  Share your ideas in the comments section!

Happy gifting!

The reason we give people presents it to show them how much we care, appreciate and love them – for a non-gift giving holiday, make sure to let your loved ones know how much you care through your actions and words.  Each communication is an opportunity to show them how much you are thankful that they are a part of your life!

Happy gifting!