AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Archive for the ‘Gifts’ Category

When someone is graduating, it’s nice to write a thoughtful message in a card for them to go along with their graduation gifts. But what if you can’t think of the right words to say? You can always try just a heartfelt “Congratulations!” but if you want to write more, here are some ideas.

Quote Garden (www.quotegarden.com) compiles quotes in the public domain that you can use in your cards. These are sayings from famous people that will make you and your graduate chuckle. So, next time you’re staring at the blank white inside of a card, turn to Quote Garden for help!

Graduation Quotes

People will frighten you about a graduation... They use words you don't hear often:  "And we wish you Godspeed."  It is a warning, Godspeed.  It means you are no longer welcome here at these prices.  ~Bill Cosby

There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises."  Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning.  ~Orrin Hatch

Your families are extremely proud of you.  You can't imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing.  This would be a most opportune time to ask for money.  ~Gary Bolding

The tassel's worth the hassle!  ~Author Unknown

The fireworks begin today.  Each diploma is a lighted match.  Each one of you is a fuse.  ~Edward Koch

All that stands between the graduate and the top of the ladder is the ladder.  ~Author Unknown

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that "individuality" is the key to success.  ~Robert Orben

Graduation is only a concept.  In real life, every day you graduate.  Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life.  If you can grasp that, you'll make a difference.  ~Arie Pencovici

At commencement, you wear your square-shaped mortarboards.  My hope is that from time to time, you will let your minds be bold and wear sombreros.  ~Paul Freund

When you leave here, don't forget why you came.  ~Adlai Stevenson, to college graduates

Graduation day is tough for adults.  They go to the ceremony as parents.  They come home as contemporaries.  After twenty-two years of child-raising, they are unemployed.  ~Erma Bombeck

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.  ~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin

You are educated.  Your certification is in your degree.  You may think of it as the ticket to the good life.  Let me ask you to think of an alternative.  Think of it as your ticket to change the world.  ~Tom Brokaw

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.  ~Aristotle

It takes most men five years to recover from a college education, and to learn that poetry is as vital to thinking as knowledge.  ~Brooks Atkinson, Once Around the Sun, 1951

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.  ~Theodore Roosevelt

Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.  ~Garry Trudeau

The future lies before you, Like a field of driven snow, Be careful how you tread it, For every step will show. ~Author Unknown

Just about a month from now I'm set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars.  ~Richard Halliburton

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Many people give a bottle wine in a wine gift basket that has been aged. There are bottles of wine sold at auction that are hundreds of years old; they sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and age just improves upon this expensive perfection.  But wine doesn’t age after it is opened – it spoils.  The taste of wine begins to change as soon as it is exposed to air, and if you leave a bottle unfinished and put it in the refrigerator, you may find a very different wine waiting for you in your next glass.  How long does wine keep after you open it?

The best way to keep your wine from spoiling is to drink it all upon opening!  If you are more of a glass-a-night type of drinker (good for you!), then you are bound to have “leftovers.”  Let’s say you pull out the cork. This starts the time clock.  As soon as air is introduced, it will create changes in the wine, such as oxidation.  Even if you put the cork back in, it doesn’t reverse this process.

So what do you do, and how long do you have?

That depends on the type of wine you have and other esoteric factors, but in general, you can expect that three days will be the useful life of that opened bottle of wine. When you open the bottle, the air begins to soften the flavor of the wine, and it loses its subtlety and aroma.  Eventually, it will become very vinegary.  You have probably tasted wine that was more like vinegar, and chances are that it had been sitting in the refrigerator too long.

If a bottle of wine has gone “bad,” you will be able to detect the vinegar smell, and a sommelier or connoisseur can usually detect a change in the color.  It will be duller, and white wines may appear more yellow or brown in tone.

If you cannot finish a bottle, put the cork back in and refrigerate it for up to three days.  Make sure the cork is in tightly, and store the bottle on its side in a darker part of your fridge.  You can also try a wine bottle vacuum pumper.  This creates a vacuum that slows the rate of oxidation; it doesn’t stop it, but you can prolong your leftover wine’s life.  For white wines, simply take them out of the refrigerator and serve.  For reds, take out and let them get up to room temperature before you drink.

You also may want to consider changing the way you drink wine.  No, this doesn’t mean drink more!  But instead of a bottle, you might try a boxed wine.  These may have been a wine faux pas a few years ago, but wine packaging is evolving quickly, and this design has a stopper on the spigot that allows you to pour your wine without letting air in.  There are also single serve wine pouches that allow you to enjoy your glass (or pouch) of wine each night without worrying about leftovers.  OneGlass is one such manufacturer, and each pouch has 100ml of wine.  These are ideal for picnics as well because you don’t have to worry about breakage and spilling.

Remember the three-day rule for your upcoming holiday wine gift, and you should never have to drink a glass of vinegar again!

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If you have a green thumb on your gift list, you’ll want to give them a garden gift that really suits their tastes. Gardeners are a special breed. They love working the earth and seeing the fruits of their labor. It’s not a chore, it’s a privilege for them to get out there and weed and keep their plants healthy and happy.

What can you gift a gardener with this spring that will make her really happy? How about a new sun hat? Gardeners need extra protection from the damaging rays of the sun. Because most gardeners love being out there under the sun’s rays, they don’t even realize they may be doing damage to their skin. Even slight exposure to the sun can cause damage. Gift her with a sun hat that has sunblocking properties. The fabrics and materials that are used in certain sun hats now qualify as sun protection extraordinaire. Check out various hats at garden stores and look online for stores that sell fabric hats that are treated with sunblock.

You could also create a gardening gift basket. Include that all-necessary sunblock, new gardening gloves in a pretty print, kneeling pads, a hoe or hand trowel, gardener’s hand lotion (Crabtree and Evelyn makes a lovely one) and a pretty water bottle. Wrap it all up in a garden trug or other basket that can be used to gather vegetables and fruit.

Many gardeners love to read almost as much as they love to garden. Give them a gift certificate to a book store along with a pretty garden themed coffee mug. Wrap it all up with a pretty ribbon and a little garden pin such as a ladybug or bee. Of course, this all makes for lovely Mother's Day gifts as well.

Gardeners can be picky about their plants. So, instead of going over with a bunch of plants, give them a gift certificate to their favorite nursery. They’ll have so much fun picking out the plants they love.

Give a gift of garden statuary or a gazing ball. Any ornament that would make their garden prettier will be appreciated. You might give a special garden bench with an inscription or paint it yourself with decorative details.

Garden clogs that can be sprayed clean with a hose are always welcomed as are mud boots. You might also give a gift of a gardening magazine that your friend doesn’t already subscribe to. Or you can extend her subscription by calling the company if she already subscribes.

Make up a gift basket of herbs so she can add to her herb garden. She might choose to grow them indoors or out. Keep it to a theme like Italian culinary herbs or tea herbs or calming herbs. Whatever your theme, make sure that all the herbs relate back to it. If it’s calming, you might also choose to add a lavender filled eye pillow or something soothing like an herbal candle.

Gardeners tend to spend more time on their plants than they do on themselves. So gift a gardener with a massage or a special manicure that can take the roughness off their hands. Anything pampering will be greatly appreciated after a hard day’s work in the garden.

Expert gardeners and dabblers alike will love getting a pretty present that you took the time to really plan out.

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Paul Sweeney said, “A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance, and tenacity.  The order varies for any given year.”  There is no doubt that couples celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversaries have been through every trial and triumph that marriage has to offer.  Hopefully at this point, love is always the first item of celebration.  In any case, though, a special gift is in order.  If you are celebrating your 50^th anniversary or are looking for a 50th anniversary gift basket for your parents or another special couple, you will find these suggestions useful. Maybe you're just looking for 50th anniversary party supplies and ideas, well even then, keep reading and hopefully you'll be inspired!

The 50^th wedding anniversary is known as the gold anniversary.  Traditionally, each year of a marriage is represented by a different type of anniversary gift.  The first anniversary, for instance, is the paper anniversary.  By the time you’ve worked yourself up to the gold anniversary, you deserve a great gift!  Gold is the traditional gift, as well as the contemporary gift and color of the 50^th anniversary.  The gemstone associated with the anniversary is golden topaz, and the flower is violet.  People do, though, often prefer the rose, especially varieties like the Golden Kiss.

Your gift does not have to conform to tradition.  If your spouse would love a cruise around the Caribbean, for example, that is perfectly acceptable.  You could say you’re giving your spouse the gift of the golden sun, if you wish.  Celebrating your golden anniversary calls for the perfect gift – whether or not that gift is actually gold!  If you would like to keep up the tradition, here are some gift ideas:

• Jewelry
• Watches or engraved cufflinks
• Photo frame
• Anniversary plate
• Candlesticks
• Personalized glassware or vases

These are all classic ideas, but if your spouse, parents, or grandparents already have their share of photo frames and glassware, you can stray outside the gold motif, while still adhering to the tradition in some ways.  For instance, you could assemble a gift basket of the spouse’s or couple’s favorite items that relate in some way to gold: a gold pen, gold-wrapped candies and Kisses, golden honey (great for tea and very healthy if local), and other goodies.

You could also purchase tickets for a sporting event, concert, play, ballet, vacation, or other event that your spouse or parents would enjoy.  Tuck these into a golden envelope or address the envelope with a gold metallic pen.  For a couple celebrating their 50^th anniversary, the gift needn’t be extravagant, though it certainly can be.  Why not get a gift card to a favorite restaurant or treat the happy couple to a night out at a hotel, bed and breakfast, or inn?

A bold idea is to simply ask what gift would be most liked and appreciated.  Everyone wants a surprise to sweep them off their feet once in a while, but if you are giving a gift to parents or grandparents, it may be just as nice to ask what they’d like.  Is it something practical like a once-a-week maid service for a year?  Something fun like golf or tennis lessons?  Something simple like a special dinner with the family?  Maybe these would be a great deal more appreciated than another set of gold candlesticks!

The 50^th wedding anniversary is more than an anniversary; it is a momentous accomplishment.  Celebrate it with a gift as precious as gold: it doesn’t have to be gold, but something the recipient will treasure.

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Girls may be sugar, spice, and everything nice, but they are also tremendously active, energetic, and curious.  Next time you need to get a gift for the special little girl in your life, consider an activity gift basket made just for her.  Not only is it a thoughtful gift, it will keep her entertained and stimulated for hours.  Whether for a birthday, Christmas, or even just a long car trip, this basket full of goodies is sure to be well received.  Here are some tips for making a great activity basket.

Two important aspects to consider when making your activity basket is the age of the child, as well as her interests.  You don’t have to center the basket around a particular theme, but the age is important because you can add books or games that are geared towards her developmental stage.

If you were going to make an activity basket for a young toddler, for instance, you may go with a baby book gift theme and include board books, books with different textures (such as cloth books), teethers, rattles, musical toys or those with lights and songs.  A child at this age is still very much fascinated by lights and sounds and is entertained by trying to work them.  Books, plush toys, and bath squirters are all great additions.  If you want to drive her parents crazy, also include a variety of small instruments, such as maracas.

An older child will benefit from activities that engage her artistic and intellectual sides.  Say you are assembling a basket for a four, five, six, seven, or eight year old (plus or minus a few years, depending on the child).

Here are some activities to include:

• Coloring and drawing.  Children love to express themselves through art, so supply them with a drawing pad or coloring book.  Crayons and markers are great for coloring, and they can also be used in the car if the child is taking a long trip.
• Paint, brushes, paper, stamps, ink, and other art materials.  You could create an art activity basket by including pipe cleaners, glue sticks, glitter, sparkles, pom-poms, googly eyes, and other goodies.
• Books.  While they may have graduated from board books, children of this age still find a lot of entertainment and stimulation in books.  Try pop-up books, picture search books, sticker book, and activity books with puzzles, mazes, and other interesting, challenging tasks.  You can use the opportunity to get them “school books” too, or workbooks suited for their particular grade.
• Friendship bracelet kits.  You can find kits that include instructions and the embroidery thread needed.
• An inexpensive mp3 player loaded with favorite songs.  Mp3 players can cost as little as $20, so to make a birthday or Christmas present even more special, this could be an excellent addition to an activity basket.  They are especially wonderful for long car trips.
• Card games, such as easy addition War, Old Maid, and Go Fish or board games like Disney Yahtzee or checkers.
• Sports or physical activity equipment.  You could include a jump rope, playground ball, Velcro catcher’s mitts and ball, badminton set, and other fun activity-inducing treats.
• Bath supplies, including bath crayons, bath stickers, a special kids’ shampoo and conditioner, fun shaped soaps, and squirters.

You can design your activity kids gift basket around a theme, such as princesses, Dora, sports, or friendship, or you could just include items you know your little girl will love.

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Making a Christmas candy wreath is a fun way to create a holiday décor item or a holiday gift. You only need a few supplies and your imagination. Let’s get started making a Christmas candy wreath that you’ll be proud to display.

First, you’ll need a wire wreath form. You can select from several different sizes. They are available at craft stores. You may want to start out with a smaller, rather than larger form as your first wreath may take a bit longer to make.

You’ll need a supply of candies. Hard candies are the best to work with for this project as they don’t melt or smash. Keep all the candies wrapped. That’s very important as the wrappers are what’s are going to secure the candy to the wreath. Using peppermint pinwheel type candies is ideal. They are round, the right size, and easy to handle. Plus, they are not too expensive.  You’re going to need several bags of candy, so buy a bit more than you think you need so you don’t run out. For a small wreath, two bags of pinwheels might cover it, but get three to be sure.

When you have your wreath form and your candy laid out, you’re ready to start. You’ll need a hot glue gun to do this quickly. The wreath form will usually have a center wire that is meant for wrapping things over and under. While you can’t exactly thread hard candy like ribbon, you can layer it. So lay down the first candy on the center bar of the wreath form and glue it down. Now, the next candy that’s going to go down on the wreath should be layered on top and to the side of the first candy. Glue it down. As you begin to add candies, move the design outward towards the edges of the wreath. You’re starting to build layers. If you stack candies on top of each other, you’ll have a flat finished piece. You want it to look dimensional, so stagger and layer.

Continue going all around the wreath until you have added all the candy. You should make sure that there are no bald spots. If you find that you have awkward gaps, just add another candy.

Now comes the embellishment. You can add a big red bow made of flocked velvet or sprigs of mistletoe or any other little items you have around. A small bird ornament or even a Christmas ornament will work well. The fun is trying to make it a little bit more appealing.

You can wrap one of these edible candy arrangements up as a gift, give it as is, or keep it for yourself. You can enjoy it for a season and then actually eat the candy. The reason for keeping each piece of candy in its wrapper is so that when it comes time to eat the candy, it’s still intact. If you’ve used a hot glue gun, you can easily remove the wrapper and eat the candy. Don’t try it with glue that may run into the candy and cause it to be inedible.

Have fun with your Christmas candy wreath making activity. Kids can help, but be sure that if there are small candies involved that could pose choking hazards that an adult supervises.

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