AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Posts Tagged ‘get well gifts’

If you’ve ever bitten into a decadent, molten, sweet and gooey truffle, you know how rich this favorite gourmet chocolate treat is. You may have thought you could only get them in specialty shops or at a fancy restaurant. But the truth is that you can make truffles at home very easily. In fact, it’s even simpler than some cookie recipes. You’ll start making them all the time and experimenting with flavors. You’ll give them as gifts and start dreaming about different toppings and versions.

Consider packing your truffles into Chinese takeout-type boxes that you can get in a craft store. They stand up straight and the sides will be stiff enough to ensure that they don’t get smashed on the way to the recipient. Anyone would love to receive these delicious dessert gifts!

Here are some recipes to try. You will laugh at how easy it is to make a treat that looks and tastes over-the-top gourmet.

Ghirardelli® Dark Chocolate Truffles (from allrecipes.com)

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Cook Time: 10 Minutes

Ready In: 2 Hours 45 Minutes

Servings: 30

"These impressive candies are so easy to make, and are a stunning addition to a dessert tray."

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup heavy cream

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

1/3 cup Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Add the butter and stir until melted. Add the chocolate chips. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and pour into a shallow bowl.

2. Cool, cover, and refrigerate the mixture until firm, at least 2 hours.

3. Using a melon baller or small spoon, roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the cocoa or nuts. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Chocolate Truffle Recipe (from famousfrenchdesserts.com)

Truffes au Chocolat… Divine Pleasure Source!!! This is the basic recipe; you will find all variations at the end of the recipe.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients (for about 1.5 pounds):

1 cup Crème Fraîche (or heavy cream)

14 oz. Dark Chocolate (use very high quality, 70% cocoa, chocolate - or very high quality unsweetened baking chocolate)

8 oz. Additional Dark Chocolate

1 1/2 cups Cocoa Powder (the highest quality you can find)

3 tbsp. Butter (optional)

How to Make It:

Batter (Ganache):

1. Break chocolate into small pieces and put in a large bowl.

2. Bring cream slowly to a light boil.

3. Pour boiling cream over chocolate and keep stirring until all the chocolate has melted and the batter is homogenous.

4. If you want to add butter, do so now, before the batter cools, and thickens.

This batter is called ganache and is the base for all French truffle recipes!

When the ganache is warm, it is very creamy. You can thicken it

1. by whisking it (the oxygen causes it to thicken) or

2. by putting it in the refrigerator.

You want the ganache to be just thick enough to easily form the truffle balls…

Forming Truffles:

1. Using two spoons (or a baking sac) form even and round balls. Place them on parchment or wax paper.

2. Melt the rest of the chocolate in a bain-marie (double-boiler).

3. Dip each ball in the melted chocolate and then roll it in the cocoa powder.

Voilà!

Many people have never heard of the candy bar card idea, but it’s a cute one you might want to try for your next occasion. Say you have a friend with a special birthday coming up. You can create a giant sized card that includes real wrapped candy bars. People really enjoy receiving these unique candy gifts! The big idea is to write a message that includes the names of the candy bar. It’s a challenge. Are you up for it?

Start off with some poster board. The kind that has the foam on the back will work best as candy tends to get heavy once you glue it on. It will be easier and sturdier to transport this way. Use a festive color that will match with your theme.

Next, pick out a bunch of candies with fun names. You might choose Mounds, Nerds, Mars, etc. Get a whole bunch so you have lots to choose from. The idea is to create a message that will include the candy bar name in it. So, for instance, you might write, “I discovered I loved you Mounds more than the other boys on the playground when we first met.” It’s corny, but the whole idea comes out looking really festive and fun. The wackier the better. Try using Baby Ruth or Almond Joy in a sentence!

Once you have your candies in mind, begin composing a message. It can be a poem, a limerick, or just a paragraph. You can either type it out in large font on a computer or hand-write it onto your poster board. It’s easier to use a computer if you want to enlarge the words. But if you like your handwriting, that works well, too.

Start spacing out the words on the board. Make sure you leave a big space for where you’ll glue on the candy bar. So, for instance, in the example above, you’d write or type out, “I discovered I loved you (and then leave a big space to glue in the Mounds bar) more than the other boys on the playground.” Insert the candy in the space by gluing it. You might try glue dots, which you can find in a craft store. The beauty of these dots is that they don’t rip the paper off the back of the candy and they won’t seep through to ruin the chocolate.

When you’ve got your whole poem written or typed out and stuck on the board, make sure all your candy is secure in place. See if you like the design. It’s always a good idea to do a test placement first to see if it all will fit. You might write the message in pencil on the board or cut out strips of printed paper from your computer.

Decorate or embellish as you like. Use glitter around the edges or photos or just doodle to liven it up. You can present your card at the party and it will be the highlight of the night. People will love coming over and reading the funny message and seeing what the card is all about. Many will marvel that they’ve never seen a candy bar card before. You may start a new trend among family and friends! No one would expect to get one of these cards for their birthday gift!

Have you ever wondered why some parties just seem better than others? Maybe it has something to do with the décor. The decorations can really set the mood for a party. Whether it’s something you have brought in or you make it by hand, the possibilities are endless for what you can use to liven up a party and set the tone.

Consider that your centerpieces are what most people are going to be staring at while they sit at their tables to eat, talk, and relax. If you have fantastic centerpieces, you’ll really get everyone’s attention. If they’re fun, whimsical, and people are allowed to take them home, so much the better.

One way you can create centerpieces that really catch your guests’ eyes is to make candy bouquets. These fun little creations are easy to create, have a low cost, and people love them.

There are several ways to create these darling little candy treasures. One way is to gather them into a bunch and everyone can take home their own little bouquet at the end of the party. Another is to make them into free-standing bouquets that are placed in a mug, vase, votive holder, or other container. Either way, they’re festive and will serve their purpose well as a much admired centerpiece.

To make a candy bouquet that your guests can hold in their hands is easy. You’re going to need lots of candies. Hard candies, mini chocolates, lifesavers, and other small edibles in wrappers are the things that will work best. You need to leave them in the wrapper, so choose a candy that looks good while wrapped and also is recognizable and easy to work with. Nothing too gummy or gooshy, unless you want to use individually wrapped larger gummy bears.

Wrap some wooden skewers or lollipop sticks with floral tape. You can find this green tape in craft stores. You’ll also need some green felt to make leaves with. For each stem that you wrap, you’re going to need two leaves. You’ll want to adhere those leaves to the stem with a hot glue gun. Next, take one piece of candy for each stem and using hot glue, glue just the bottom of the candy to the stem. When you are done, it will look like a flower on a stem. The idea is to bunch up several of these to create a bouquet that guests can take home.

The other step you can do is to create each flower and then stick it into a piece of Styrofoam or floral oasis. The piece of Styrofoam should be anchored in a cup, mug, or votive holder. This is intended to be a takeaway for your guests exactly as they are (as opposed to taking a free standing bouquet).

Candy bouquets are ideal as they are easy to make. You can form a little assembly line and get them all done easily. If you have a friend or two to help you, set up stations. One person can do the leaves and stems, another the adhering of the candy, and the other can do the assembling of the bouquets.

Set them out on tables at your next party and just watch the smiles on your guests’ faces. Then watch those smiles get even bigger when they find out they can take home their own little thank you candy bouquet. It’s worth the effort to create these darling centerpieces.

What is a birthday candy cake? You may never have heard of this trend, but it’s a hot one. People love making and getting birthday candy cakes. And since they’re so easy to make, it’s no wonder why the trend continues to thrive.

A candy cake is simply a tiered “cake” shape that is really all made of candy instead of flour and butter. You build a set of tiers out of Styrofoam or other base material and then have fun getting creative with your candy decorations.

Want to try making a candy birthday cake for your next birthday party? It’s easy. You’ll need a few supplies. Get some Styrofoam. You can buy balls and cut them to have a flat side. Or you can buy squares, rectangles, or other slabs. Craft stores are great for having a range of Styrofoam options. Think of all the times you needed Styrofoam balls for your science project. Today’s kids have so much more of a range of choices in shapes and sizes than ever before. So you should have no trouble finding enough for three tiers.

Build your tiers when you get home. You’ll want to start with a cake plate. It can be a real plate if you are keeping the cake for a family member at home. But if you don’t want to give away your china, use a plastic plate. Paper will be too flimsy. Or go to Goodwill and get a festive cast-off plate and give that away with the cake.

Next, start cutting the Styrofoam to size. You’ll need one big layer the circumference of the bottom of the plate. Make it a wee bit smaller so that the candy won’t overlap the plate when added. Make a tier on top of that and then a final smaller one on top of that. Adhere with hot glue or Elmer’s white glue. When the tiers are dry, move on to the candy.

You’ll need several types of candy. Use whichever candy you like best, but bar candy will stick better to the form. Unevenly shaped hard candies will be harder to use. Although Hershey’s kisses would be awfully cute.

Start by assembling your lowest layer. You’re going to need glue dots for each candy bar or pins. You’re probably safest using glue dots as they won’t damage the candy. You’re going to leave all the candy wrapped, so make sure you don’t use glue that will seep through the wrapper. Pins are fine as long as you don’t stick them through the candy itself.

Work around the cake form placing candy so there is no white space showing. You can fill in with smaller hot balls or sour candies. Just make sure you don’t use any candy that’s not wrapped.

When you’ve made your way around the bottom tier, move up to the next tier. Then do the final third tier. The fun comes in the cake topper. Use something whimsical like a retro ornament or figurine. Or just use a silk flower or another big piece of candy.

If you’re using Hershey Kisses, go around the entire form of the cake using glue dots to secure the flat portions of the Kisses to the form. Just imagine the look on the recipient's face when they receive this edible candy arrangement!

Many times you want to offer a gift to someone who is ill. But you don’t want to show up with a basket of fruit or perishable foods. The recipient may not have an appetite and the food would be wasted. Or perhaps you’d just rather not send food because you have to ship it across country. Whatever the reason you’d like to, you can make or purchase a gift basket as a get well present that does not include any food.

Once you start your search for a get well gift basket, you will find that most come loaded with food. That’s not a bad thing, and most of the foods are gourmet, fresh, and delicious. But if you want to avoid sending food, it can be hard to find anything appropriate. One thing you can do is change your concept of the gift basket. We tend to think of a gift basket as one overflowing with upscale products or fresh-baked cookies and luscious fruits. But what if a gift basket were a total departure from the usual?

Depending on the situation and the severity of the illness, you will need to use your judgment as to what to send. But here are some ideas to get you started:

• A Book Gift Basket: For a person who has broken their leg or has a non-life threatening illness, you can fill a basket with lots of fun reading material to help pass the time. Include books you know they will like such as light romances or comic books. You can include the latest issues of magazines as well.
• The Puzzle Basket: For the person who’s up to some brain-twisting fun, send a basket that includes Sudoku and crossword puzzle books. Include a good pen and some sharpened pencils, too.
• The Pick Me Up Basket: For someone who is going through chemotherapy, you can put together a spa gift basket filled with beautifying spa products. Chemotherapy can cause a person’s hair to fall out, so provide her with some products that will pamper herself. Include powders, shower gels, and even a lipstick. Write a nice note that tells her how beautiful a person she is. Your gift will be perfect.
• The Child’s Gift Basket: If you know a sick child, ask her parents what she really loves and then go find it and create a Get Well Basket for Kids. Make it a sort of a wish basket. Put in things that she has been wishing for like those popular rubber band bracelets or another hard to find, but inexpensive, child’s toy. She will love that you thought enough to find exactly what she wanted. A sick child will also love soft stuffed animals and a fleece blanket in a pretty color. Think comfort. Anything that can reassure a child in the hospital that she is loved will be most welcomed. Her parents are the best guides as to what would make her really smile.

When you need to send a gift basket that conveys a get well message, appropriately consider how sick the person is. It’s not appropriate to send a terminally ill person the same things you might send someone who had their appendix out. So do some thinking and then send a heartfelt note with your beautiful basket. Your gift will make someone smile, for sure.

When a person you love is ill, it’s hard to know what to say. That shouldn’t stop you from writing a card or a note to say how much the person means to you. Delaying the sending of a get well card is never a good idea. You want your card to be timely and thoughtful. But if sending it late is the only way to send it, still do go ahead and send it.

Here are some ideas of what you can write inside a get well note or card.

• Dear Ben,

I was so sorry to hear that you had broken your arm while skiing in Colorado. I know how much you had looked forward to the trip. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know. I will be thinking of you and hope you can use this time to get some much overdue rest. Don’t worry, you’ll be back to golfing in no time!

Sincerely,

Don Patterson

While this note may be specific to one situation, it gives you a guideline to start with for any get well letter. Start by saying you’re sorry the person is ill. Mention the illness unless it’s a long term illness. Saying, “sorry you have cancer” comes across as thoughtless, but you could say something like, “I am sure you are in excellent hands with your doctors.” Next, make an offer of your time or to be there if the person needs you. They may never have to take you up on it, but at least you offered. Be short and sweet. Don’t go into long rants about things that are bothering you, problems at the office where you both work, or any other downers. Just a few words about how you’ll be thinking or praying for a person can brighten their day. And try to be lighthearted if you can. A card that’s morose is not going to pick anyone’s spirits up. Sign it with your full name in case someone else opens the mail or the envelope gets lost. They may be wondering “which Don?” if you don’t spell it out.

• Dear Aunt Rose,

Mom told me that your rheumatism is acting up again when I called her last week. I am so sorry to hear that. I know you are such a trooper about your condition, but don’t overdo it. We are all praying for you and are looking forward to being able to visit you at Thanksgiving. Take care and know that you are loved and cherished by us all.

Love,

Peg and the kids

For a family member who you don’t see every day, you’ll want to write about how you found out they were ill (again, perhaps) and make a sincere comment about their personality. Are they always up and about and now saddened to be slowed down by illness? It’s ok to mention it. Tell the person you’re praying for them or that they are in your thoughts. If you are truly going to be able to get out to visit, say so, but never make an empty promise that you can’t keep. If there are children in the family, let them sign their names to the card too. A child’s chicken scratch can be a delightfully cheerful addition to a get well card.

If you'd like to send a little something extra to brighten their day, fruit gift baskets are a great idea.  Not only do they send a thoughtful sentiment, the nutrients in fruit can help speed their healing!