Housewarming Gift Ideas

Housewarming Gift Ideas – What is Appropriate?

Executive Summary by Sharae Taylor and Beth Patterson

So what to give as a housewarming gift? A realtor friend of mine and I came up with a great unique housewarming gift ideas that she gives to all her clients when they purchase a home from her realty company, a
“Guardian Angel for the Home” Angel painting. I liked the idea so much since I am an Angel collector and Angel artist and Angels are for everyone, I have started giving these as a housewarming, hostess or thank you gift.

Home Depot or Lowe’s would be a great place to find a gift or even a gift certificate and is an excellent gift because such centers also sell gardening must haves, grills, small home appliances and tools that every homeowner needs.

Gift certificates for movie rentals or the purchase of their favorite DVD. Music lovers you can do the same thing by adjusting it to music or if in the big city … tickets to a musical? Many unique gift ideas can be inexpensive. A photo album for the new pictures of their new home. Luxury bath items for that long
soak in the new whirlpool bathtub in the master suite. Fireplace tools or a chord of wood are a good item if they have never had a fireplace before. Dinner at their favorite restaurant.

Top 10 Bad Housewarming Gift Ideas

This a list of the top 10 things that you should not give as house warming presents.

Number 10– Novelty lighting! Be it a lamp, a candle or a night light; novelty lighting is just not a good idea.

Number 9–Regifting bad gifts that you have received in the past. I know we have probably all been guilty of doing this in the past, but it really is not a good idea.

Number 8–Barbie doll toilet paper cozy. You have seen them at garage sales, craft fairs, and perhaps on the back of your grandmother’s toilet. It is that slightly creepy, Barbie doll whose legs sit inside the roll of toilet paper, her usually crocheted skirt hiding the spare TP roll.

Number 7- Sports team memorabilia. No matter how big of a Braves fan your friend is, I doubt that he, or his wife for that matter, would appreciate a throw blanket sporting their favorite teams logo, or a framed poster of his favorite player. Where would they put it?

Number 6–Novelty drinking glasses or beer coozies. You know a good rule of thumb is that if it has the word novelty in the description, don’t buy it!

Number 5–Taxidermied animal

Number 4– Mounted, talking animals. Please have a little more restraint. It sounds funny, but in reality it’s not.

Number 3– Live animals. As sweet as a new puppy or kitten may seem; they don’t make the best housewarming gift.

Number 2– An Ashtray for a nonsmoker.

And the Number 1 bad housewarming gift– cleaning supplies. Now many of you may think that cleaning supplies would be a good gift, and in theory it would be. The problem is the message that this kind of gift sends. Something like, “Here’s a vacuum cleaner, because you clearly don’t spend enough time on your domestic responsibilities. Women especially can take offence at such an offering. So unless it is a requested item, skip the cleaning supplies.

Graduation Gift Ideas

Graduation Gift Ideas

Executive Summary by Eric Morris and Candis Reade

The season of spring is also a time for many graduation announcements. The best gift perhaps is one that is both practical and useful.

A graduation gift need not be expensive or glamorous to be appreciated. For high school graduates, some excellent gift ideas include MP3 players, a good book, a personal digital organizer, laptop computers, cameras, personalized deck accessories, clothes and jewelry. For the college-bound graduate, especially those who will be staying in dorms, great gift ideas include a small TV, stereo, a computer, books, alarm clocks, reading lights, bookshelves – and the list goes on.

Most graduates will probably think of big ticket gifts, but you don’t have to spend a lot for a gift. A simple and well-thought of gift can be the most memorable among the lots of gifts he/she will receive come graduation time.

You can attach a nice card with a heartfelt note to your gift as a special touch.

Cheap Graduation Gift Ideas

As you think for any cheap graduation gift ideas, it is important to consider some tips as well. These tips may include how inspiring, personal or useful the graduation gifts are for any future events. The gifts must either be useful with the recipient’s college life or career life. More importantly is that the graduation gift should be commemorating the graduation day of the recipient.

One of the great and cheap graduation gift ideas that you can present to a graduating student is a graduation party. A framed picture of you and the graduate is also a great idea as a graduation gift. A book is another great idea as a graduation gift especially if the graduate is a type of person who is bookish. An organizer or a planner is another great graduation gift. Other graduation gift ideas that are inexpensive include photo calendars, photo mugs, photo mouse pads, key chains and magnets, a personalized scrapbook or photo album, entertainment gifts, mix CDs, special DVDs, magazine subscription, inexpensive clothing, sports team t-shirts, vintage t-shirts, socks, meaningful trinkets, ornaments, stuffed toys, shot glasses, bottle openers and many more.

In thinking of cheap graduation gift ideas for your loved ones, you should also think of it sentimental value. It is important that the graduation gifts will give a meaning to the graduate no matter it if it’s big or small.

Graduation Gift Ideas

Graduation Gift Ideas

Executive Summary by Eric Morris and Candis Reade

The season of spring is also a time for many graduation announcements. The best gift perhaps is one that is both practical and useful.

A graduation gift need not be expensive or glamorous to be appreciated. For high school graduates, some excellent gift ideas include MP3 players, a good book, a personal digital organizer, laptop computers, cameras, personalized deck accessories, clothes and jewelry. For the college-bound graduate, especially those who will be staying in dorms, great gift ideas include a small TV, stereo, a computer, books, alarm clocks, reading lights, bookshelves – and the list goes on.

Most graduates will probably think of big ticket gifts, but you don’t have to spend a lot for a gift. A simple and well-thought of gift can be the most memorable among the lots of gifts he/she will receive come graduation time.

You can attach a nice card with a heartfelt note to your gift as a special touch.

Cheap Graduation Gift Ideas

As you think for any cheap graduation gift ideas, it is important to consider some tips as well. These tips may include how inspiring, personal or useful the graduation gifts are for any future events. The gifts must either be useful with the recipient’s college life or career life. More importantly is that the graduation gift should be commemorating the graduation day of the recipient.

One of the great and cheap graduation gift ideas that you can present to a graduating student is a graduation party. A framed picture of you and the graduate is also a great idea as a graduation gift. A book is another great idea as a graduation gift especially if the graduate is a type of person who is bookish. An organizer or a planner is another great graduation gift. Other graduation gift ideas that are inexpensive include photo calendars, photo mugs, photo mouse pads, key chains and magnets, a personalized scrapbook or photo album, entertainment gifts, mix CDs, special DVDs, magazine subscription, inexpensive clothing, sports team t-shirts, vintage t-shirts, socks, meaningful trinkets, ornaments, stuffed toys, shot glasses, bottle openers and many more.

In thinking of cheap graduation gift ideas for your loved ones, you should also think of it sentimental value. It is important that the graduation gifts will give a meaning to the graduate no matter it if it’s big or small.

Gifts for the party guests – goody bag tips

Every kid needs a birthday party at least once in their lifetime, but how do you make it memorable? By bribing their friends with great goody bag favors, so they constantly remind everyone at school that your child had the best party, duh.

Let’s start with a question, are goody bags mandatory? For a kid’s birthday party, yes. A question that probably runs through every kid’s mind is, why would I go to a party with this awesome gift in hand, but walk out empty handed? Don’t make them wonder. If you’re going to host a birthday party, you must have goody bags.

Here are a few tips to start off with:

• Make all the goody bags the same. This is very important, the last thing you want is some fight breaking out because Billy got a bouncy ball and Johnny just got a colorful pencil. If you’re going to be putting bouncy balls of different colors into each bag, a great idea would be to keep the bag of extra bouncy balls on hand but out of sight and if there is a quarrel, get the bag and let them trade the ball out for another color.
• Always make 20-30% more goody bags then you need, you have 10 guests, make 12-13. Too many times have people miscounted, forgot, or someone brings a friend to a birthday party and they end up leaving without feeling like they were even welcome to the party, don’t be the one that miscounted. And plus, making extras are great for the times when you made one or two defective goody bags.
• If the party has a theme then buy bags that go with the theme, please resist from reusing your daughter’s Barbie goody bags for your son’s 12th birthday. Generally white goody bags fit most occasions, it’s what’s inside the bag that matters anyways. Oh and if you plan on putting a lot of things in the goody bags or your party is at Chuck E. Cheeses or something, buy bigger bags so they can fill it up during the party, don’t have them dropping their toys and losing all their stuff.
• A general rule that I go by is to have at least 5 things in the bag, and if you have a bunch of candy it only counts as one thing. Too little party favors and it will be a disappointing bag and too much will just end up costing you more than you need to spend.
• Go for quality goodies. Quantity might prolong the kid from realizing this bag has nothing good in it, but if you buy quality goodies they will play with the goodies in the bag and have a positive thought of the party. 
• Before buying goodies, think about how many bags you need to make and how much you want to spend per bag, then buy only the items that can be divided up into ALL the goody bags. Make sure you don’t blow off every bag’s allowance on one or two items, the trick is to spread the allowance out to 5+ quality goodies. Sometimes you will find that you might have to add a little more money per bag, and yup, throwing a birthday party isn’t cheap.
• Bring the birthday child out with you to buy the goodies. Let them run around the store looking for stuff they like to give you ideas and maybe ask them for some advice.

 

And now, here’s the fun part, what to put in the bags…

 

For the boys:

• Water ball YoYos, just a warning, they can pop and splash water everywhere, but everyone likes them.
• Wooden glider planes
• Glow Sticks, these will probably give them the best 6 hours they can remember for a week.
• Toy cars for the younger ones. Toy cars like Hot Wheels can be expensive as a goody bag favor, but they can last for a while and  kids love them.
• Finger skateboards
• Candy, maybe just 3-4 pieces, but no more. Any more and they will be jumping off the walls even after the party is over.
• Bouncy Balls
• Small  Flashlights, don’t get any flashlights that are too big obviously, just the tiny, one battery ones.
• Bubbles
• Mini Frisbees
• Kazoos
• Whistles, but it will get loud.
• Small Blow Up Beach Balls
• Invisible Ink
• Playdoh
• Tops
• Etch A Sketch Key chains, a bit expensive but will totally be worth it.
• Water guns, some parents might be anti guns/weapons so make sure you’re familiar with most of the parents before throwing in some of these.
• Deck of Cards, while they won’t enjoy it then, chances are they will eventually play with them.
• Stay away from party favor YoYos, first off the toy YoYos intended for party favors are hard to play with and it will just end up around the neck of some kid and that is not a memory you want of your child’s birthday.
• Stay away from pencils unless they’re the color changing pencils that change when you touch them. Pencils are boring, that’s all I have to say.

For the girls:

• Playdoh
• Small brush
• Small stuffed animals
• Markers, the more colors the better.
• Colorful Pencils or colored pencils, while boys would use these as swords, girls will use them for their real purpose.
• Coloring books
• Crayons
• Bouncy Balls
• Whistles
• Small Blow Up Beach Balls
• Invisible Ink
• Bubbles, I would say bubbles are a big must.
• Glow Sticks
• Water ball YoYos
• Candy, same rule for the boys section, 3-4 pieces only please.
• Stickers, stickers are a good idea, glow in the dark stickers or scratch and sniff are even better.
• Small Notepad
• Etch A Sketch Key chains, a bit expensive but will totally be worth it.

Basically if they are small, cheap and fun to play with then they will make a great goody bag favor, so just throw it in.

Vendors

• Party City – You can’t buy things from the Party City website, so go there and check out the things they sell then look for a local Party City, the stores are usually pretty cool and basically half the things they sell are goody bag material.
• Oriental Trading – Very cool site, mostly everything in the novelty section is a good goody bag item.
• Local Dollar Stores – Should probably be one of your first picks when you go shopping for goody bag favors, everything is cheap and their toy sections are always stocked with a lot of choices.
• Local Target – They have a goody bag section with a lot of the dollar goodies.
• Local Walmart – Same as target, a one to two aisle section for parties.

I realize I mentioned to make goody bags all the same and then went and made a list for girls and boys, but if you’re having both girl and boy guests there are many options that both will like. The reason to make them all the same is to avoid anything that seems like unfairness because every kid weighs toys differently, and believe me, the deciding factor of the party can be from how amazing the goody bag is. Other than that, kids are usually happy from receiving a goody bag, and you’ll be amazed how long children can be entertained from the $5 you spent on the bag if done right.

Other Posts

• Your little helicopter pilot
• Gift idea for your daughter, a rainbow!
• Gift Advice – iPhone Dock

Gift Idea – The new Apple iPod Shuffle

Today the new iPod shuffle is available for purchase at the Apple Store. It is very small and still screenless. Some big improvements is that the shuffle is now 4gb instead of the 2gb it used to be, and the iPod Shuffle now talks to you and can tell you song information. This makes a very fancy $80 gift for anyone looking to buy an iPod shuffle for someone. If you think they won’t like the new iPod shuffle, the 1gb versions of the last generation iPod shuffles are still available for purchase from the Apple Store. So don’t be afraid, go check them out, and maybe you might buy one for yourself to use at the gym.

Other Posts

• Gift Idea for the On the Goers
• Gift Advice – iPhone Dock
• Fun gift for the whole family, Apples to Apples.

Unique Christmas Gift Ideas

Unique Christmas Gift Ideas

Executive Summary by Brigitte Smith

Unique Christmas gift ideas can be pretty difficult to think up. And with Christmas just around the corner, things

can become stressful rather quickly, if you don’t have some general ideas on the types of unique Christmas gifts you intend to buy for your family and friends. With all of the work that goes into getting the Christmas decorations up, sending out “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” cards, calling up friends to arrange Christmas parties and so on, finding unique Christmas gifts can often be a rushed and frantic affair. Many generous spirits would love to receive a Christmas gift that will make a difference in the life of people less fortunate than they are.

Personalized items can also be given as unique Christmas gifts. You probably have some acquaintances who you feel you should buy a holiday gift for, but don’t know them well enough to buy unusual Christmas gifts they’ll particularly appreciate. So having a few novelty gift items for acquaintances can really come in handy.

It often makes sense to give a novelty gift item that has something to do with the holidays, as unique Christmas gift ideas. Every year I spend a morning with my family, making homemade Christmas ornaments, and another afternoon making Christmas cookies and other goodies that can be whipped up into Christmas gift baskets – large or small, to suit the particular recipient.

So unique Christmas gift ideas are ones that you’ve put some thought into, and if possible, unusual Christmas gifts that you’ll be fondly thought of for long after Christmas is over.

Unique Christmas Gift Ideas For Mom

Hard working moms all over the world deserve a treat, especially during the holiday seasons. No idea what gift that can pamper your mom? How about a relaxation Spa Gift Basket? This gift will make a long-lasting impression and bring a smile on her face. Your mom truly deserves it!

Another great Christmas gift idea to buy for your mom is an electronic foot massager. It will massage away tension and fatigue from her feet, calves and ankles. Jewelry is always a great gift for a woman. You can make your mom to cherish her gift even more by personalizing it. Besides jewelry, women also love chocolate. Why not indulge her with the world finest chocolate gifts from France during this Christmas season? The French chocolate is in its purest form without preservatives and fat other than the natural cocoa butter. You can also get the chocolate specially hand made for mom. If you choose chocolate as gift, do take note that there are also sugar free chocolates for diabetic.

Flowers can also be a terrific gift for mom, but problem is that they don’t last very long. Why not consider buying her a beautiful bonsai tree instead? Other great gifts for mom are: shoes, golf gear (if she plays golf of course), sweater, etc.

Teacher Gift Ideas

Teacher Appreciation: 10 Creative Teacher Gift Ideas

Executive Summary by Cari Young

Ten Creative Ways to Appreciate a Teacher

When you have an exceptional teacher, you want to honor him or her in an extraordinary way. Anyone who has been teaching for a few years already has an extensive collection of assorted items decorated with apples. If you really appreciate your child’s teacher, you want to go above and beyond the ordinary gift. Here are a few creative teacher gift ideas.

• Words from the Heart: Many teachers say that the most precious gift they ever received was a heartfelt note from a parent about how the teacher impacted a child’s life.
• Scrapbooks: I have seen tough teachers cry when presented with a well-made scrapbook. Assemble pictures of each child, class parties and field trips. Collect thank you notes from each student, and put them together with the photos in a pre-made photo album or scrapbook.
• Dinner: Do you think that your child’s teacher is exhausted at the end of the day? Give a teacher a break with either a home-cooked meal or a restaurant gift certificate.
• Magazines: All teachers want to encourage students to read more. Often they stretch their own paycheck to buy books and other reading materials to have on hand for students who finish work early or need extra reading practice.
• Treat a Day: Over the course of a week, put a small treat with a note in your teacher’s box each day. She’ll have a surprise to look forward to each morning!
• Shirts: This teacher gift will never collect dust because it will be worn again and again. For one day a week, your favorite teacher’s morning routine will go more quickly because she will not have to think about what to wear to school.
• Public Praise: The difficult work that teachers do often goes unnoticed and unappreciated. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about the wonderful things that your favorite teacher does for his students.
• Books: Almost every teacher loves books and reading. There are many types of books which make great teacher appreciation gifts: inspirational teacher books, picture books about special teachers, humorous school stories, and collections of poems about school.
• World Changers: Many organizations sell gifts which can change the world. You can adopt a zoo animal or donate a chicken to a third world family, all in the name of your child’s teacher.
• Wild Ideas: For the teacher who has absolutely everything, try something wild and crazy to let him know how much you appreciate him. Put a bright pink flamingo in his front yard, with a sign around the flamingo’s neck saying: “We were tickled pink to have Mr. Smith for a teacher this year.

Certainly it will end up costing you a lot less than what will be envisaged by those who see the final product including the person who will receive it, which in this case is of course your kid’s teacher.

Just to give you some ideas to help you get real creative with your teacher gift ideas, you should consider mother of pearl jewelry which can prove to be very stunning addition to anybody’s wardrobe. You can even consider a beautiful mother of pearl tie tack for a teacher that really loves their ties as the ideal teacher gift ideas.

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