Like Personalized Gifts

SANTA’S SECRET SERVICE HELPS OVER 2,100 LONELY CALGARY SENIORS

high — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:16:03 +0000

Most people spend Christmas with their family or close friends but some people are not so lucky. Santa’s Secret Service, established in 1985, looks after the seniors who have no family or friends to spend the holidays with. Anonymous donors selflessly provide personalized gifts for individuals 60 years or older who are alone or isolated in the Calgary communities.
“In the first year, Santa’s Secret Service provided 10 gifts to seniors at a single care facility, and it was made possible by the generosity of one individual that saw the need,” comments Lisa from the organization.

“Since that time, Santa’s Secret Service became a registered charity, and has grown each year to its current size of over 2,100 senior recipients, 350 volunteer Santas, and over a hundred care providers.”

Calgary’s population growth is among the fastest in Canada and demographic changes means a rising need for seniors’ services, increasing the number of lonely seniors. The Secret Services’ mission is to ensure that no senior is left out at Christmas time. They accomplish this by acquiring the participation of all local caregivers and engaging the community in the volunteer effort.

“Our vision is to become the premiere not-for-profit organization in Western Canada, delivering joy, happiness and a sense of community to isolated seniors, one gift at a time. As such, we hope to expand the organization to at least one other major city outside of Calgary. We also plan to continue to grow the program in Calgary and the surrounding area by identifying as many recipients as we can to be part of both the Christmas and birthday program,” explained Lisa.

Every year, members of seniors’ groups, housing facilities, outreach programs and health care providers from around the city provide anonymous personal profiles of secluded seniors, indicating their age, gender, hobbies, needs and preferences. After the profiles are reviewed they are distributed to Secret Santa’s who purchase personalized gifts for their anonymous senior. They spend what they feel is appropriate.

Following the Secret Santa shopping deadline, the gifts are brought to a warehouse, where volunteer elves sort them. The special elves make sure that each gift matches the senior for whom it is intended and that no one is left out and include a special card with a greeting from Santa.

When all the gifts have been sorted, they’re delivered to the participating caregivers and distributed to each of their profiled seniors. No one should be alone on Christmas and Santa’s Secret Service spread their love each year to those who need it most.

Initially a grass roots organization that hired temporary staff each season to coordinate the gift giving process, and operated out of the basements and garages of board members, Santa’s Secret Service now has a year round staff and its own office space, and both a birthday and Christmas program. For more information about volunteer opportunities for next Christmas check out the Santa’s Secret Service web site.

Schools show spirit of giving

high — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:22:11 +0000

The giving spirit of the holidays has taken over the hallways in local schools.

Keene High School students pulled out all the creative stops to make cards to send to military servicemen and women, a project sponsored by the school’s Renaissance club.

Students in early childhood education classes at Keene High made hats, stockings and gift bags for children in the city’s homeless shelters, and the Keene High National Honor Society students decorated, served food and cleaned up at the RISE … for baby and family’s annual holiday party at Keene’s United Church of Christ. The students also made gingerbread men for Santa to distribute.

The Cheshire Career Center’s DECA chapter at Keene High School collected toys for the Toys for Tots program.

Students in Eric Stinebring’s 6th-grade homeroom at Keene Middle School also collected toys for the Toys for Tots program, gathering 35 items total. Donna Fairbanks’ 7th-grade homeroom conducted a bake sale and used the proceeds to buy even more toys for the program. Students in Caitlin Sullivan’s 6th-grade homeroom collected almost 100 warm coats and donated them to the Salvation Army. And Erika Greenwald’s 8th-grade homeroom’s bake sale netted funds to donate to Project Share, a local charity that buys holiday gifts for needy children.

Even the city’s youngest students are in the giving mood. The preschool and kindergarten children at Keene Montessori School collected $133.28 to send to Pennies for Peace.

The money will be used to help educate children in Pakistan or Afghanistan. The students started the collection in September with Singing for Peace, joining children all over the world in one continuous song for peace.

Over the river in Vermont, Compass School students spent part of their annual Giving Day at Our Place Drop-in Center in Bellows Falls, where they decorated holiday cookies and created a tower of canned goods they had collected.

Before Giving Day, each student and staff member had drawn the name of another member of the Compass School community. On the day, everyone presented a homemade gift, personalized to that individual. Each gift presenter spoke about the gift and why it was appropriate to the person receiving the gift.

Wreath-making, doll-making, and potato latke-cooking were some of the activities that occupied Well School students and their grandparents at the school’s multi-cultural holiday craft day.

Grandparents came from all six New England states to join their grandchildren in making multi-cultural crafts for the winter holidays. Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas traditions were honored by most of the Peterborough school’s 130 students and their grandparents.

The school’s elementary students rotated through a variety of craft projects while the middle school students worked on longer, more involved projects such as lantern-making and whittling.

The afternoon concluded with singers from the middle school chorus entertaining the participants by singing in Hebrew, Spanish and Latin.

Monday was the Biggest Delivery Day of the Year for UPS – Now Last Minute Shoppers Switch to Instant Online Gift Certificates

high — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:49:40 +0000

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– With the biggest delivery day of the year for UPS now passed and the delays caused by the recent east coast storm it becomes costly to send something in order for it to arrive before Christmas – and there is no absolute guarantee it will arrive on time.

Last minute shoppers are now switching to personalized Instant Online Gift Certificates to save money on shipping, and more importantly get the gift in their hands instantly. In Boston (or anywhere in the world actually) last minute shoppers can instantly be a holiday hero for someone who lives in the Boston Metro area in about three minutes.

The Instant Gift Certificate technology which went live just in time for the holidays enables consumers to get a Bella Sante Spa Instant Gift Certificate emailed to the purchaser to be printed out. Alternatively, the gift giver can have the Instant Gift Certificate emailed directly to the recipient.

When time for shipping has run out, the Bella Sante Spa a personalized Instant Gift Certificate is the favored choice for the next three days. The instant gift certificates are available 24 hours a day including Christmas day.

The Shopper can create a beautiful personalized Gift Certificate as late as Christmas day and no one needs to be the wiser as to when it was actually purchased.

What is a personalized Instant Gift Certificate? Personalized Instant Gift Certificates are virtual e-certificates, sent via email to the recipient or the purchaser can print the Instant Gift Certificate and give it directly to the recipient. Perfect for last minute gift giving, Instant Spa Gift Certificates can be used at all Bella Sante Spas for retail and spa services. They have locations in Wellesley, Lexington and on Newbury Street in Boston.

The purchaser can be assured that the recipient will be happy with the choice of a Bella Sante Instant Gift Certificate. Bella Sante is the only spa in Boston that has won the most Best of Boston awards ever. In addition, the Best of Citysearch Boston announced that Bella Sante Spas in Boston also won more Best of Citysearch Awards than any other spa in Massachusetts.

Citysearch further confirmed that Bella Sante won more Citysearch Awards than any spa in the history of the Best of Citysearch Boston Awards. Bella Sante’s record with clients and press is hard to surpass making it a great choice – one that will be appreciated and never returned.

“This personalized Instant Gift Certificate technology makes last minute shopping fast, saves time and eliminates shipping cost for last minute shoppers,” said Tiffany Amorosino, COO of Bella Sante Spas.

When someone is giving a Gift Certificate for a spa it is very important that the recipient is not disappointed with the purchaser’s choice of spa. Shoppers want to be confident in giving a spa gift certificate, which is why they prefer to purchase Gift Certificates from Bella Sante Spas.

Purchasers know that a premium brand like Boston’s Bella Sante will deliver great results consistently – that is how they earned the Best of Boston reputation. Bella Sante’s premium brand provides that confidence to the Gift Certificate purchasers that their Gift Certificate will be one that the recipient can’t wait to use.

While women make up the majority of guests at most spas – during the holiday season Bella Sante has a surge in male clientele, typically to purchase spa gift certificates for loved ones, co-workers or friends. There are very few people that would not enjoy a wonderful and pampering treatment at Bella Sante.

The Instant Gift Certificates are good at all three Bella Sante Spa locations (Wellesley, Lexington and their location on Newbury Street in Boston).

“We are proud that during this busy holiday season we have been reduce the stress of last minute shoppers with our Personalized Instant Gift Certificate,” said Sarah Lahey, Vice President of Operations of Bella Sante Spas.

Bella Sante has earned the reputation as the Best of Boston over the last 16 years. It is the quality and the consistency that has enabled them to win more awards than any other spa from both Boston Magazine and from Citysearch Boston. It is in this tradition that they introduced the Instant Gift Certificate for last minute shoppers.

Bella Sante has built a premier brand with their unique management style and their talented staff. They have enjoyed long time popularity with clients and the press as a result of how the clients are treated by the highly skilled staff. In addition, the Bella Sante management style is focused on making sure their clients get the best care at every level.

Their customer oriented philosophy starts with a skilled concierge answering the phone quickly (average wait time this week is 15 seconds) to highly trained staff providing services (customized to the guest) to managers following up with clients (to insure consistent service levels) and ends with repeat and happy clients.

The total commitment of Bella Sante management and staff at every level of customer interaction has paid off again in 2009 and the fact that the majority of their clients are repeat clients is just another indication of their success.

Simply put Bella Sante is continuing their tradition of being the Best of Boston in all regards including the introduction of the personalized Instant Gift Certificate.

A personalized Instant Gift Certificate from Bella Sante Spa is a sure bet to have a joyful recipient this holiday season. If shoppers are looking for the perfect last minute gift – a Bella Sante Spa Gift Certificate this holiday season there is not a better brand anywhere in Massachusetts – at least according to the clients and the press.

About Bella Sante Day Spas:

Bella Sante is and has been the premier day spa in the Boston Metro area for more than a decade and has the won more Best of Boston awards and more Best of Citysearch Awards than any other spa in Massachusetts. The majority of their clients are repeat customers due to the consistent, excellent treatment by the highly trained and wonderful caring staff.

Bella Sante also has clients from all across the United States that year after year order Gift Certificates for their friends, co-workers, family and loved ones in Massachusetts.

When it comes to pampering and relaxation, both the clients, Boston Magazine and Citysearch voters agree that Bella Sante is the Best in Boston.

Bella Sante has locations in Wellesley, Lexington and on Newbury Street in Boston.

Last-minute gifts (that won’t seem last-minute!)

high — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:48:21 +0000

Procrastinators take heart. There is a light at the end of the Christmas shopping tunnel, even if you’ve waited this long.

Experts say follow a few simple suggestions and you could snag gifts in mere minutes that will look like you spent months planning.

Joyce Sobczyk, manager of personal shopping for Bloomingdale’s, 900 N. Michigan, says make a list of everyone you need to buy for, their size and hobbies. Stores close early on Christmas Eve so start shopping in the morning. (Bloomingdale’s is open from 8 a.m. until 6 tonight.)

If you’re shopping at a department store, call ahead to see if they have personal shopping services, suggests Jackie Strohm, personal stylist manager at Nordstrom, 520 N. Michigan. Services usually are free and surprisingly available on Christmas Eve. (Nordstrom is open from 9 a.m. until 5 tonight.)

But, this begs the question: what to buy?

Stationery can be a great gift — something that most people need but don’t always splurge on for themselves. Put together a set of decorative blank cards and envelopes with a monogrammed rubber stamp with the first initial of the recipient’s name and all of a sudden you have a gift that will be remembered. At the Paper Source, with five locations in and around the city, you can choose stationery in just about any color (starting at $3.25) and find rubber letter stamps in many fonts and sizes (starting price $4.50). Journals also can be a great, personalized gift. The Gratitude journal ($14.95), also available at the Paper Source, encourages the recipient to focus on the positive going into the year ahead. You can make it that much more special by penning a quick note on the first page about how much the recipient means to you.

If you’ve got a cook on your list, consider spices from the Spice House, 1512 N. Wells. Choose from one of their 30 gift box themes, which run the gamut from sweet to savory. New this year and great for the man in your life is the Smoky Flavors Gift Box ($19.95), which includes ground chipotle chili pepper and Brisket of Love barbecue rub.

The Himalayan Salt plates (starting at $37.95), available at the Spice House as well, are a quirky gift for the cook who has everything. Use them cold to serve fruit or cheese or on the stovetop and cook right on them to lace your food with a subtle, salty flavor.

If you’re visiting there, walk two storefronts north to Old Town Oil, 1520 N. Wells. There you can pick from more than 20 varieties of 100 percent extra virgin olive oil and 14 varieties of balsamic vinegar. One of their most popular combinations is the Mediterranean Blood Orange Olive Oil paired with their 18-year aged Tangerine Balsamic Vinegar ($35.45 without basket, $39.95 with), used for everything from salads to a marinade for meat.

If you’ve got a coffee lover on your list, up the ante with a pound of the rarer special reserve blend from Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Lincoln Park. They’ve got two to choose from — one that’s 100 percent Kona (key because that’s hard to find; $55) and the JR Reserve (a combination of African and Indonesian coffees hand-selected by and named after their top coffee buyer Jim Reynolds; 51). For this coffee option you’ll pay up to four times more than regular beans (about $50), but it’s worth it.

If shopping department stores is more your style, Sobczyk steers coffee-loving customers to the Nespresso coffee machine (starting at $199; model pictured is $349.99 today). “It’s worth spending a little extra for the grown-up coffee maker,” she says.

To incorporate a little designer flair in your gift-giving without breaking the bank, there’s the Burberry skinny scarf ($195), which comes in a variety of colors at Bloomingdale’s.

At Nordstrom consider a pair of TOMS shoes for men and women. With every pair (starting at $57.95 at Nordstrom) you buy they give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. “It’s like two gifts in one,” Strohm says. “Perfect for the person who likes to give back.”

And, if despite your best intentions you still find yourself leaning toward a bathrobe, check out the super comfy Barefoot Dreams CozyChic robe at Nordstrom ($98). At some locations you can even have it monogrammed (which starts at $8), even on Christmas Eve.

To take advantage, though, you’ve got to stop procrastinating and start shopping. Now.

Workshops to Create One-of-a-Kind Gifts

high — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:46:50 +0000

Searching for meaning beyond a price tag, more holiday shoppers are giving custom-made gifts this year.
But adding the personal touch doesn’t mean that gift-givers have to break out the knitting needles, haul out the scrapbook supplies or fire up the oven and start baking. A host of Web sites with names like Zazzle, Blurb and TasteBook are helping people quickly create one-of-a-kind products like clothing, books and jewelry. In some cases, making a custom gift can be as easy as uploading a photo or clicking a mouse. In others, the e-commerce tools shorten what would normally have taken hours of work.

Customers love it, and the customization sites are reporting sizzling sales growth. Zazzle, CafePress and Scrapblog, a site that lets people create and print digital scrapbooks, have each reported 80 percent increases in sales this holiday season compared with last year. Orders at Spreadshirt, where people can customize shirts, bags, umbrellas and even underwear, have doubled. At Blurb, where people create their own photo or art books, sales are up 43 percent.

Meanwhile, overall e-commerce sales have grown only 4 percent this season, according to comScore, and offline retail sales have barely grown at all.

“With everyone being frugal, giving someone a custom water bottle with a picture of their dog on it is more chic and special and loved than last year’s Chanel sunglasses,” said Amy Maniatis, vice president for marketing at CafePress.

Carla Pokrywka Cole, who lives in Idaho Springs, Colo., went to TasteBook, a Web site that publishes personalized gifts cookbooks, to make Christmas gifts for the 26 family members and friends on her list.

Ms. Cole’s grandmother died last year, leaving behind stacks of her recipes, including those of her own grandmother from Poland, handwritten on note cards or typed with a typewriter. Ms. Cole uploaded the recipes, along with family photos and images of the cards with her grandmother’s handwriting.

“Instead of saying, ‘Oh, I have to buy so-and-so a scarf,’ it’s something that is really specialized for that person, something you thought this person would really appreciate,” Ms. Cole said.

Some sites that sell customized items, including CafePress and Zazzle, have been around for a decade. And before that, the local copy store, photo processor or T-shirt shop could create some personalized products.

But the range and sophistication of the customizable products available now is mind-boggling. On Zazzle, for example, people can customize not only clothes and mugs, but also skateboards, shoes, postage stamps, mouse pads and pet clothes. They can even design their own Keds sneakers and incorporate images from Disney movies and the “South Park” cartoons in their designs. On CafePress, people can customize Sigg water bottles and Flip video cameras and use photos from the popular “Twilight” movies.

Blue Nile, an online jeweler, started letting people design their own pieces last year. Customers and designers send three-dimensional renderings back and forth, using computer-aided design tools, so they can see what a ring would look like if a stone were moved or a band were a different shape, for example.

Custom orders are up 20 percent this year. “Sometimes people feel, ‘Oh, it’s the Internet, you can’t do something this special and custom,’ but it’s the opposite,” said Diane Irvine, chief executive of Blue Nile. “Technology enables that.”

Easy customization of so many products is possible because technological advances on the Web and in digital printing have made it possible to create one-off items for much less money than it used to take. Zazzle, for example, spent three years developing about 50 inks that would bind to different materials, as diverse as cotton and plastic, and built on-demand printing software so that its factory in San Jose, Calif., can create and ship a personalized item in 24 hours.

“People are overcoming the idea that this is tchotchke, iron-on stuff,” said Jason Kang, vice president for marketing at Zazzle. “It’s really high quality. The folks here have spent a long time fine-tuning the chemistry, the workflow, the machinery, to really enable on-demand printing at a price point that is almost as cheap as mass retail.”

Morgan Taylor, a nanny in San Francisco, did all her holiday shopping at Zazzle. The boy she cares for received a skateboard emblazoned with the name and mascot of his school, and the girl received an Avery binder decorated with pictures of her and her friends. Ms. Taylor gave her mother postage stamps personalized with Christmas trees and the family name, and her friends will receive monogrammed stationery.

“I was able to put on my personal touch and get something they could call their own,” Ms. Taylor said.

In many cases, technology makes custom design easier and less expensive than it is through traditional methods.

This Christmas, Jennifer Ly of Catawba, N.C., and her sister used Scrapblog to create a 100-page, hardcover scrapbook for her mother with pictures of a trip they took to England.

On the site, she laid out her photos and decorated the pages with images of butterflies, paisley patterns and old, yellowed pieces of paper. “Real scrapbooks are messy,” she said. “Online, you can choose a background, change it 10 times, and you don’t have that mess. And this book is a very high-quality-looking item, nothing like a paper scrapbook that you would make.”

Ms. Ly plans to wrap a box of tissues along with the book because she knows it will bring her mother to tears.

“If you ask her what she wants for Christmas, she’ll say, ‘Peace on earth,’ so I give her something sentimental,” Ms. Ly said. “She wouldn’t care much for a scarf or a necklace.”

All types of companies are joining the custom-made trend. Jonathan Adler, who designs home furnishings, added a design-your-own feature on his Web site a couple of months ago. People can make pillows, rugs or bags and choose the pattern, color and fabric. The designs are sent to Peru, where the items are made by hand.

“With the recession, people don’t want to surround themselves with things that are just stuff,” Mr. Adler said. “Everything that people purchase now has to have a little bit more meaning.”

Of all the options, a company called DNA 11 offers perhaps the most personalized gift of all. It sends people a DNA collection kit to swab the inside of their cheek. For $200 to $1,000, DNA 11 analyzes the sample, takes a photo and blows it up to create a big piece of artwork that looks like colorful skyscrapers against the night sky. People can also make portraits from their fingerprints or lips.

Adrian Salamunovic, who co-founded DNA 11, has a wall-size red DNA portrait of his pet beagle in his living room. As he put it, “The trend of personalization is huge, and what’s more personal than DNA?”

Great Ladies and the Gifts They Gave

high — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:05:10 +0000

I am not one of those people who finds it more exciting to give than to receive. Perhaps due to the intensive labor of love that my Christmas wish list has always been- items organized by probable giftee, qualified by size, color, and addenumed with sourcing information from roughly my seventh Christmas on- I have rarely been disappointed with a gift. But as I’ve watched others open gifts this holiday season, I’ve noticed that although their faces sometimes register barely controlled precipitous droops of dismay at an egregiously misjudged gift, other times their faces explode in a smile I started itching to elicit, in the way I’d previously itched for, say, Item 15, size small, heather grey, jcrew.com. I began to wonder- what was so great, anyway, about knowing exactly what to get myself? So I set off on search of what made gifting so pleasurable, outside of any sort of pure altruism.

What made some of the most stylish, couture/bauble/Hermes hound women of the past such noteworthy gift givers, as well as getters, I wondered. How could I make the gifts I gave as uniquely, personally exciting as the gifts I decided I would be getting each year? Did the ubiquitous, last-minute dispatch of Diptyque candles each holiday season mean that I didn’t really know my friends and family? I set off in search of those I suspected would have been the best of the best at giving remarkable personalized gifts.

Of course I began with Jackie. The first anecdote I stumbled upon is a story of Jackie having decided, for reasons of her own, to surprise Ari Onassis with a present at breakfast one morning. When her husband sat down to his morning meal, he found an old watch of John F. Kennedy’s perched on his napkin roll, with the inscription FALJ (For Ari Love Jackie) on one of the links. Onassis had often told Jackie she was his costliest expenditure, and so Jackie found a quotation from an appropriately Greek philosopher, and left it on a card next to the watch– “Our costliest expenditure is time.” Another “just because” gift Jackie gave was to her friend Andy Warhol. Jackie blew up and framed photographs that had run in LIFE Magazine of herself swimming nude in Montauk, and signed them- “For Andy, with enduring affection, Jackie Montauk”– a nod to the locale of Andy’s beach house and the scene of paparazzic violation.

I discontentadly shifted around in my chair, looking at the candles I intended to give to people I surely had a more intimate history with than a cylindrical stack of wax would imply. What else had Jackie given as a gift? For Charles de Gaulle upon her arrival in France, a letter from George Washington thanking the French for their help during the American Revolution. For her mother, a copy of her beautifully illustrated journal documenting her time in Europe during the summer of 1951. I furrowed my brow, and lit one of the candles. My apartment sure would smell fantastic for the next year, I decided, because I sure wasn’t able to give lame little candles out as gifts anymore.

The next obvious great lady- Michelle Obama. Although much has been made of a snafu involving the Gordon Brown’s wife and two White House gift shop helicopters for her sons, Michelle’s outstanding gifts have far outstripped her gaffes. For songstress Carla Bruni in Paris- an American Gibson guitar. For Laura Bush, on her way out of the White House- a leather bound journal that came on the heels of a conversation between the two about Laura’s forthcoming memoirs, as well as a Louis L’Amour quotation, “There will come a time when you believe everything is fininshed. Yet that will be the beginning.” At the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Michelle gave honey she’d been growing on the White House South Lawn, along with one of a kind porcellian tea set, inspired by the china used by that other Illinois president, Abraham Lincoln, and his wife.

Candle burning next to me, I continued my search. After all, it wasn’t like I had access to custom reproduction presidential china, or presidential watches, for that matter. Perhaps dramatic gift giving simply required a more dramatic life than mine?

What did Diana Vreeland, a master of high drama during her two decades helming Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, recommend for her more pedestrian readers? “Why don’t you…wake your children up with silver balloons on Christmas morning?” She asked in one of her famous “Why Don’t You?” columns. Okay, fine. Other more accessible holiday trinkets? In an old New York Times society report I found from 1902, a breathless columnist described Caroline Astor’s party favors as such: “For women, rose ruffs, and decorated long pipes for the men. Leather and gilt imported photograph frames, large leather and fancy calendars, hoops covered with flowers and ribbons, leather memorandum books, brocaded silk bags, and gilt paper weighs.” Had this reporter even been given any of the party favors, or was he awed just by looking at them?

By this point, I was giving my candles withering looks in their corner. How about some practical advice, great ladies? Houston socialite extraordinaire Lynn Wyatt says she always gives gifts that are in some way personalized, and is particularly fond of anything alligator printed with initials. Annette de la Renta, wife of Oscar, is noted as having given Brooke Astor (daughter of the aforementined Caroline Astor and her rose ruffs) a fur rug that Mrs. Astor kept on her bedroom floor. Maria Callas, of course, gave friends signed copies of her opera programs, so convinced was she of their supreme value. December’s issue of Vogue informed me that Parmelia Reed, prima hostess of Hobe Sobe in Florida, sent black sweaters to residents displaying indecorous behavior, indicating that they should exit stage left of the social scene, immedietly. So cheeky!

If my trip through elite gift giving taught me anything, other than the fact that candles don’t count, it’s that much like throwing a rolickingly fabulous party, giving a great gift is a game. Each great lady gift harkens back to a conversation between the gifter and the giftee, or is the result of some research and thought as to where the giftee is in their life. (What 90+ year old woman wouldn’t want to be thought of as a “fur rug kind of woman”?) Another hallmark is a dash of wit. Candles, not funny. Irreverence, however, is the name of the game when gifting a sentimental reminder of a time spent swimming nude, or a black garment to wear like a scarlet A out of sunny Florida’s social scene. Lack of necessity seems to be a necessity itself for champion gifts. While everyone (or maybe just every woman) needs candles, who really needs a fur rug or silver balloons? And who doesn’t look at a new fur rug or silver balloons and think her life is about to change for the better?

So giftees extraordinaire, listen up. This year, I am ditching the candles, digging deep into my extensive “favorite prints” archives on Iphoto and picking the perfect Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sartorialist, Irving Penn or otherwise attributed print, learning how to gallery frame and mount them, and thus doling out uniform yet unique gifts to everyone on my list. For my father, whose chief edict is “respect nature?” A silhouette of an elephant chasing a little boy, his arms throw up, against a setting African sun. For my most exuberant friend, a Patrick Demarchelier shot of Shalom Harlow jumping on the bed for Vogue. It may not be a Gibson guitar, but I think I can probably find some silver balloons, and perhaps, then, some smiles, a candle just can’t elicit.

Seams like old times: Embroidery is a creative way to personalize gifts

high — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:06:17 +0000

For many years, monogramming indicated wealth and prestige, a sewn symbol of the wearer’s status. Although monogramming remains popular with jewelry, some surprising ways of using it to personalize other items can elevate a nice gift into something quite special.
“I can get as detailed as anyone wants to get,” said Pamela Carpenter, owner of Embroidery by Pamela, 121 Daleview Drive, Plymouth
The Plymouth businesswoman regularly personalized gifts blankets, duffel bags and clothing, to name but a few.
She held up a denim shirt with embroidered candy canes tumbling down the placket. Underneath, another candy cane popped up on a snowy turtleneck.
“These are very popular,” she said, noting that the pairing can feature almost any embroidered image.
Versatility
Flipping through the pages of Carpenter’s work album revealed how versatile embroidering can be — page after page of hats, sweatshirts, jackets and towels flowed by, each with a distinctive design for the wearer.
“I’ve embroidered placemats, napkins, towel sets, you name it,” she said, holding up a white dishtowel. Within the next few days, she’ll embroider a holiday theme on it, along with the recipient’s name, and attach it to a lipstick red cloth handle — perfect for hanging in the kitchen.
In her workshop, a rainbow of spooled thread hung on a board next to a row of large sewing machines.
Carpenter called her work “labor intensive,” saying that while large companies can sew hundreds of designs at once, her machines require her to set everything up individually — she loads an image on her computer, editing when necessary, programs that onto the machine, sets the cloth on a hoop and starts the machine to sewing each image.
“These sewing machines are intricate,” she said. “It’s a very technical process.”
The results speak for themselves, though — fluffy towels with elegant letters, shirts bearing everything from football team logos to Abraham Lincoln, and blankets with the wedding couple’s names and big date have gone out her door.

Yourwovenphotos.com offers amazing photo gifts for this complete holiday season through online

high — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:48:06 +0000

As there are few days left out for Christmas, are you in a dilemma to approach the best company online to receive the unique photo gifts and photo canvas products for this special season. www.likepersonalizedgifts.com is the right website to land at and can rely on to receive quality photo gifts for yourself and your loved ones. To make shopping more convenient for customers through online, the company offers broadest array of personalized gifts under different categories in order to choose perfect gift for Christmas and Boxing Day through its user-friendly website.

www.likepersonalizedgifts.com has come up with new products under different categories of photo gifts, which can really create lasting impression on the individuals who view at it or on the person who receives it as a personalized gift. With the intension of serving the needs of normal customer and photo art lovers for this special holiday season, the company’s website guides them with display of top rated photo items to choose from and these products include photo blankets, photo pillows, photo music boxes, photo handbags, pet gifts, Photo canvas products and many more.

Photo gifts and photo canvas products that your family and friends receive from yourwovephotos.com can really enlighten the season in a unique way. The company offers the holiday gifts package at affordable price and delivers deserving gifts with the best quality & the best customer service available! Therefore, If you are looking for out amazing gifts for Christmas or photo items that best fits for Boxing Day or Holiday season, the one stop solution online is through yourwovenphotos.com or to find more about collection photo gifts that can really bring smiles on faces of your near and dear ones call at 206-914-8620.

Around Gloucester County Towns

high — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:21:06 +0000

As shopping lists get longer and longer, and gifts get more expensive, Robin Beam, director of education at A.C. Moore, said she noticed her store in Berlin is busy with crafters looking to personalize gifts this year.

ACMoore1.jpgView full sizePhotos Provided by A.C. MooreA.C. Moore Assistant General Manager Jamie Mazza shows young customers how to put together model cars. “We definitely have a lot more people coming in,” Beam said. “You can make something that is a lot more special … and is better than buying a gift card.”

From hand-made scarves and personalized photo frames to cookie- and candy-making supplies, a holiday gift is just an ounce of creativity away – and most craft stores have a staff members on hand for instruction or ideas.

“It’s amazing how many things there are, and how easy (manufacturers) have made them for people,” Beam said.

Candle-making, for instance, used to be a grueling task, but now with the use of a microwave, friends can light candles in their homes that were hand-made at your house.

Using decoupage or mod podge techniques to refinish tins, boxes or photo frames also makes a unique, personalized gift.

“You can cover anything. You can take old cans, you can take old boxes, and recycle, so to speak, and make wonderful things,” she said.

Have some old post cards from the Grand Canyon, a photo from the road trip, or a map of last summer’s camp site?

ACMoore2.jpgView full sizePhotos provided by A.C. MooreDecorative painting designer and educator Donna Dewberry demonstrates and educates customers about her product line.“Beam said these mementos could make a more memorable gift than a store-bought photo frame – and it’s a lot less expensive.

Some photo frames and mats at craft stores can cost as little as $1, and can easily be embellished with personal odds and ends around the house.

“Have the kids draw or color on the mats, and then send that to grandma and grandpa,” she said. “That’s something they will save and show off proudly.”

Beam also suggested reinventing older mediums like knitting, crocheting or macramé.

“A lot of people have said in the past that knit and crochet is for old people, but that’s not the case any more,” she said. “Anything can be made trendy … fingerless gloves are great for texting.”

Macramé, she said, has become popular in jewelry-making, instead of as plant hangers that were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. And new templates for plastic canvas, felt, cross stitch and embroidery have updated those pastimes, as well.

“There might be new threads or new yarn that can be used to give it an updated feel,” she said.

Most craft supply stores like A.C. Moore also offer instructional classes at the store or books with step-by-step directions to make just about anything.

Gifting fair trade products can help marginalized workers

high — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:33:29 +0000

Alternative gifting—the purchase of goods or animals for people in struggling economies instead of hard goods for friends and family—is great for those who have everything they need and don’t want more clutter. But what about the folks who can use a regular gift, or those you want to hand a present?

Here are a couple solutions:

Gift cards that give back

This works by purchasing a gift card that can be handed or emailed to a recipient. The recipient goes online, and spends the amount on the charity of her choice.

Jon Siegel, Executive Director of TisBest Philanthropy, writes “WWW.TisBest.org is the only website dedicated to charity gift cards. They’re just like gift cards you’re familiar with, except the recipient directs the funds to one of the 250 charities listed on the TisBest website.”

To make the cards more fun, givers can put a photo or personalized message on each one, and the recipient can choose a charity with which he feels a connection.

Fair trade gifts

Fair trade is based on partnerships with producers, often in third-world countries but also in poverty-stricken areas in industrialized nations. Organizations that sell fair trade goods seek to improve trading conditions, sustainability, and profits for marginalized artisans, farmers, and workers, often by elimimating or reducing middle-level transactions. They also promote equality, fair wages, sustainability, and fair labor practices.

Running an internet search on “fair trade products” will bring up hundreds of websites dedicated to fair trade. Many of these sell soft goods, such as clothing and linens, but several also offer gift items, household goods, food, and coffee.

These sites have been recommended by users:

Ten Thousand Villages offers items for home and garden, as well as jewelry, scarves, musical instruments, baskets, and gifts.
Serrv International has similar products, plus holiday items, food, coffee and tea, and chocolate.
Marketplace India sells clothing and soft goods for the home.