Gift Idea for the Busy Mom

I spend countless hours trying to find just the right gifts for friends and family.  I find great joy in giving the perfect gift.  Doesn't have to cost a ton, it just has to match the person's personality as well as their needs at the time.  I recently struggled with a gift for a very close friend of mine because I wanted it to be even more than perfect.  She's going through a lot just losing her mother and now is having to take care of her father who is very sick.  With two young girls of her own, she's basically keeping up two households. So, with all that said, I came up with this.

This adorable apron found here.

 a popular slow cooker cookbook found anywhere and everywhere.

and since another good friend went in with me, we also had the budget for an awesome crockpot as well so she could whip up tasty meals and leave at her dads. 

I had envisioned opening the box and putting the apron, and cookbook in it with a couple of wooden spoons, but timing wise, it just didn't work out.  The gift was a hit regardless. 

A&J

Get Well Basket

How do you put together a get well basket for a Grandpa whose had knee surgery?

It's not the easiest, but this is what we came up with.

Item list:

• 
  
  742-Dine gift certificate to call in food orders to participating restaurants
• 
  
  John Wayne DVD collection
• 
  
  Movie popcorn
• 
  
  sugar free candies (diabetic)
• 
  
  Starbucks ground coffee
• 
  
  Bailey's to add to coffee

It turned out pretty cute and the patient gave 2 thumbs up!!

A&J

Gift Idea

Tickle Monster Kit

As many birthday parties we have to attend these days it gets so hard to come up with the perfect gift everytime and as obsessive as I am I'm always on the hunt for the cutest gift.  AND since our "Spoilt Littles" get so many gifts these days, I love to find unique things that I know they won't already have.  So while searching through all my favorite blogs I stumbled across this.

It's a tickle monster Kit complete with book and tickle monster gloves.  So darn cute!  I love giving and getting books for gifts.  I'm already thinking through how many little ones I can order this for.  If you want one too, you can find it here.

A&J

Drive In Movie Ideas

We made a summer bucket list and one of the items were to take the kids to their first Drive In.  We are lucky enough to live in Tulsa and able to still go to the famous Drive In where the Outsiders was filmed.  How neat to be a part of that history.  Anyway, to get back on track, I made the kiddos these fun popcorn buckets to enjoy during the movie.  Simple but fun.

See, how much they loved it!!

Zoo Membership for Gift

Need another gift idea. Give the gift of a membership to your local zoo. This is great for families and especially new parents that haven't figured out yet how many times they will be going to the zoo.

Just make a cute tag.

And tie it to a cute little guy like this one.

Something for the whole family to enjoy.

A&J

Snow Day Bucket

Trying to find the perfect gift for those friends who have EVERYTHING. I made this snow day bucket for a couple of our friends this year.

I found this snowman kit at Gordmans. Added some Starbucks mugs, some hot chocolate, the perfect movie "It's a Wonderful Life," and some movie candy. I did hide some butterscotch rum in the bottom for the parents to spike their hot chocolate. Depends on your recipients of course. The bucket I chose looked so cute with the theme, but it was a tad small. I would have liked to add some gourmet popcorn, but it just wouldn't fit. This was a huge hit anyway.

Now Bring on the Snow!!!

A&J

Magic Reindeer Food

This is such an easy thing to make and will be a hit with your little ones. It's also very inexpensive to make which makes it a good idea to give to neighbors and friends.

You can find recipes for this just about anywhere, but it's really just Oats and Sprinkles.
Use as much or as little depending on how many you're making it for.

Pile some oats in a bowl, then sprinkle lots of holiday sprinkles on top. I also used the white sparkly sprinkles so that it will "sparkle" in the moonlight, making it easier for the reindeer to see. (you could substitute with some sugar).
Mix it all together and place in little bags. Easy as that!
I got the awesome ready to print labels here. You can download and print.

They have these directions on the back:
"Sprinkle on the lawn at night
the moon will make it sparkle bright
as Santa's reindeer fly and roam
this will guide them to your home"

A&J

Spooky Spider Treats

Just in time for Halloween...

I found this super cute idea from here.

These little spider pops are great for small inexpensive

party favors for your little one's Halloween party!

I simply grabbed some black pipe cleaners (cut in half),
and wrapped around the stem of a tootsie pop and
formed spider legs..
{I skipped on adding little googly eyes to each
spider, but if you have the time go ahead
and glue some on!}

A&J

Ultimate Movie Night Gift Basket

Need a quick and easy universal gift idea that's perfect for any age? Try an Ultimate Movie Night Basket. You can modify this gift to fit any age from Disney movies for the itty bitty ones, or old time movie classics for the great big oldie ones.

Start with a basket of your choice. This little masterpiece is for an avid OSU fan so I selected an orange basket.
Add some super comfy PJ's.
Select the perfect movies. This little guy (I still think he's little, but he's actually 10) has every current movie imaginable. So I selected some age appropriate classics that every kid needs to see.
Some tasty movie candy.
Of course movie popcorn. I didn't have much time, but I usually find bags of caramel popcorn, but microwave works great too when you are in a hurry.

Add some tissue paper, cute ribbon, and a fancy card and you are done with your very own Ultimate Movie Night present.

What's so great about this is you can get creative as you want. I've done a scaled down version for teacher gifts as well. Sometimes if you don't know PJ sizes, you could add a soft blanket, or if you can't decide on what movies, put in movie theater tickets. The possibilities are endless.

Let us know if you have other cute possibilities. We love hearing new ideas we can use.

Have fun!!

A&J

Paint a Piggy Bank

Found this adorable little ceramic piggy bank at Michael's today for $3.99.

Except it wasn't this adorable.....

yet.

It actually started out looking like this.So I got my bubble gum pink acrylic paint out and started making some polka dots all over it. And I added the name with a black sharpie marker.

Then it still needed something....

It's a girly pig that needed a girly matching bow.

And that's it. Very easy and inexpensive way to personalize a gift.

A&J

Candy Necklace

I found this really cute idea for a small gift, party favors, teacher's gift etc...

Basically you just take clear cellophane, place small pieces of fun size candy and tie up the sections with ribbon. How fun, quick and easy!

A&J

Bunko Gift

I needed a simple bunko gift to give away that was $20 or under. Everyone can use an extra serving pitcher to serve fun summer drinks in, but I can't just put a gift in a bag so here's a way to fancy up your gift. I found the pitcher at Walmart for $9.97. I also found this cute drink mix at Steinmart for $6.99. I then added coordinating tissue paper. And of course everything must be topped off with a cute coordinating bow. And voila!

A&J

Memory Jar - 60th Birthday

Trying to find unique, memorable gifts is one of my passions, so when I stumbled upon a memories/celebration jar I just knew this would be perfect for my mom’s 60th birthday. I emailed friends and family, and even old high school friends of hers and asked for them to email me any kind of favorite memories, messages and/or stories of my mom from the many years that they have known her. I then printed each of them on a memory card (cardstock) with who they were from and filled the jar with lots of fabulous messages so she will forever know how very loved and special she is to so many people.

The response I got was really great. Below is a side shot of all of the memory cards I filled it with. Some of them were trips down memory lane, some of them hilarious stories, and some of them just birthday love and wishes. They were all wonderful.

The jar was from Hobby Lobby, and I filled it with glass beads. For the memory cards, I just printed them all on various colors of coordinating cardstock and folded them to the same size, sealed them with a sticker and stamped a flower on the outside for a little extra touch. Very inexpensive, personal gift idea.

A&J