Thoughtful Gifts | Sunburst Gifts - Page 46 of 57 - Thoughtful, Heartful Gifts for All OccasionsThoughtful Gifts

Decorated Number Birthday Candles

Princess Diana - October 14, 2014 - $20 or Less, Birthday

Sometimes all it takes is some gold paint and rhinestones to take something from childish to stylish!

At the store, all of the birthday candles for sale look childish, especially the number birthday candles. No one over the age of 10 would actually want one on their birthday cake.

Unless… you gave those number birthday candles a make-over like I did!

For Queen Darlene’s 62^nd birthday, I bought number birthday candles in the shape of a 6 and a 2 from the dollar store and blinged them up. Saying that Queen Darlene loves bling would actually be an understatement!

I used two items to transform the number birthday candles:

Gold metallic dimensional fabric paint (Also known as “puff paint” in the 80s.)
Rhinestones

Hands of Love | Photo Gift Idea

Queen Darlene - October 9, 2014 - $20 or Less, Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Gifts for Him

httpvh://youtu.be/wukqoBeDhag

Hands are a beautiful thing because of all of the different ways they express love.

The hands of your parents and grandparents are the ones that held you for hours as a baby, wiped your tears when you cried, placed the Band-Aid on your skinned knees, threw the ball to teach you “catch,” held your bike up as you learned to ride it, showed you how to measure ingredients when baking cookies, and reached in their wallets to give you a few extra dollars to go out with your friends.

Their hands also taught you how to write your name, work math problems and start a lawn-mower. I’m sure you can think of a zillion more things their loving hands have helped you with throughout your life.

My son and I thought it would be a meaningful gift to capture pictures of both of his grandparents’ hands and give them to family member for Christmas. Dustin came up with the idea to take pictures of the things they enjoy doing now.

Easy Peasy Birthday Money Box

Princess Diana - October 7, 2014 - Birthday, Graduation, Kids, Money

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I once found out about a family member’s birthday party the day before. I freaked out at first! What should I get a teenage boy on such short notice??

The birthday money box contains a really long strand of cash.

That’s when I thought of the perfect thoughtful gift idea that anyone can create at the last-minute – a birthday money box.

Money is something every teenager wants, and the birthday money box I could easily create with items I already had at home.

The birthday money box is fun to give and receive because when the gift recipient pulls on the card that says “PULL UP,” they will be surprised with a really long strand of cash that continues to come out as they keep pulling and pulling and pulling!

HOW TO CREATE A BIRTHDAY MONEY BOX

Here are the items you will need:

cash
small empty tissue cube box with a cute design
card stock paper
pen or printer
transparent tape

Happy Birthday to Me!

Queen Darlene - October 2, 2014 - Birthday, Business, Experiences, Gifts for Me

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I love my birthdays. Always have. I really never worried about turning a year older. Well… maybe once. When I turned from 16 to 17 years old. I would never again be 16 and never been kissed!

My mother made sure my brothers and I had a birthday cake, a gift, and that we always celebrated birthdays together as a family. We had very few birthday parties where we invited our friends. I’m not sure why other than it was kind of the norm back then.

As I got older, I would celebrate with friends and co-workers by going out to dinner, a movie or even dancing.

Now I celebrate birthdays for an entire week!

It happened quite by accident. During a week of my birthday, my best friend from grade school who lives in Texas mailed a birthday package to my office. She was not the only one. A friend from Albuquerque also sent a package. One of my dear friends who I work with presented me with a gift. You see a pattern here? My mother showed up with a gift on another day and on the last day of the week, my actual birthday, my husband took me to lunch.

Thus, the Birthday Week was born!

The following year I declared Birthday Week and for that thoughtful twist, instead of receiving gifts I give gifts to my co-workers. No gifts for me! Period! Because my co-workers thought it was weird not to give birthday gifts, I relented by saying, “OK… you can get me a birthday card.” Continue Reading

Baby Bump Congratulations Cards for Mothers-to-Be

Princess Diana - September 30, 2014 - $20 or Less, Baby Shower

Do you know someone who is pregnant? I’m sure you told the person, “Congratulations!”

pregnancy-baby-bump-contratulations-card

Baby bump congratulations card by Hallmark

When I was pregnant with my first baby, my co-worker, Jody, congratulated me and gave me this amazing card. At the time, I didn’t even know congratulations cards specifically for pregnant women and mothers-to-be existed!

The card showing a woman with a cute baby bump touched me emotionally. It expressed how happy Jody was for me to experience both the miracle of growing a baby inside me and the many joys of motherhood.

I proudly displayed the card on the shelf behind my desk. It was the only card like it I received during my pregnancy.

Play on Words Add Special Touch to Gifts

Princess Diana - September 25, 2014 - $20 or Less, Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Teacher Gifts

For my mother-in-law’s birthday, I bought her a gift card to a local shop that specializes in flavor infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

I knew she’d love it because my boss loved her Premium Olive Oil and Vinegar With State-Shaped Cutting Board gift that I gave her for Christmas from the same store.

I gave her a gift card so she could pick out her own flavors of olive oil and balsamic vinegar but a gift card just isn’t much fun to open. So what did I do?

I added a “thoughtful twist” to the gift card by creating a cute card on the easy peasy photo editing website PicMonkey. I combined a photo of my son, a chalkboard overlay, some doodle heart overlays, and text that said:

Oil always love my Mimi! Continue Reading

Passing on Important Life Lessons & Values

Queen Darlene - September 23, 2014 - $20 or Less, Catch All, Family, Kids

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Return with Honor – The Purpose of Life – To Make a Difference!

A powerful quote to live by and an important life lesson to teach children and grandchildren.

The Lillard boys – Joe, Sam and Luke are amazing kids! They are five, seven and 11 years old. Their grandfather, Dick, is the Chairman of where I work. Not only is he my boss, he and his family have become my precious friends.

This year was the first time all three boys traveled on a business trip together with grandparents and parents to Washington, D.C. to meet with Oklahoma’s congressional delegation.

We scheduled all day meetings and the boys were troopers going from building to building, meeting to meeting and sometimes waiting long periods of time. They were respectful when they met with congressional staff and the congressmen were extremely impressed! They looked so handsome in their suits!

Teddy Bears for Kids Involved in Domestic Violence

Queen Darlene - September 18, 2014 - $20 or Less, Catch All, Kids

My BFF, Linda, decided to donate a big box of her never-been-used teddy bears she used to have displayed in her office. Yes, she was a collector. She did not start out that way but through the years friends and family started giving her bears for birthdays, Christmases and celebrations.

These teddy bears will be used by law enforcement to comfort children involved in domestic violence so they’ll have a best friend to hug and to hold.

Linda enjoyed her stuffed animals but thought of a much better use for them. Children who could use their own BFF – best friend forever.

That’s where my husband, Randy, comes into this story. He volunteers as a deputy for the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. He gives his time to assist fellow officers patrol the 750 square miles here in Logan County, and he loves it! Continue Reading

Forever Stamps for a Forever Love | Wedding Gift

Princess Diana - September 16, 2014 - Wedding

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So what do you get the couple who didn’t create wedding registries because they don’t need anything? It’s a tricky gift giving dilemma for sure.

Here’s the thing though – I knew other people would be giving the couple wedding presents anyway. That meant they would be writing thank you cards to those individuals.

Honoring their wish not to receiving “things,” I decided to give them a gift that wouldn’t take up any space and that they would definitely need in the near future.

Wedding Coffee Table Photo Books

Princess Diana - September 11, 2014 - Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Wedding

When I planned my dream wedding, I tried my hardest not to overspend. It’s sooo easy to do. So I found creative ways to cut costs (like doing my own flower arrangements) or just eliminated things (like renting a limo). But one area where I was willing to pay top dollar for top quality was my wedding photography.

I knew that I would have only have my memories and the photographs by which to remember all of the special moments that happened that day.

The moment when he first saw me in my wedding dress.
The moment when we shared our personalized wedding vows.
The moment when my best friend made me cry with her funny and heartwarming toast.
The moment when I “dropped it like it’s hot” on the dance floor – still in my wedding dress – with my champagne glass held high above my head.

Memories fade over time but my wedding photographs never will – thanks to digital copies!

My talented wedding photographer Kristen Edwards did an amazing job capturing all of the details, the people, and the emotions that made up my wedding day. Kristen ended up providing me with a CD filled with nearly 800 beautiful photos – and she was able to make me look damn good in almost every one. God bless her and Photoshop!