What Do You Get Your Best Friend When Her Mother Dies? | Condolence Gift

- - Condolence

My best friend Leslie’s mother died two years ago. Not just died – but died unexpectedly.

No last goodbye.

No final “I love you.”

It sucked, it was unfair, and I felt her pain. My father was murdered when I was seven years old and we lived in the Philippines. When I said goodbye to my mother to move to the United States with my grandparents, I didn’t know she would die of cancer before I had the chance to ever see her again.

condolence gift idea for best friend when mother dies

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I’ve known Leslie since the fourth grade and her mother, Tina, loved me like her own daughter. She clothed me; she fed me; she came to my school activities.

She taught me about selfless giving and so many other things about life… (In junior high, she bought Leslie and I a copy of Playgirl. That sure answered a lot of our teenage girl questions!)

I wanted Leslie to know I shared her loss because I loved Tina too. I also wanted to show Leslie that her mother lives on through her because they share many of the same qualities. More than anything, both of them were known to go the distance (like Timbuktu far) in helping anyone in need.

But what condolence gift would convey my emotions and sentiments? Flowers weren’t going to do the job.

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Hand Prints on Canvas Best Friends Gift Idea

I am blessed to have life long friends. It’s a trait I copied from my mom. She attended the Oklahoma School for the Deaf and stayed in contact with many of her friends throughout her lifetime. While growing up, I watched her write and receive mail from her friends from all across America.

Hand Prints on Canvas Best Friends Gift IdeaI moved to Oklahoma from Texas on my 12th birthday. Mother enrolled us in school and instructed us to “go and make lots of best friends.” We did and she encouraged us to stay in contact with our old friends in Texas. I am forever grateful for her wisdom in keeping and making new friends. You can never have too many!

Nancy is my Oldest BFF (Best Friend Forever)! We met in second grade and have known each other for 54 years. WOW! That’s a long time. We have been exchanging birthday gifts for most of those years.

This year, I came up with the idea to have our hand prints together on a canvas. One problem – I live in Oklahoma and she lives in Texas. Continue Reading

Throwback Thursday | Framed Vintage Girl Scout Badge

I am long time volunteer of Girl Scouts because I love its mission of building girls of courage, confidence and character. I am also a member of Girl Scouts – Western Oklahoma’s young professionals group, GS Cornerstone.

framed vintage Girl Scout Hospitality Badge GiftIt has become tradition that each year a board member of the organization hosts GS Cornerstone in their home. I helped plan our most recent event, and I was put in charge of the thank you gift.

I definitely wanted it to be Girl Scout related. But what to give our hostess – a very accomplished woman who seemed to have it all?

I brainstormed with Queen Darlene and we came up with the idea of giving her a vintage Girl Scout Hostess Badge. After all, she will have met the requirements after graciously opening her home to all of us!

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Thoughtful Business Appreciation Gift – Calendar

- - Business, Host, Thank You

Appreciation. The dictionary defines appreciation as gratitude and thankful recognition. Recently my boss was selected to be on a national executive committee and yet I was the one being recognized. What a wonderful surprise when an envelope arrived at the office for ME! It truly made my day!

My counterpart in the national organization in Washington, D.C. sent me a lovely See America and our National Parks calendar as an appreciation gift.

In all of my working years, I have never received a gift from an organization that my boss served on so this was quite a memorable surprise. The note was very thoughtful too!

Darlene,Appreciation-Gift-Calendar-gift-idea-sunburst-gifts
Just a token in advance of my appreciation for our work together in the coming year with Dennis on NCSHA’s Executive Committee.

Best,
Cary

A thoughtful business appreciation gift for work I had yet to do. Now, that is unique!

This is going to be one of those “pass it forward” ideas to use not only within my own work place, but with others who work in other organizations when I want to show my appreciation for their help – whether in advance or afterwards!

Thank you, Cary! Your thoughtful, heartful gift of appreciation is the best!

We must stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.  – John F. Kennedy

Free Puppies with Puppy Chow

For my father-in-law’s 85th birthday, we threw him a surprise celebration and made sure to include something he could share with the other residents at his retirement home when they stopped by to wish him a “Happy Birthday!” So we had Gramps give away “free puppies” with baggies full of puppy chow.

Free-Puppies-with-Puppy-Chow-gift-idea-sunburst-giftsOf course, they were not real puppies and the puppy chow was a snack for his friends. I filled a large basket with various small Stuffed Puppies
and created a sign that said, “Free Puppies.”

Everyone was thrilled to look in the basket and choose a “puppy” to take home. The puppy chow made a wonderful party favor and the experience resulted in a fun way to celebrate someone’s birthday.

This birthday happened several years ago before my blogging days so I don’t have a picture for you but I’m sure you have a pretty good idea.

I have since replicated the puppy chow idea many times for all kinds of occasions. The latest one was for a United Way auction at my office. This time, I paired a stuffed dog with a dog bowl full of puppy chow.

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Reusable DIY Buffet Food Table Signs

Our friends Vernon and Katie hosted a Housewarming/Super Bowl Party. Like me, Katie loves to cook and entertain and the invitation said she was providing all of the food for the party and everyone just needed to BYOB. I wanted to give them a housewarming gift that was food related, maybe even something they could use at the party.

reusable DIY homemade buffet food table signs housewarming hostess gift idea I remembered I had come across a blog that showed how to make your own reusable DIY buffet food table signs. I was going to make them for my next get-together but hadn’t gotten around to it just yet.

I realized they would make the perfect housewarming gift! Think about it – whenever you have a bunch of food spread out on a table, it’s inevitable people are going to ask questions about what’s what.

“What’s in this bowl?
“Is this salsa hot or mild?
“What’s this dip called?”
“What type of cheese it this?”

So by setting out buffet food table signs, you’re telling people up front what’s what and eliminating having to answer a bunch of questions over and over. Plus, if they’re cute signs you’re just adding to your table decor!

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Funny Glasses

- - Family, Kids, Party Favors

Since my mother passed away, my brother and I have been going through her many boxes of letters. She kept everything. I found a Christmas letter dated some 30 years ago from my great Uncle Champeau in Florida to my mom. The letter outlined family historical information so I decided to mail it to my cousins, Uncle Champeau’s daughters.

I also decided to send a “just because” package along withFunny-Glasses-gift-idea-sunburst-gifts the letter. I sent chocolate covered pecans, a cute note pad, and some Funny Glasses. I placed a sticky note on the funny glasses that said, “Try them on and strike a pose!”

Never in my wildest dream did I know what was going to happen next. When Judy, Denise and Margie received the care package, they put the glasses on and did what I told them – they struck a pose! Continue Reading

Heart-Shaped Steaks Make Memorable Valentine’s Day Dinner

This Valentine’s Day I was looking to give my true love a gift that had the WOW factor. I wasn’t looking for romantic or sentimental. I was looking to knock his socks off!

heart-shaped-steak-valentines-day-gift-idea-sunburst-giftsSo I bought him two pounds (hoping he would share!) of prime aged hand-cut ribeye steak from a local meat market – and check this out – asked the butcher to cut it into the shape of a HEART.

A “Sweetheart Steak!”

It looked stunning – all that bright red meat marbled with strands of cream-colored fat and covered in a delicious spice rub.

The perfect hunk of meat for my sexy, hunk of meat.

The heart-shaped steak got the reaction I wanted from my husband Kevin. He was surprised by the shape and impressed by the size. (Men and their preoccupation with size… I swear.)

He had never seen anything like it, and he couldn’t wait to throw it on the grill and eat it. Mission accomplished!

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  – Unknown

How to Buy Your Wife Gifts That Won’t Get Returned

Queen Darlene and I have a co-worker who follows our blog. He sent us an email one day after one of our gift ideas reminded him of a gift-giving strategy that has served him well as a husband.

How to Buy Your Wife Gifts That Won't Get Returned Sunburst GiftsEldon’s idea of how to buy your wife clothing, jewelry, accessories or other gifts that won’t get returned is so good that we wanted to share it with our readers! Here is what he wrote to us:

I tried to buy clothing gifts for my wife. She returned them all  because they were the wrong color, etc. So, I got wise and would find a cute photo of a dress, purse, shoes, earrings, etc. that I wanted to buy – usually if I listened closely I could pick up the hint of what she wanted.

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Surprise Love Messages and Funny Pick Up Lines

You’ve heard those people who complain about Valentine’s Day. “Valentine’s Day just forces people to buy stuff.” OR “Why do I need a holiday to make me tell someone “I Love You’ on one specific day?” You know what? Those people are absolutely right!

milk does a body good funny pick up line gift idea

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You don’t have to buy someone “stuff” to show your affection for them. You should also find ways to say “I Love You” to your special someone throughout the year, if not every single day.

This year, I’m using Valentine’s Day to kick off a year full of How-much-do-I-love-you-let-me-count-the-ways type of love messages to my husband.

All through the year, I’m going to surprise my husband with love messages that begin with things like:
“I love you because…”
“I know you love me because…”
“I am lucky to have you as my husband because…”
“Aiden is lucky to have you as his father because…”
“Thank you for…”

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