Posts Tagged: "gift"

House Cleaning Services Gift Certificate | Baby Shower Gift

Princess Diana - June 24, 2014 - Baby Shower

Who deserves a vacation from house cleaning the most? New mothers.

house cleaning gift certificate with baby bath time gift set

Pair a housing cleaning gift certificate with baby bath products for a baby shower gift that will truly be appreciated!

They’re so busy taking care of a newborn baby who depends on them for E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G they don’t have time for anything else!

Here’s the reality though. While new moms get that cleaning is not their highest priority at the moment, they still stress about needing to clean. It seriously weighs on their mind.

Here’s what’s probably going through their heads:

The piles of laundry just keep getting bigger and bigger. Make it stop!

Is that food crust on the floor from the spaghetti we ate two weeks ago?

What are people going to think when they come over? I hope they understand this is not how we normally live.

Thanks honey for cleaning the house but why does it still look so dirty??

A Going Away Present Anyone Will Love | Best Pizza in Town

Princess Diana - June 17, 2014 - $20 or Less, Experiences, Food & Drinks, Going Away

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ydCBWCykIA&feature=youtu.be

When my friend Bose’ told me she was moving to Chicago to start her life anew, I felt sad for me but excited for her. I also felt proud of her for being so bold and courageous. Moving to a big city by yourself is no small thing.

Click to enlarge

You have to find a new place to live, start a new job and make new friends.

With my going away present to Bose’, I wanted to help her make new friends while experiencing an important part of Chicago’s food culture – Chicago-style deep dish pizzas.

I bought her a gift card to Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, a restaurant many people claim makes the best pizza in Chicago, especially if you order The “Lou.”

I thought Bose’ could use the gift card to invite a new friend to lunch or dinner.

Fire Extinguisher Makes Unique Wedding or Housewarming Gift

Princess Diana - May 27, 2014 - Housewarming, Wedding

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5CPqbNXnis&feature=youtu.be

Two years after my husband and I bought our first home did we finally think to purchase an important safety device for our home. This item only had the potential to save our lives or prevent our house from burning down…

Click to enlarge

Everyone knows the importance of keeping a fire extinguisher in the home, especially in the kitchen, but for some reason the majority of us still forget to go out and buy the darn thing. That is why a fire extinguisher makes such a great and unique wedding or housewarming gift!

It’s something important that people NEED but never think to buy for themselves. And because of that, people really appreciate receiving this memorable gift.

Life Lessons Learned From My Mother | Custom Book

Princess Diana - May 7, 2014 - Birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day

So much of who we are we owe to our parents. Through their words, through their actions, through their examples, they taught us life lessons both large and small that influenced us as children and still influence us as adults. Can I get an “Amen?”

I contacted all of my siblings and asked them to email me the things they learned from our mother growing up. I told them it could be anything as long as it made an impact on who they are today or how they live their lives.

I told them I would use their answers and mine to create a custom book titled “Life Lessons I Learned From My Mother” that we could give to our mother as a Mother’s Day present.

Collaborating with my brothers and sisters on what to include in the book made the present even better because we each came up with life lessons that the others totally agreed with but forgot about. Through teamwork, we really nailed it!

One Line A Day Journal | A Twitter-like Diary

Princess Diana - April 29, 2014 - Birthday, Christmas, Graduation

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiWcvVdHdYc&feature=youtu.be

I’ve loved scribbling about my thoughts, feelings and the highlights of my life into a personal journal every since I was a young girl. I’d write until my hands ached because it was important to me to capture every detail of whatever I was writing about so down the road I could recall the memory completely.

Many times I have laughed and cried from reading what I’ve written down. It really is a lot of fun to go back and read through your journal and be able to relive your thoughts and experiences from years ago.

Some people have never kept a personal journal. They might not like to write or they don’t feel like they have the time to write regularly. But think of the memories and important events they’ll forget because they didn’t write it down! Don’t let that happen.

I found a perfect solution to getting people to journal who haven’t done so before or who want to but can’t find the time – the One Line A Day Journal.

Custom Personalized Name Ring | Mother’s Day Gift Idea

Princess Diana - April 8, 2014 - Anniversary, Baby Shower, Birthday, Christmas, Gifts for Me, Mother's Day

Coming up will be my second Mother’s Day. My son will be 19 months old, and I just love him more and more with each month that passes. (I’m surprised my heart hasn’t burst out of my chest yet!) I wanted a piece of jewelry with his first name – Aiden – and middle name – Dragen – (he was born in 2012 the Year of the Dragon) and decided on a ring so that every time I looked at my hands, this ring and my wedding ring would remind me of the two most important people in my life.

I found a store on Etsy.com that makes custom personalized name rings but what made them stand out is that you get to pick out the font! With so many stylized fonts in existence, a person’s name can look like a beautiful custom piece of art.

You can also choose a font style that best fits the personality of the mother. A script or cursive font might be better for one mother while a retro or handwritten font might be the better choice for another. My favorite font website is Dafont.com because they have a wide variety of font styles. You can also type in names or words and see what they will look like in a certain font.

By selecting what goes on the ring, the metal the ring is made of, and the font, you can tell someone you custom designed the ring for them!

Graduation Gift Idea – 18 Things I Wish I Had Known at 18

Princess Diana - April 3, 2014 - Graduation, Kids

Goodbye childhood. Hello adulthood. This is what my oldest niece Shakira is experiencing as she gets ready to graduate from high school. She’s excited about adulthood because to her it means freedom to do whatever she wants. But like most 18-year olds, she hasn’t really thought about the responsibilities that come with that freedom.

As her aunt, I thought I would take the opportunity to impart some life lessons that I’ve personally found to be helpful in living a full and happy life. But Shakira doesn’t want to listen to a lecture from me. Blah. Blah. Blah. Even if she did listen, she could easily forget everything I told her the next day.

I needed to deliver my nuggets of wisdom in a fun and memorable way and something that would make a cool graduation gift.

I created a custom photo book called “18 Things I Wish I Had Known at 18.” I picked out a black and white template from Shutterfly.com that matched my niece’s sense of taste and style.

In the book I listed my top 18 life lessons and paired them with photos of Shakira, Shakira and me together, and group family photos. I arranged the photos in chronological older starting with her baby photos.

Here are the 18 life lessons or words of wisdom I put together:

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

Princess Diana - March 13, 2014 - 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

Click on the photo to see it enlarged

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.

Thoughtful Business Appreciation Gift – Calendar

Queen Darlene - March 4, 2014 - 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,
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

Valentine’s Day Gift – Mail a Handwritten Love Letter

Queen Darlene - January 30, 2014 - Anniversary, Birthday, Gifts for Him, Valentine's Day

We email. We text. We phone. Everything is short and to the point. Many of us think we have lost the art of writing. I think we just need a little practice.

I remember in elementary school we would write and pass notes that would say, “I LIKE YOU.” In junior high, the note writing would become a little more sophisticated to something like, “I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH!” And in high school my boyfriend would write a three page love letter detailing how pretty I was, how he couldn’t wait to see me after school, and of course the three words I always wanted to hear, “I LOVE YOU!”

Well… your perfect opportunity for writing a love letter is coming up – Valentine’s Day! This year, don’t spend 30 minutes in the card aisle at the store looking at Valentine’s Day cards that most of the time don’t say what your heart would say anyway. Instead, spend that 30 minutes writing a heartfelt love letter.