Gift Ideas for hard to buy for Moms

 Mother’s Day is almost here and for some it’s pretty hard to think of gifts. I have never had this problem for a woman, but I would think it might be for some.
Jewelry is always a good standby. But maybe she has too many pieces or just doesn’t wear it. Flowers, especially for outdoor planting is popular. You can also add in your help to Spring Clean her garden, weeding, trimming, planting is most helpful. It would give you great pictures too, outside surrounded by all the greenery.

What does she like to do? Can you plan a day with her to go golfing, shopping, antiquing? Spending time with mom’s is probably their #1 desire. Many miss their kids after becoming empty-nesters.

Does she like photography or painting? You can go to an Arboretum for the day.

Does she like to bake? Buy her new cookie sheets and baking supplies or a new apron and plan a day baking. A great idea to do with her grandkids. She’ll get to teach them her baking secrets and pass down how to make family recipes.

Is she homebound? Then spending time with you and the family would be a perfect day. Help clean up and cook her meals for the whole day. Video tape or record her and ask her questions about how she met Dad, what it was like growing up, what she liked to do as a kid? What kind of baby were you?
Hopefully these ideas will work for you or will inspire your own.
Don’t forget to take lots of pictures!
Gift Ideas for hard to buy for Mom’s
Mother’s Day is almost here and for some it’s pretty hard to think of gifts. I have never had this problem for a woman, but I would think it might be for some.
Jewelry is always a good standby. But maybe she has too many pieces or just doesn’t wear it. Flowers, especially for outdoor planting is popular. You can also add in your help to Spring Clean her garden, weeding, trimming, planting is most helpful. It would give you great pictures too, outside surrounded by all the greenery.
What does she like to do? Can you plan a day with her to go golfing, shopping, or antiquing? Spending time with mom is probably their #1 desire. Many miss their kids after becoming empty-nesters.
Does she like photography or painting? You can go to an Arboretum for the day.
Does she like to bake? Buy her new cookie sheets and baking supplies or a new apron and plan a day baking. A great idea to do with her grandkids. She’ll get to teach them her baking secrets and pass down how to make family recipes.
Is she homebound? Then spending time with you and the family would be a perfect day. Help clean up and cook her meals for the whole day. Video tape or record her and ask her questions about how she met Dad, what it was like growing up, what she liked to do as a kid? What kind of baby were you?
Hopefully these ideas will work for you or will inspire your own.
Don’t forget to take lots of pictures!

~ Christy

http://www.awesomecreations.com

 

Fall Back

Fall Back…

Are you ready for fall? I am not. I love the summer, even as hot as it has been here in Chicago. I will take warm any day over cold. I can’t function in cold. But I do like the change in seasons. To me, it signals a fresh start, something new. I like to spring clean at every season change. At home I get bags and boxes of goodwill ready. Here at the shop we sell off extra merchandise to our network of Gift Basket owners. Freecycle and Craiglist were great for us during our move across the hall here at the shop. Extra shelving, tables, equipment were found new homes.

I guess the coming of fall signals a time to prepare our homes and business for the coming cold. Crockpots of stews and soups waiting for us after a long day at work. Snuggling by a fire with a good book or companion. Taking the kids out for sledding and hot chocolate. All wonderful things. But I am still hanging on to Summer for as long as I can.

I will miss going outside at night and it being warm. Sitting with friends by a bonfire while the kids all chase fireflies or play flashlight tag. Block parties and bean bag tournaments. Ah, summer!

Here at Awesome Creations, the staff and I have been thinking of the Holidays already. You’ve heard the saying, “Christmas in July”. That’s actually when we have to be finishing, not starting our ordering for the upcoming Christmas season. New containers are on the way; new product has been ordered and is on the way when it cools down in October. Ribbon is being decided on and bows will soon be made up ahead of time and hung all around the shop.

I’m trying to keep fall back for as long as I can and make the best of every last day of summer we have. Bring on the Indian Summer!!

Wishing you many gifts and blessings,
Christy
http://www.awesomecreations.com

For the Dad who has everything

Father’s Day is almost here and for some it’s pretty hard to think of a Father’s Day gift for Dad. It is especially for that Dad who seems to have everything already. We are tired of buying clothes, probably as much as they are of getting them. Not too exciting of a gift but definitely a gift we fall back on when we can’t come up with anything. Or we turn to the gift card to a book store, restaurant or electronics.

How do we come up with a great gift that is unique and memorable? The first thing I do is think about my dad’s hobbies, shooting pool, reading, and metal detecting. Anything I can get him that relates to that? Nothing that he already has or I can afford.  I scour websites for ideas. I see golf items, but he doesn’t golf. BBQ tools but he doesn’t BBQ. I see a lot of gifts that he already has or doesn’t need.

So now I am thinking about something different. What can I do WITH him that would be fun for him and make it a really special day? He likes to shoot pool so we are taking him to a bowling alley where he can shoot pool and the kids can go bowling. Followed by dessert, made by me, at home. Now I can add in a small gift, like a gift card and it doesn’t seem so boring since it just tops off the day.

What does your Dad like doing? Can you make a day of it? Photographers can go to the Morton Arboretum to take pictures while kids can play, followed by dinner. Fisherman can go fishing in the neighborhood ponds with the kids while a great dinner is being prepared for them back at home. Even metal detectors can go look for treasure and the kids can come with to be the diggers, throw a few quarters here and there for the kids to find like a treasure hunt to make it more exciting. Golfers can be taken golfing or go mini golfing with the whole family, for every hole in one Dad gets a present.

Sometimes hard to buy for people can be a great challenge that makes us think harder to be creative but the end result is a Father’s Day they’ll remember far longer than the gift card. Remember to take pictures and print one out after and frame as a keepsake gift  for him and make one for yourself too.

Christy
http://www.AwesomeCreations.com

A Taste of Chicago

One of the perks of having a gift basket business is taste testing all the cookies, chocolates, candy, etc. we put in our gift baskets. I found one company here in Chicago that blew us away. Chicago Butter Cookies Co. Their butter cookies just melt in your mouth. Plus their flavor, The Pier, is dipped in chocolate! So good, it’s hard not to eat them all.

We only put products in our gift baskets that we would actually eat and want to eat again. This company was a great Chicago find for us. Mary Astor Smithe (yes she is married to the middle brother of Walter E Smithe) is adorable and has great customer service. She also has used unique names for all of her flavors like The Pier, Orange Line, and Gold Coast. We have featured her cookies in our Taste of Chicago gift basket as well as our convention gift bags.

We give Chicago Butter Cookies Co. 5 stars all the way around!  We are always looking for more unique and tasty local Chicago or Illinois products for our gift baskets. Let us know if you come across any and drop us an email.

Wishing you Many Gifts & Blessings,
Christy ~ Awesome Creations
http://www.awesomecreations.com

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

The Easter Bunny is gearing up for another great season. How tired he must be. I wondered how far back this Easter Basket tradition went.  Easter basket to kids dates back to 1682 in Georg Franck von Frankenau’s De ovis paschal bus (About Easter Eggs). That is a long time but I thought it would have been even longer.

For me, I love this tradition and nothing is more fun than watching my kids hunt for Easter eggs Easter morning. One thing that is a little crazy is the Easter baskets for sale at your local supermarket and such. One of my children received one and the amount of tape on it made it a challenge to free the candy and cheap plastic gifts.

Easter baskets are fun to give and make for friends and family. Everything is so colorful. Just search for favorite candy items and a small meaningful gift to add and they will love it!

If you are pressed for time or just don’t like to put things together we have an abundance of gifts and Easter baskets that will be perfect.  We can also customize to include that favorite Easter candy item.

Hop on over and check us out!

Wishing you Many Gifts & Blessings,
Christy ~ Awesome Creations
www.awesomecreations.com

SuperFan

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs my mom and my grandfather were big Cubs fans. I didn’t realize we had another baseball team until I was a teenager. I asked my mom why I didn’t hear more about them. She said there was a rivalry among Cubs and Sox fans and we were Cubs fans. But of course she changed her tune when the Chicago White Sox were in the Championship. I found myself rooting for the Sox. In a family of Cubs fans the Sox seemed like the underdogs. And everyone likes to root for the underdogs. It wasn’t until I married a White Sox fan that I picked a side. White Sox all the way. Sorry Cubs fans.

I was happy we only had one hockey team to root for. This year the Chicago Blackhawks are not disappointing us! The Chicago Blackhawks are having an awesome season!  Their great run of wins is making hockey all the more exciting. Hockey games in general are one of the more exciting games to watch for me.  It surely beats watching golf.

The Chicago Blackhawks fans have a great opportunity to acquire some awesome Chicago Blackhawks souvenirs this season. At their website Chicagoblackhawks.com they are drawing one lucky fans name a game for Blackhawks souvenirs.

If you are looking for that perfect gift for a Chicago Blackhawks fan we also at www.AwesomeCreations.com have a great Chicago Blackhawks Gift Basket. This popular gift basket is filled with Blackhawks souvenirs and snacks.  It’s a great gift for any Chicago Blackhawks fan.

Chicago’s weather may be unpredictable. But, the Chicago Blackhawks are taking our minds off of these cold, yucky winter months.

Wishing you Many Gifts & Blessings,
Christy  ~Awesome Creations
www.awesomecreations.com

A Walk In The Park

Spring is almost here, according to the groundhog. Still looks pretty wintery here in Chicago. But now is the time I make my list with my family of everything we would like to do this spring and summer.  These two seasons are always so short and go by so fast. So, we make a list of things we want to accomplish before summer’s end.

One idea that always tops our list is a picnic. From deciding what food to bring to what activities we want to do once we are there, it’s always exciting to picnic under a shade tree on a beautiful day.  The kids bring Frisbees or kites, gloves and baseballs or books. I pack a great lunch full of their favorite sandwiches, cold chicken, cold veggies and, of course, dessert! Homemade brownies or cookies are always on the list.

While doing research for where to go for our picnic, I found a link to the top Chicago parks for picnics. We usually stay close to home in local parks, but have decided to branch out and make a day of it. There are so very few things you can do that don’t cost money these days. But this one is always a good free activity. Plus, you create so many family memories that will be remembered for years to come.

Here’s the link that I found for the top Chicago parks and also an idea for a great picnic basket to keep your goodies nice and cold. If you have any great picnic locations in Chicago or its suburbs please share them. Enjoy and have fun!    

                   

Best Picnic Basket

Top Picnic Areas

Wishing you many Gifts & Blessings,
Christy  ~ Awesome Creations
www.awesomecreations.com

Happy New You!

It’s that time of year again. Time to make New Year’s Resolutions. What resolutions do you make every year? Are they the same ones? Did you accomplish last year’s?  I know I always make the same ones every year. To pray more often, to lose weight, to eat healthy and to fill each month with fun activities so I can look back on the year and say Wow! I accomplished a lot in this past year.

But, things don’t always go as planned. LIfe gets in the way, we get busy. So many of my resolutions go unresolved. Still, just the idea of starting fresh, starting new with a clean slate is always a good feeling.

I know springtime is time for spring cleaning. But something about the beginning of the year makes me want to clean my house and go room by room out with the old and in with the new. With three kids and new toys coming in we need room for those, each room needs a fresh start.

We also get a fresh start with ourselves.  Time to be who we want to be. More active with our family. More involved in our community. Time to realize our dreams.

From all of us here at Awesome Creations we wish you many gifts and blessings throughout this next year. And at the end of 2013 we hope you can look back and say Wow, I accomplished a lot this past year.

Happy New Year!
Christy
Awesome Creations, Inc.

 

It’s always greener on the other side of the fence….

Well hopefully it won’t be in our case. After a Girl Scout trip to IKEA for a tour of their recycling center, I was inspired to find even more ways to become a greener company. We have been doing our part with the usual recycling of all of our cardboard, glass, plastic bottles. Then we also recycle our ink cartridges, catalogs, junk mail, and newspaper with my daughters’ school. Food that is nearing expiration date goes to our local food pantry. And any outdated containers or gift items go to GoodWill. We also try to choose as many local vendors as we can to keep shipping costs and energy waste down. 
We don’t use shipping peanuts but when they come in they always go back out with a gift. We did learn on our trip that Styrofoam never leaves the environment and should always be recycled.

I learned from our trip that there are places that take those plastic straps around our boxes we get with our shipments and the soft plastic shrink wrap we take off of cases of stuffed animals or smaller packages.

The recycling manager at IKEA also said if we don’t buy recycled products we can’t continue this effort. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurchase is what she had hoped people will understand. We can buy recycled printer paper, ink cartridges and shipping boxes and materials.
So really we have only touched the tip of the iceberg on recycling for our company.  We’d love to hear how you have become a greener company  or how your company has become green. 

Let us know here or on our new facebook page. If you haven’t already, become a fan  to be entered into a drawing to win our Giant Fortune Cookie this month on St Patrick’s Day.
We wish you Many Gifts & Blessings ~ AwesomeCreations.com

How do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways….

In February we love to focus on our customers. Without you we wouldn’t be awesome. So for the month of February we are going to pull a facebook fans name and also a customer who has purchased this month and send them one of our popular Giant Fortune cookies. So follow us on Facebook for a chance to win. Also, visit the AwesomeCreations.com   for some more Awesome ideas for Valentine’s Day.