Gift Ideas

Find the Gifts you know they’ll Love on eBay this Season

12 · Dec 8, 2016 · Leave a Comment

This holiday season, I’m swapping gifts with another blogger who loves to entertain for eBay’s holiday gift exchange. I’ve partnered with eBay to create this post! Enjoy!

Gift giving is my love language! I adore giving and yes, receiving gifts. Naturally, Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I remember the first Christmas that my husband and I shared. I spent months searching for the “perfect” gifts for him. Gifts that I knew that he would love and gifts that he didn’t even know he wanted.

As a person who loves to sit and try to figure out all of the clues when watching “Sherlock,” the concept of a “perfect” gift is a mystery I love to solve. As far as I am concerned… The Christmas game is afoot!

It’s no fun to just go and buy a generic gift that anyone with a pulse would mildly appreciate. The challenge is to know your friends and loved ones so well, that you can find something truly thoughtful that they will adore.

This holiday season I was invited to participate in eBay’s holiday gift exchange.

Did you know that eBay has all kinds of fabulous items direct from the manufacturer that are brand new and they have that lovely “Buy it Now” button that makes things so handy. It’s quick and easy and there is no bidding required. Did you also know that the world’s top brands sell new items directly on eBay at some of the best deals?

But, back to the gift exchange… I was invited to be a part of a secret gift exchange this season. I’ve been paired up with another blogger whose identity is under wraps. All I know is that they love to entertain. My challenge was to visit eBay and find some items that this hostess might love when she is hosting some of her fun gatherings. Now, this challenge wasn’t that hard because I love to entertain as well. I knew without a doubt that the gift they are waiting for was on eBay.

Since this is a blind gift exchange, I had to rely on my experience as a hostess. I know that some of my key ingredients for the perfect event are to have the right tools, the right decor & the right mood. I found items that would be perfect for all three areas on eBay!

Generally when I’m entertaining I am doing the majority of the cooking. I make sure to have some great recipes on hand and one of my favorite cookbooks is by Ina Garten, “Make it Ahead.” A staple in the entertainers tool kit in my opinion. Found it on eBay. Another one of my favorite kitchen tools when I’m prepping for a party is my KitchenAid Mixer. I honestly don’t know what I would do without that perfect tool in my kitchen. In my opinion, every good hostess needs to have one in their party tool kit.

You also need to have the right dishes & serving platters. That’s the fun part, making your party look beautiful. I found all kinds of fun serving items on eBay that any entertainer would love to have in their pantry. Not only do they serve a purpose for serving the food, they can be part of the all important decor for the event. The serving utensils are just as important as the cute gems you can set on the table to dress things up.

Next, you have the mood… No one wants to walk into a party and feel like they are waiting at the dentist for a filling! You need to turn down the lights, have beautiful candles to fill the room with soft light and a heavenly scent. You need to have the perfect music playing in the background on a stylish Bluetooth speaker. I found all of that on eBay as well. It’s perfect!

Now that I’ve found all of these great gift items for the entertainer, I have to pick one for my mystery hostess. I decided that…

No entertainer who loves to plan and prepare for parties should be without a KitchenAid Mixer! Shortly, my mystery gift exchange partner will receive a new KitchenAid Mixer on her doorstep from eBay and I can’t wait to see what she has picked out for me!! Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing what I receive on Facebook & Instagram.

What are you on the hunt for? Who do you need to find the perfect gift for this year? Find the gifts you know they’ll love on eBay this gift-giving season.

Dirty Diet Coke Gift Basket with Free Printable Gift Tag

9 · Mar 18, 2016 ·

+ This Dirty Diet Coke post brought to you by the lovely folks at International Delights +

I’m a simple girl and I love simple things.

Spring rain showers, snuggles with my kiddos, date night with my sweetheart, clean white sheets after a long hot shower, tulips, foggy mornings, fireworks, reading a good book, driving with the windows down, being silly with my teenagers, binge watching great TV shows AND DIRTY DIET COKES!!

jar, lid & leather cuff by + the mason bar company

Yep, just a simple girl… It’s amazing how the simple things can bring such joy.

I remember the first time I introduced the famous Dirty Diet Coke to some friends here in Nebraska, far away from the Swig universe. Their eyes just lit-up with pure joy the minute the first taste past their lips.

YEP, that scrumptious!

With something that good, I thought it would be a great gift to take to friends or family for all kinds of reasons; birthdays, feeling blue, get well soon, girls night out, new baby, just because I LOVE you!

Many, many fabulous reasons.

That’s why I worked up this Dirty Diet Coke gift Basket with some simple printables to help make your gift extra special.

No need for fancy tools. Just print and cut out the tags with your scissors. Tie them onto your basket with ribbon, twine or wire. I used copper wire that matches the basket I found at Michaels.

Now all you have to do is gather your Dirty Diet Coke supplies…

Dirty Diet Coke Supply List

Diet Coke

Coconut Syrup

Lime

International Delight Cold Stone Creamery™ Sweet Cream

Those are the basics… If you are putting together a gift basket you may want to include a bottle opener if you have traditional soda bottles, a small cutting board and knife if you’re going to be away from the kitchen and cups as well.

Make sure to include the recipe card so they know how to mix-up this sweet treat.

You can download the Dirty Diet Coke Printable HERE

To me the REAL MAGIC happens when you add the International Delight Cold Stone Creamery™ Sweet Cream…

That creamy twist on the Dirty Diet Coke is just divine! It’s like the best part of a float with all kinds of flavor goodness from the lime and coconut syrup working in harmony with the Diet Coke… It’s aaaamazing!

A perfect treat for any occasion!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

Stylish Christmas Neighbor Gifts + Free Printable Gift Tags

2 · Dec 1, 2015 · 1 Comment

+ This Stylish Christmas Neighbor Gifts post is brought to you by Michaels +

One of my favorite things to do is creating fun new little ways to show your friends and neighbors how much they mean to you during the holidays. It doesn’t need to cost a lot, nor does it have to take a whole lot of time & effort.

This month my Michaels Makers Challenge was to create three different, simple gifts that would be perfect for friends, neighbors, teachers, the mail man, the bus driver, your hair stylist… Basically anyone. Challenge accepted!

I went to Michaels and found some fun mugs and cute cups to create some easy, fun gifts. Then I created some stylish tags to add to the mugs and cups.

You can download the free printable gift tags HERE

You can print them on white label paper or you can print them on Printable Gold Foil from Silhouette (I love this stuff!) You can find it at Michaels too. All you need to do is download the PDF file and print out your labels…

I’m cutting these out with just a simple pair of scissors, no cutting machine required.

Now, I know that a lot of people love their sweets when it comes to Christmas, but not everyone appreciates ALL of those sweets. I thought I would come up with a non-sweet gift that will still be a fun gift to receive.

Everyone’s in love with the Buffalo Check this year and Michaels is right on trend with these fun cups. They even have some awesome Buffalo Check socks in the dollar section… PERFECT! I placed some matching socks into the cute cups and added the “Merry Cozy Christmas” Label on the front of the cup… 1st gift finished! Can’t get any easier than that!

Next up, the classic hot cocoa mug with a cute little twist.

I filled a large cone shaped cellophane bag with some hot chocolate mix and tied it with some buffalo check ribbon. I put it into a large buffalo check mug and then I added a cool battery powered set of star lights to the mug to add a little whimsical element. I love how it turned out… 2nd gift complete!

Last but not least I found another mug at Michaels that’s a great plaid mug. I noticed some Lindor Truffles up at the front of the store that matched the plaid pattern on the mug. I thought it would be a PERFECT pairing with the plaid mug.

Adding the gold foil gift tag just makes it look so classy!

3rd gift down and it didn’t take any time at all. All three are great, stylish gifts that anyone would love!

Michaels has tons of holiday project ideas and instructions on Michaels.com, including gift wrapping, home décor, last minute gift ideas, hostess gifts and more. Don’t forget The Glue String, Michaels blog full of even more great ideas for the season.

Circle – The One Gift EVERY Family NEEDS

1 · Nov 30, 2015 · 1 Comment

I’m so excited to FINALLY reveal what I wanted to shout from the rooftops! Check out Circle with Disney, the only gift I can basically guarantee won’t give you buyer’s remorse. Yes, it’s that cool.

Raising a family in the digital age is SCARY! As our family gets older and the kiddos are more and more computer savvy, My husband and I have been scratching our heads trying to figure out how to handle this challenge in our home. How to keep the crud out of our home and how to keep all of these devices from taking over our family. It’s a tough balancing act. I’m thrilled to finally have a solution to so many of these troublesome issues…

Every family needs this in their home.

Don’t believe me? Watch this video clip and you’ll be sold too.

Best part…

It’s on sale today!

$85.00! (regularly $99)

Are you tired of letting the Internet dictate what your family is exposed to? Not Anymore! With Circle, YOU are the boss!

4 Awesome things you can EASILY do with Circle:

Set appropriate filters for EACH DEVICE.

Use the pre-designed ones or customize your own.

Track where your family is spending their time online.

Give your devices a BED TIME!

PAUSE the internet! Yes. you. can.

If you are still not convinced, read what these Circle customers are saying about it:

“As the father of four kids from elementary through college age, I am not exaggerating when I say Circle is EXACTLY the device I have been looking for to control the internet in my house. Circle truly is peace of mind in a little white box.” – Wayne Stocks

“Circle has literally changed our lives and how our family spends time on the internet. My worries of what my children could be exposed to online has changed overnight by the use of Circle. I can pause the internet anytime making getting chores or homework done much easier these days.” -Terra Nyce

“Circle makes it easy for me to protect my kids online, monitor usage across all our home’s devices, and create conversations with the entire family. It’s rare that something is simple and effective, but Circle is both.” — Michael Lukaszewski

Get control of the Internet and give your family this gift.

Click HERE to take advantage of this amazing offer on Circle

+ Disclaimer – This is not a sponsored post however I am a member of the Circle Affiliate Program +