Housewarming Gift Help

I always seem to have friends on the move. Be it buying their first home, upgrading for more space or relocating for work, the question of what makes a good housewarming gift often comes up. Here are a few of my favourite (and practical!) picks:

1) A gift card for a home & garden store

If you rent or own, there are always things you need to buy to make your space work. This is a gift that will get used. 

2) Plants, planters or a hanging basket

Easy to find and available all year, this is a great gift for condo dwellers and house owners alike. Go low maintenance if you can and nothing too large. I'm currently loving succulent gardens as they fit both criteria. Feeling a DIY? Try the succulent wreath featured in the photo with how-to by prettyprudent.com.

3) Wine, salt and bread basket

Wine so your home has joy and prosperity, salt so that life will always have flavour and bread so the house will know no hunger. It's practical and easy to assemble. Plus you can include the sweet feel-good symbolism in the card or with tags on each item.

4) Address Labels

Easy to make or to order online; designs range from something fun with caricatures to traditional typeset. Inexpensive and personal.

As for no-nos: art (unless they have specifically selected a piece), furniture or anything to do with redecorating the house (paint, curtains, throw pillows, carpets, etc). These are far too personal and decisions that should be left to those who live there.

Happy gift shopping!

High School Reunion Planning Tips

I recently planned my high school reunion (this was number two!) and there are a few tips I thought I'd share that made ours a success.

1) Give people lots of notice! I secured a date and started spreading the word in September for our June event. This gave people who were coming from out-of-town lots of time to plan.

2) Keep the ticket cost low and the event casual. I know of three sit-down dinner reunions that have been cancelled due to low attendance. Keeping it at a pub allowed people to come dressed like they want to, the opportunity to stay for as little or as long as they wanted and gav people the freedom to move about and chat.

3) Provide name tags. People do look different and even if you recognize their face, after 10, 20 or 30 years, you won't remember everyone's name. Go the extra mile and photocopy grad yearbook photos and attach that to the name tag. 

4) Plan some element of surprise. I had a 90's themed candy bar, provided some fun 90's props plus a cool Instagram frame and at 10pm circulated mini cupcakes in school colours.

Overall it was a super fun night with many people suggesting another reunion sooner the later. 

Best of luck with planning and if you want any details on the candy bar, ticketing, name tags or photo props, please send me an email. I'm happy to help.

Gorgeous Milestone Photo Cards

Know someone expecting a baby and looking for a gift? I love these Baby Milestone cards to mark baby's first year of accomplishments. Gorgeously illustrated with a space for a date, just add to your baby's photos and you have a beautiful way to keep a record of memorable moments. Just found out your expecting? They also have a sweet set of milestone cards to mark your pregnancy progress and your belly grows. Sure beats those handmade signs in photos we've all seen on Facebook.

Visit milestonecards.com for store locations near you.