Boutique Café » giving http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home Get Inspired! Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:10:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Holiday Tips with The Diva – Gift Wrapping http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/2009/12/22/4753/ http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/2009/12/22/4753/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:02:50 +0000 daria http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/?p=4753 GIFT WRAPPING with Lisa Carroccio (The Domestic Diva)

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I hope you don’t think I’m mental, but my favorite holiday activity is GIFT WRAPPING. I “try” to wrap each night as new purchases come into my home. It helps to have a “gift wrapping station” set up in your home…a simple table with all the supplies you need to wrap gifts. My station has several holiday gift papers on rolls which are contained in a Rubbermaid™ Gift Wrap Holder.


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I keep several rolls of fancy gold and ivory ribbon, tulle, my handy dandy Bowdabra™ (the Diva’s bow-making secret), place cards (used as gift tags), scotch tape (on the big rolls in the office tape dispenser), plain white boxes, tons of gold gift bags, gold Calligraphy markers and my hot glue gun. Each gift, no matter, how small, is wrapped with care and is adorned with a nice bow.
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Stuck in the center of the bows are simple “holiday picks” such as silk flowers, ribbon roses, faux sugared berries, miniature ornaments, rhinestone buttons or some other glittered item. Year after year, my sisters fight over my bows as gifts are unwrapped on Christmas Day. They reuse them the following year to make their gifts “sparkle.”


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Every year I designate a specific color and/or theme to each of my two kids. That way I don’t have to put name tags on them until Christmas Eve and the kids’ don’t know which gifts are theirs.
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In the past, I’ve used some great color combinations for my teen daughter such as polka dots, zebra prints and tiffany blue. This year I’m using hot pink and black/white houndstooth for my daughter. My son will get either brown or turquoise blue depending on which wrapping paper I have the most of this year.
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When gift wrapping, don’t restrict yourself to just ordinary white boxes. Get creative! I’ve used colored Chinese take-out boxes, fancy hat boxes and different baskets. If you’re going to be lazy and use gift bags, be sure to at least add a beautiful bow and handmade gift tag.


Also, don’t be afraid to use non-traditional colors. As a matter of fact, I NEVER use any red in my house. Any color can become a Christmas color is you add sparkle to it.
]]> http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/2009/12/22/4753/feed/ 2 Our Fave Holiday Book This Year! http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/2008/12/02/1797/ http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/2008/12/02/1797/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:41:24 +0000 daria http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/?p=1797 My favorite new book this holiday season is called “Bear Stays Up For Christmas” by Karma Wilson. This is the perfect story to cuddle up with and read with a lap full of children. Full of beautiful charming illustrations, rhyming story, and heartwarming acts of friendship.

“Bear’s friends are determined to keep Bear awake for Christmas! So they wake Bear up and have him help them find a Christmas tree, bake cakes, hang up stockings, and sing Christmas songs. Bear stays up—by discovering that giving is one of the best Christmas presents!”

I snagged my copy at our local Winners store for under $10 (I think it was closer to five bucks). If you see it, be sure to grab your family a copy too! The kids will love it. – Daria

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