Exciting News...

So in my last blog post I mentioned that we were working on new business ventures and now I am happy to share. For the past several months I have been working on obtaining my certification in event planning and have successfully completed  (with a 99/100 patting myself on the back right now :) ). Although I am not creating my own business with this but rather working with an incredible and talented team that I am super excited to be a part of. My husband and I are also working on an etsy shop in which we provide paper goods (invitations, menus, banners etc.) for various events and parties. We did provide our own paper goods for the tea time baby shower for my daughter and which is currently on our etsy shop which you can check out at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CaringExpressions?ref=shop_sugg and I have included pictures of the paper goods we made below.

So with these new business ventures I have decided to expand my blog, facebook page, twitter and pinterest...how you want to know? I am going to share my party planning knowledge with you. I will give theme ideas, food you can include, decorations, invitations...pretty much anything you ever thought about when planning an event I will give ideas. So here is my request of you, let me know via comment, facebook message, tweet or email what questions you have. If there is a specific theme you need help with let me know and I will be happy to help give ideas, advice or you can always request my event planning services. I will still gladly give gift ideas which people always need but I will also give so much more. Let me know what you want to know. Looking forward to sharing this new adventure with you as well as all the things I learn along the way.

New...

I know, I know, I know...I have been completely MIA after my post about trying to get back in the swing of things after having my daughter. I am completely horrible, I didn't do a mother's day or father's day post this year. I am very very very sorry. I have been working on some awesome new things.

I have been trying to plan my son's second birthday party, we have a theme and colors (orange and lime green) picked out. Can you guess what the theme might be? We have been working on some new business ventures and once these start to pan out I will be happy to share them all with you. We are working very hard to share some new and exciting things with you.

Another new thing that happened since my last post is that my husband and I just purchased our very first home which we are utterly thrilled about. So with this news fresh in my mind, why don't we talk about possible housewarming gifts...

Housewarming gifts should be practical and thoughtful. They can be something fun like a kitchen towel cake, so a pack of kitchen towels rolled around a a bottle of champagne with some other fun kitchen utensils or an apron. You could do the same thing with bathroom towels and include wash clothes and hand towels as well. You could do an oven mitt filled with kitchen utensils. You could give a bucket filled with cleaning supplies. A man could give a friend necessary maintenance tools like a hammer, picture nails, surge protector, you know all those more manly things. Think about who you are buying for and what they need. Or you could think about what you would want to get and go with that. I am attaching several pictures of possible housewarming presents. Hopefully they give you ideas and inspiration.

Oh and if you feel the desire I would gladly accept any of these as housewarming presents :) Just kidding...well sort of ;)

MIA But With a Good Excuse...

Sorry to have been missing in action lately but I have been trying to adjust to being a proud mommy of two adorable children. My daughter was born in February and her big brother is being incredibly good to her making the adjustment a lot easier than I expected. Although it is easier than I expected doesn't make it easy, taking care of a toddler and a newborn at the same time (especially when the newborn wakes up three times a night) is probably the hardest and most tiring job that I have ever had but also the most rewarding. Seeing my son give his new sister a kiss or my little girl start to smile at us and hearing a laugh or getting a snuggle is well worth the lack of sleep and constant running around. I am posting a picture of my kids to share with you. I was able to catch a wonderful moment when my son was holding his sister and gave her a kiss. It melts my heart to witness moments like this :)

Well Sunday is Easter and when you have children it completely changes the way you view this holiday. You think about family and getting together for dinner and what you should get your kids. Since my daughter is a newborn her Easter basket is filled with things she needs like diapers, a new jacket and of course headbands (I mean what little girl outfit is complete without a matching headband :)). For my son it is a slightly different story because he loves to play and so he gets a few new toys but something small because our house is only so big. We also include some of his favorite snacks like the graham cracker sticks, cereal bars, gold fish crackers or the squeezable apple sauces. I try to avoid candy because I feel that he doesn't need the sugar plus I know the grandparents will want to give him some so that he likes them better and it is a grandparents job to spoil them. If you are giving an Easter basket I would suggest asking the parents if there is anything that their kids might need and then adding in a little something special.

These are a few pictures of Easter baskets I have made for some kids...

Now if you are giving a basket to an adult then give them candy galore. Everybody needs a little splurge and after a long week chocolate can be a person's best friend. I might even suggest a favorite beverage (even an alcoholic beverage might make somebody's day).

Here are a couple baskets I made for some adults...

I hope that you all have a fantastic Easter and as always if you need some help with creating a basket just let me know by emailing me at CaringExpressionsGiftBaskets@gmail.com.

Christmas is Just Around the Corner...

Christmas is two weeks away and we are working hard on the many presents we are making this year. We love this time of year because we get to spend tons of time with our family and friends, get to drink lots of hot chocolate (which I love with whipped cream and marshmallows of course) and give back in a small way to the many people who share their love and support with us throughout the year.

Since having a child, I have realized the joys of receiving handmade gifts particularly from kids. So in our house we are literally making several gifts from our son to give to the people he loves including his grandparents and great grandparents. I found several of these ideas on pinterest (which is a definite addiction of mine) and am going to attempt for them to be as cute as the pictures are...

For those of you without kids I have several ideas for Christmas gifts that you can share with your many loved ones. Luckily Christmas is a time when you can give anything that shows them you love them, were thinking about them or that they may need or want. So you could put together a basket of necessities for your husband that includes cologne, deodorant, under shirts, boxers and socks. For many this time of year means a much needed vacation with me time so you could provide a woman that needs a little pampering some bubble bath, manicure set or pampering in a jar.

 If you are looking for a cute and simple gift perfect for the many neighbors and coworkers that you may have this is a cute idea of We Whisk you a merry Kissmas which includes a whisk and Hershey kisses. You could also make some hot chocolate jars or snowman soup which includes hot chocolate mix, marshmallows and peppermint stirring sticks. There is also a simple idea of a oven mitt, cookie mix and cookie cutter which would be fun and cute.

If you are looking for a gift to give as a thank you hostess gift for any body's house you are going to for Christmas or a gift to help make people feel good or for a difficult guy you need to buy for then the idea of a basket with the makings of their favorite drink or a drink enjoyed by all is always a good idea. Maybe a bottle of hard alcohol for the guys and a bottle of wine for the girls.

Just remember Christmas is the time to enjoy quality experiences with your family and friends. It is all about the giving of your love and time. So make sure to tell those that mean the most to you how important they are and how much you love them. As always if you would like any help with ideas or making a basket just email me at CaringExpressionsGiftBaskets@gmail.com or feel free to check me out on pinterest. Merry Christmas to you all!!!

This Year...

I know I promised to have pictures up of my son's birthday party and it has been a while since then but I do have a very good excuse for that. The amazing florist who worked on my son's party has gotten his party published online and I couldn't really post pictures of his party before then. His party was a complete success, it was gorgeous, the food was yummy and the prizes were a hit. I made baskets with homemade apple butter (a recipe I got on pinterest by the way) and homemade shortbread cookies (my mom's recipe) which I of course didn't get a photo of because when you are running a birthday party sometimes the little things get forgotten. I do have a couple photos from his birthday to share with you.


This photo is what our backyard looked like for his party. I know you might think I am crazy for doing all of this for a one year old birthday party and I might very well be but nonetheless this is how it all turned out. All of the flowers and design concept was created by the amazing company Entwined Design Events and Florals. They are extremely creative, talented, imaginative and I will never use anybody else ever again. Thanks to them my son's party was a success :) You can check out the feature at blog.hwtm.com. It is posted on Nov. 6th and titled Adorable "Barnyard Extravaganza" Birthday Party. Let me know what you think :)

 This is what my son wore on his birthday.

We thought it would be a nice surprise to share the news of our growing family with everyone on his birthday so his shirt says Only Child Expiring Feb 2013. This is also another reason I have been super busy the last few months. We are thrilled to be having a second child. So you can expect that I will be sharing tons of baby gifts, shower ideas and every other baby related thing ;)

This year has been a whirlwind of amazing experiences, thrills and exciting new adventures. Luckily there are still the holidays coming up. So look for a blog post on Thanksgiving host/hostess gifts, Christmas gifts and maybe a few little surprises here and there :)

Anniversary!

Today is a very special day in our house...it is my husband and my anniversary! We have been together for 9 years today and married for five of them (we got married on our dating anniversary). My husband is a wonderful man, amazing father, hard worker, artistic, caring, giving, loving and everything I could ever hope for. I am a very lucky woman and I try to let him know that especially today.

Since it is our anniversary I thought that I could use this as an opportunity to share ideas for anniversary gifts. An anniversary is a good time to get very personal gifts. I know that shopping for men is an extremely hard thing to do and trying to get them something personal without being overly mushy is even harder. Now I tend to be a little more mushy on our anniversary because I like to let my husband know exactly how I feel about him on our anniversary. I usually write a letter (handwritten on a piece of paper or more than one rare I know) to express how I feel and include it in his gift and on a few occasions he has been nice enough to reciprocate this. There are several different ways to let someone know you care about them. One way is to get them a basket filled with all of there favorite goodies; snacks, candies and drinks. This way you are showing them you have paid attention and know them. You could make a basket out of stuff you need for the house. One year my husband and I discussed how we needed new sheets for our bed so I bought some and put it in a basket with movie snacks and new movies so that we could have a movie day in bed with our new sheets. You could also make date night baskets to spend the evening together, alone and enjoy each other.

There are several ideas that you could use as gifts for your significant other. Just think about them, how you feel about them, what they would appreciate and what they would enjoy. Guys always remember that flowers and jewelry are typically a big hit along with a clean house, dinner and dishes done that she didn't have to do.

I thought that as an ending to this blog I would include a couple of pictures from our wedding to share with you.

Our wedding party...yes they are a little crazy but that is why we love them!

We were so in love on our wedding day and have been every day since.

One of the many kisses we have shared since we said I Do.

Now I am going to go enjoy my anniversary with my husband!

Crazy Summer!!!

Sorry you guys that I have been a little MIA lately...I have been having a crazy but incredibly fun Summer. I have been working on some awesome prize gift baskets for birthday parties and wedding showers and actually need to get working on some for my son's 1st birthday party next weekend. I cannot believe that he is going to be one a week from tomorrow. This year has been the fastest of my life. To see how much he has changed and grown is amazing. I am in awe of the adorable little boy he is becoming and am so proud. He is saying mama and dada, woof for his doggie, towel when he pulls out all the towels at my mom's house and just a week ago he took his first steps. I am absolutely completely in love with this little boy. So of course I had to plan a huge first birthday party. We are having a country/barnyard themed birthday party and it is going to be amazing. I am very lucky to have a best friend that is an amazing florist and another good friend that is an event planner/crafter who are so very nice and are helping me out. I am making homemade gift baskets for the prizes for the games. I will post pictures of how his party turns out and the gift baskets I use for prizes.

Hope you guys are having an awesome summer! I am posting a couple of pictures of my son the almost one year old.

Joseph when he was born.

Joseph about a month ago.

Joseph a couple of months ago.