We Love Green!

Fun Housewarming Gifts

Who doesn't love a great house warming gift - you know, gifts for your friends who move into a new apartment or buy their first house. They don't have to be lavish gifts, but they should be practical or fun or both.

1. A New Game - everything from poker chips with playing cards to Cranium to Pictionary. Game night is a great way for friends and family to spend an evening together. A dart board is also a great game to give as a gift.

2. A unique culinary treat - get creative with this one and wrap up a selection of rare hot sauces, gourmet beverage mixes or a good selection of spices. A window box with a collection of fresh herbs is awesome too. A cookbook would also work.

4. The Welcome Meal - often when moving you can't get to the stove cause it's piled high with boxes. Bring over a meal complete with salad, bevvies and dessert. Paper plates, disposable cutlery and napkins area also helpful.

4. The Handy Bucket - depending on the recipient of your gift, this can be anything from a picture hanging kit to housecleaning supplies. Make sure with cleaning supplies you slip in a fancy pair of rubber gloves and a coupon offering your services for a post move in clean up.

5. Outdoor Foliage - a pretty hanging basket, planter of flowers or window box filled with plants is a great way to say 'welcome to your new home.'

6. For the friends who have everything consider bringing a new toy or gourmet treat for their pet.

7. Movie Night - fill a large popcorn bucket with a movie rental coupon (or a really great dvd), popcorn, flavoured toppings and bevvies.

What do you give as a housewarming gift? What's the most unique housewarming gift you've ever given or received?

Terri

Greeting Cards - or how an Egyptian learned Chinese

So one New Years Day in China an incredibly long time ago someone was so happy about the possibilities the new year would bring they decided to share their delight. They sent a greeting card to a friend. Probably not the type of greeting card we exchange filled with wit and sarcasm, animals doing strange things or whimsical drawings of inanimate objects brought to life. Probably more along the lines of Gung Hay Fat Choy… You know, traditional Chinese New Year’s greetings.

Along the way in history, Ancient Egyptians grabbed the idea. Perhaps an Egyptian was traveling through Shanghai Province on camelback at the turn of the year and was greeted by an exuberant Chinese man. The Chinese man exclaimed, ‘Gung Hay Fat Choy’ and gave the Egyptian a small red envelope. The Egyptian didn’t speak Chinese (this is an assumption on my part) but was thinking, ‘this Chinese guy is smiling and that is an awfully pretty red envelope,’ and so gave the Chinese man a papyrus scroll filled with hieroglyphics as a way of saying Thank You. Probably the only thing he had on him at the time worth sharing. This same Egyptian then took the idea back to his homeland and began sharing papyrus greetings with all his friends… You’re getting the picture.

Now, disclaimer here, this is simply speculation on my part. But really, there were ancient Chinese and Egyptians and camels are real enough, so the above scenario is possible given the history. I’m just filling in some creative blanks.

Let's fast forward to the early 15^th century. According to some historians the Egyptian tradition moved from papyrus to paper (they share many of the same letters) and handmade greeting cards, including valentines, were being exchanged in Europe. Doesn’t love spur us on to some fabulous ideas? I love valentines!

Thanks to advances in mass printing by the latter part of the 1800’s greeting cards became more mainstream and less expensive. Mere commoners could send notes of greeting to one another. Christmas cards made their debut around the same time and companies devoted to the creation of greeting cards began to pop up.

via Dreamstime

So when did greeting cards get humorous? Rumour has it between 1940 and 1950 someone took their wit and humour and transferred it to a greeting card. What was funny in 1945? World War II coming to an end was certainly cause for celebration, and Rooselvelt did become president… Thinking not a lot there, but I may be desensitized to the humour thrown at me from bad sitcoms and reality television. At any rate, simple greetings gave way to funny notes and cards were used to convey a wide variety of messages and sentiments.

Today the greeting card industry generates billions of dollars annually, with ecard sales taking a good portion of that revenue. Certainly the rise of the ecard is replacing some of the ‘old fashioned’ hand written notes, but I’ll take old fashioned. I love cards. Sending them and receiving them is a joy. A hand written thank you is still appropriate for so many occasions (you’re welcome to send me one to share your thoughts about this post). I’ve intentionally stocked hundreds of cards in my shop and they continue to be best sellers. Our reputation for having unusual and beautiful cards is growing, so I’d say many of you love them too!

When do you send a hand written greeting card? I’d love to see your comments below.

Terri

The Psychology of Shopping

We're in retail.
We've made some observations about the shopping habits of our clientele.

Now this may seem obvious to most... but there are some serious differences in the way men and women shop. For one thing, men don't shop, they go out to make a purchase. Women on the other hand find shopping pleasurable!

It's kinda like - 'Ladies, take a look at your man, now look at yourself, now back to your man, now back to you. Don't you wish he shopped like you?'

Photo via www.ambre-printing.com  

Or maybe you don't! Maybe shopping is your little get away from the everyday and you really don't want 'him' tagging along. Truly, going to the grocery store with no kids and coffee in hand has been compared by some busy moms to a day at the spa. But we're not talking a grocery run, we're talking a Shopping Trip, and trip is the operative word!

And so we wish to share some common observations by the Willows Women.

• Women shop, men buy things
• Women shop together, they will plan an excursion via facebook or text messaging including day, time, location(s) and what to wear. Women will even host a TweetUp!! 
• Men prefer to shop alone and make it quick
• Women will turn a day of shopping into an overnight excursion.
• Women will dress up to go shopping - hair, makeup, accessories. Almost as though they expect shopping to end in a night on the town... which it certainly might!
• Women view shopping the way men view burgers, beers and UFC Fight Night - it's an event!
• Women carefully consider their footwear, easy slip on/off is a must when trying on clothes
• Women will buy something even if they already have it in their wardrobe or in a cupboard (and they think only boyscouts wanna 'be prepared.')
• Women may forgo some necessities to work their way through the 'wish list.' Men may also do this, especially if there is a fast boat or car involved or some other thing they can ascribe a female name to.

We do realize there are male exceptions to these female rules... and those men are welcome to come along on the next excursion - if they think they can keep up! Can you think of one we've missed?