Saturday 28 February 2015

A useful yet fun gift!

So my sisters 18th birthday passed not long ago and in the run up to the day i was having trouble finding something to give her as a gift. I mean what do you buy an 18 year old these days that they don't already have?

Then i got thinking about gift baskets. I am obsessed with gift baskets. Every year i hope and pray that someone gets me one but it is yet to happen! Anyway, get back on track Jade.... So i decided i would put her together a gift basket full of things she likes and might need. Taking into consideration all the things she'd pointed out that she liked in town and that she was going to university in a few months, i went to work.

Firstly i went on the hunt for a basket to put everything in. That's where i stumbled across a bathroom caddy in Wilkinson.This one to be precise.Why a bathroom caddy you may ask? Why not i ask you back. It is a useful thing for anyone going to university to have to keep all of their shampoos, conditioners, hairspray, soaps etc in. When making  a gift basket you should choose a 'base' that you know they will get great use out of.

So that was the basket sorted, i then went into the factory shop and bought the birdcage tea light holder she had been eyeing up when she last stayed at my house. This isn't something she necessarily needed now she was turning 18 or going to uni, it was just something nice that she liked. I then added in some face masks (she loves them), mini bottles of different flavoured vodka, shot glasses, a coloured wine glass, some ibuprofen for the morning after, a birthday card, dessert flavoured lipbalms, an 18 key, a money box, a grapefruit box (she loooooves grapefruits but only eats them half at a time) and last but not least a Lindt reindeer (her favourite chocolate).

I made sure to choose things she either really liked or that could be used more than once. There's nothing worse than being given a gift that you don't really need or will never use.

 I think that she has already started on the vodkas, munched the reindeer and used the face masks. She has definitely used her wine glass although not for wine... Does anybody else do that? I know i drink coke out of wine glasses every now and then just because it is fancy...or because there are no other glasses and all that is left to drink out of is a mug. I just can't bring myself  to drink a cold drink out of a mug.

Once i  had gathered all of the goodies I lined the caddy with tissue paper and then arranged everything in a way that i liked before covering in cellophane and wrapping a bow around the whole thing to make it look like a massive present.

She loved it! I also got her tickets to the Harry Potter Studios but because the date i managed to get them for was past her birthday i just had to get her something and this was it!


I love giving gifts that are useful and fun. I especially love making gift baskets for people because they can be personalised to suit anybody :)

Love Jade x

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Valentines!

Hiya!


Since Valentines wasn't really that long ago i would use the day as the topic of my first ever blog! :) 


This year i went down the DIY route for my husbands gifts once again (last year when we were doubting i made him a word cloud) and made him a picture using his favourite chewing tobacco cans as well a drinks carrier with some of his favourite things in as well as a few cheesy things. He LOVED them both. I also bought him a card which is currently taking up residence on the fish tank. 

We also went out to dinner at Giraffe. Normally we would have gone somewhere Italian and i so wish we had booked in January to go somewhere we actually like because as it turns out, Giraffe is not a very good place at all. I now know why it always looks empty when i walk past on my way to the cinema. My food was ok but my husband said his was not good at all apart from the potato wedges and we both agree the service was terrible.

I chose the Chorizo Carbonara and Rocky Road Sundae and Chris had the Beer Battered Cod with the Chocolate Brownie for dessert. Now when looking at a menu i always expect the description to tell me exactly what i am going to be eating if i choose that particular dish. Suffice to say the chorizo carbonara's description failed to mention that it would make my lips and tongue burn.Don't get me wrong i like a bit of spice but i like to KNOW when something is going to be that hot. I removed all the pieces of chorizo to the side of my bowl and the heat automatically dispersed when finishing my pasta, however it left the dish tasting very rich. I normally love chorizo but something tells me the chef cooked it with something extremely spicy which completely ruined the dish in my opinion. 

The Sundae was nothing to write home about either, just a few scoops of ice cream with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, warm brownie pieces (since when is there brownie in rocky road?!) and some marshmallows which were like little bullets. Oh, and a strawberry (the best part of the whole meal aside from my hubby's company).

I also had a bite of one of chris' potato wedges - they were awesome and a bite of his brownie - it wasn't very good, there was something other than chocolate in it which made it taste a bit odd. He said that the fish was tasteless.

Gosh that turned into a bit of a restaurant review didn't it?! I would like to go back again to try something different but the service was just so bad i don't think i ever will. 
Anyway, we had a lovely day overall and i LOVED crafting his gifts. They are so much more personal than shop bought items i think :)


Love Jade x