Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Entertaining at Home’ Category

Mother’s Day Gifts

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, tagged , on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

If you are still searching for a great gift for Mom, here are some ideas I shared last year that are, amazingly enough, still appropriate this year!

Happy Shopping!

Perfect Mother’s Day Gifts

Here we are just a few days away from Mother’s Day and as a favor to all you guys out there who have not yet purchased a gift for your wife or mother, I thought I’d offer a few tips.

Let’s start off with the don’t list. This could get to be really long, so I’ll do my best to just highlight some of the worst offenders.

Most women will not be thrilled with a gift that will require work on their part. Lawnmowers require work on their part, as do any other type of outdoor yard tool. Avoid any gift that will make her think of work.

Unless your wife is a real outdoorsy kind of girl and has specifically requested an item (and that is a true request, not a sarcastic one) steer away from things like fishing poles, tools, guns,  and sleeping bags. If it is something you’ve been wanting, odds are high it is not on her short or long list of things she’d really like to have. She really won’t appreciate it. Honest, she won’t.


Women also do not appreciate opening a box of their favorite chocolate candy and finding either pieces missing or, horror of all horrors, mutilated bit-ridden pieces. If you are going to get her candy, leave the box sealed and let her decide if she wants to share (and don’t expect her to, especially if it is really good chocolate).

While we all enjoy having new appliances, don’t give them as gifts for Mother’s Day. This is a woman who carried you for nine months and agonized through your labor or the woman who married you and continues to provide you with tender loving care not to mention all she went through to give you children. Show her some appreciation. Show her how much you cherish her. You really can’t do that with a blender. Or a toaster. Or a rice cooker. Or an iron. Goodness sakes, man, don’t do it with an iron.

I think you are getting the general idea of what not to give. So what can you give the most important women in your life that will make them smile, fill them with gratitude for you? Beyond the obvious choice of flowers, here are a few ideas.

Bath and body products are always welcome as are scented candles. But make sure you have some idea of what scent she likes. This is important to know! One of my favorite lotions in the world is from Camille Beckman. Most women will love just about anything you could pick out from stores like Bath & Body Works. She will also appreciate a gift card. Then she can get whatever she wants.  Despite rumors, the majority of the female population really does appreciate gift cards to their favorite stores. Don’t know what store that might be? Get her a Visa gift card or one that she can use anywhere. You can even get gift cards to online stores like Amazon that offer a little bit of everything.

Give her the gift of time to herself. Take the kids out to do something fun and leave her in peace for the afternoon so she can take a bubble bath, read a book, take a nap. I guarantee she’ll thank you for it.

Make her breakfast in bed. It isn’t that hard or complicated and she will love it – and you!

If you want to make her heart flutter and melt into a puddle at your feet, help the kids make her something. Even a card made by their little hands is probably among the most precious gifts you can give and she’ll keep it forever.

Put on your thinking cap, get creative and let your mom and wife know just how much they mean to you. And stay far away from the appliance aisle, even if they dangle the carrot of free gift-wrapping.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Shanna

Read Full Post »

Treat Mom Like a Queen this Mother’s Day

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, tagged , , on May 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This post is for all those guys out there who haven’t yet got their game plan together for how to make Mother’s Day special for the mother of their children. Here are some easy and savvy ideas to make you look like a hero.

Good Morning, Mom!

Start her day off right by taking care of breakfast. There are many simple recipes you can use to put together a fun meal.

Try this recipe for chocolate stuffed french toast. It isn’t hard to make and any mom who loves chocolate will thank you repeatedly.

Serve up a glass of this easy pomegranate drink. It looks like you slaved away creating it but if you can open a carton of juice and a bottle of syrup, you can do this!

If the mom in your life loves coffee, load the kids in the car so mom can sleep and run to your nearest Starbucks or favorite coffee joint and bring her back something deliciously decadent.

Mom Time

Once you’ve got breakfast out of the way, give Mom some me time. Run a bath for her and make sure there is plenty of bubble bath, candles and a good book for her to read. Then make sure she  can enjoy the bath without being disturbed. Or maybe she wants to get a facial or a pedicure. She might prefer to hang out on a lawn chair soaking up some sun. Just give her a little time to enjoy herself and she will undoubtedly thank you for it.

Picnic Pleasures

picnic

Weather permitting, a fun way to spend an afternoon is on a picnic. If you like to cook, whip up something delicious to take along. If cooking isn’t your forte, keep it simple. You could pack a loaf of bread, some assorted cheeses, fruits and chocolate for a nice yet easy meal. You can also whip together some great picnic sandwiches with meat and cheese from the deli and butter croissants. Add in some fruit and some gourmet chips and you are set to go. Take along some games or activities you can do as a family like a frisbee, kites or softball and bat. Make it fun and keep it lighthearted.

Divine Dinner

As long as Mom doesn’t have to cook it, she will probably think any dinner you and the kids come up with is awesome. Barbecue, make your specialty, take her out to eat.  Just give her the night off from cooking or doing dishes.

Grand Finale

You’ve dazzled Mom with a great breakfast, time for herself, a fun afternoon and a great dinner. What more can you do? Give her a neck massage, rub her feet, let her control the remote for the evening, actually listen to the conversation she is trying to have with you. I guarantee your efforts will not go unnoticed and you will quite likely be the hero of the day.

Whatever you do for Mother’s Day, just do it from your heart and make sure Mom knows how much you love and appreciate her.

Good luck!

Read Full Post »

Mother’s Day Entertaining

Posted in entertain, Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, tagged , on May 2, 2011| 1 Comment »

Well, I’m not quite sure how it happened but apparently I have lost track of time and now find myself scrambling for ideas as Mother’s Day approaches.

I’m hoping no one else is like me and running behind, but if you are, today I’m going to share a past post about Mother’s Day Entertaining.

If you volunteered to host the celebration a while back and are just now remembering that it is this coming Sunday, good luck! Hopefully you’ll find some useful tips here.

Mother’s Day Entertaining

Mom

If you are hosting a Mother’s Day get together, think about what you can do to make all the mothers feel extra special in your home.  By implementing a few simple ideas, you will ensure they know how much they are loved and appreciated.

Have a door greeter (one of your children would be great at the job) who hands every Mom a single stem flower as they walk in the door. These can be flowers from the florist or fresh cut from your garden. Have the flowers in a basket with individual water tubes on each stem to keep them fresh. Water tubes are available in craft stores or from a florist.

If you are serving a sit-down meal, have something special for each Mom at her place setting. It can be something as simple as a tiny box with one decadent truffle or a piece of her favorite candy. You could have an individual flower or votive floating in a small bowl. Even a poem hand-written or photocopied on nice card stock would be appreciated.

To truly touch her heart, spend a few minutes writing down the reasons you appreciate her. Put it on nice cardstock or in an inexpensive frame. This will definitely be a keepsake and probably much more appreciated than other gifts you could buy.

And don’t forget those who may not be mothers, but have a mother’s-heart. If you have a special aunt, sister, cousin or friend who goes out of her way to make you or your little ones feel special, make sure you show your appreciation to them as well.

Think with your heart and I know you’ll be able to give your Mom a special memory she’ll always treasure.

Read Full Post »

Houses Burning and Fire Whirls

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Family, Musings, tagged , , on April 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Thirty plus years ago my parents built a house, the one where they currently reside, and moved from the little house that was originally on The Farm. I lived in what was dubbed The Old House for the first few years of my existence. Sadly enough, the only photo I have in my possession of The Old House is the one above. (Yes, I am the one on the pony. If I remember correctly we called it Blue and that is most likely my sister-in-law hiding behind the pony. I would know more detail but I was 3 at the time.) You can see the front of the house in the photo. Note the steps out front.

About a year ago, my nephew, who now owns The Farm, started tearing down The Old House. It had passed derelict status a long time ago and progressed to a hazard. In the fall, the house went from standing upright to having the walls caved in and the roof on the ground. At the far right of the photo you can see the front steps.

Saturday night, because all the family was gathered and we didn’t have anything better to do, Matt decided to burn the house. It was quite a finale to the evening, I must say.

After pouring a little fuel on the dry wood, Matt lit the fire and we all stood around watching and waiting.

It didn’t take long for the fire to start spreading.

The flames were really hopping on this side of the house.

In no time at all, the entire structure was on fire. A few of us watched completely intrigued by the fire whirls. It was at this point my young niece Katie decided we needed to find some marshmallows to roast. We finally convinced her they would be melted before they ever got toasted. Not to mention none of us wanted to get any closer to the fire.

Here you can really see one shooting up in the midst of the fire. The fire whirls are basically ascending currents of air, like a dust devil except with fire. We think the combination of extreme heat (because believe me it was really, really hot) and the fire burning together from two opposing corners caused the velocity to start the whirls. As they burned up and out, little dust devils swirled around the surrounding area. Sorry, it was too dark to get photos of the swirling dust and to be quiet honest, the swirling flames were much more interesting!

You can see here the big plumes of black smoke are gone and the flames are burning really hot as it gets down to embers. This was about the time one of the neighbors came over to see if we were trying to burn down the world or just a small portion of it.

And here are the blazing hot embers at the end of the fire. I should have gone back the next morning to take photos of the ashes, but it just seemed better to stop here.

She Who Thinks Fire Whirls are Fascinating

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »