Mothers Day is usually a pleasant but low-key holiday in which we tell our mothers, mother’s-law and mother figures how much we appreciate them.  If you would like to make her feel extra special this Mothers’ day, consider throwing her a Mother’s Day party.  A tea party theme would be perfect for mothers day.   

Whether this is a ladies only tea party or whether the entire family is invited, you should use very pretty feminine invitations, with hand written instructions in your best cursive penmanship.  Request formal dress and best manners. 

Prepare for your Tea Party by setting the table with your best tea cups and china.  Arrange your china and silverware, exactly as mother taught you when you were young.  Use fine linen napkins and your best floral table cloths.  If everything does not match, do not worry.  For a large party, it is perfectly acceptable to use mis-matched tableware as long as the patterns do not clash. Decorate the table and room with fresh flowers from your yard (or from the supermarket).   

Food for your tea party should include little sandwiches with the crust removed, a special punch drink with floating fruit, an assortment of cakes and cookies, and of course, tea.   

Complete the refined and peaceful atmosphere of the party with your mothers favorite soft music.   

As the party draws to a close, present mother with extravagant spa gift basket sets that you can purchase by combining your money, or family members can compete to see who can present the loveliest basket.  You can purchase your gift baskets online, in person, or make them yourself. 

 My kids give me the same exact gift every year for Mothers Day and I love it.  The ceremoniously send me to the couch and put my feet up, and they fuss around me all day.  They attempt to clean, they manage to cook (with my husband’s help) and they purchase a wonderful spa gift basket set to allow me to relax in the bath for a while.   

My husband was recently shocked to find that there were no spa products under my sink.  He asked, what happened to all of the spa products we bought you over the years!  I guess he assumed I had tossed them out.  I replied, “I used them silly”.  He was pleasantly surprised and confessed that he was planning on buying something different this year.  I told him not to even think about it.  I would gladly take my Mothers Day spa gift basket set that I had become accustomed to. 

While I love the company of my husband and kids, I always appreciate the gift of some time to myself and am more than happy to receive a spa bath kit.  One that I especially have my eye on is the Mom’s Escape Guava gift set.   

In this set, you will find a pretty tote/hand bag, and wonderful pair of slippers, and several luxurious spa products.  While this gift is great for a mom with pre-teen kids like me, it is especially made for new and expectant mothers, as the quilted bag is perfect to use as a baby bag. 

This special edition Grow a Tree baby shower gift has everything needed to plant a new tree for their new child.  In this basket, your child will receive a Ginko Biloba tree growing kit in addition to a keepsake rattle, a baby blanket, a baby’s first bear, and a plaque to commemorate the day the tree was grown.  It also includes the book, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverman.   

The Gingko tree growing kit includes tree seeds, a germination bag with germination medium, a seeding pot and potting medium that will allow you to plant a tree that will last for many generations.   Gingko trees are a hardy and ornamental  ancient tree species meant to last 1000 years.  It is also a medicinal plant with leaves that are used to enhance the memory.   

This very unique gift basket set is perfect for a family who believes in green principles.  It is a wonderful gift for a family with well-established roots who know that their home will always be in the family.  It is a wonderfully sentimental way to welcome a new baby into the world.   

You will find this baby gift basket and more at Mybabygiftbasketmart.com.

A large part being a realtor is developing a relationship with your clients.  After all, a house is not something people purchase every day, so repeat business will not happen more than 4 or 5 years down the road.  In addition to repeat business, a realtor also hopes that clients will remember them when a friend or family member needs to buy or sell a home.   

My suggestion for realtors looking to make a solid impression on your real-estate clients is to send them a large gift basket after the house sale is complete.  The West Coast Beautiful Wine Gift Basket Extravaganza would be one of many unique gift baskets  perfect gift to give to your clients who you have helped to buy or sell a home.  This set is less than $150.00, which is quite reasonable as a gift for a house sale.   

In a beautiful basket that they will be able to use for many years, you will find Villa Mt. Eden Chardonnay, a wonderful Merlot, Salami, Smoked Gouda, Havarti Cheeses, cheese knives, cookies, fudge shortbread, and toffee.   

How could your clients ever forget you after receiving such a gift (and memories of a positive home buying or selling experience?)   To help them keep in touch with you, do not forget to send them a yearly refrigerator calendar with your phone number on it.   

If wine and cheese gift baskets cannot be delivered in your state because of alcohol laws, there are many other wonderful gift baskets you can send.  Corporate gift baskets for example make perfect thank you gifts.

So, you can’t make your great uncles 80^th birthday party and are feeling a bit of guilt?  Unfortunately, life’s circumstances tend to get in the way of celebrations that we hold deer.  While you cannot tell him how much you appreciate him in person, you can certainly send a gift that shows him how much you care. 

Unique gift baskets such as this over the hill birthday gift basket is perfect for that older member of your family that is especially known for their sense of humor.  The base of this gift is a black basket and bow with an Over The Hill tombstone.  There is also a black oval tray in the basket.   

To soften the blow of the intended funny message, they will also find over the hill fortune cookies, over the hill pills, and over the hill mug, an over the hill hearing aide, and many snacks.  Snacks include Fudge walnut cookies, a champagne bottle with jellybeans, cherry sours, and more.  The cost of the basket is great considering the number of fun items and goodies your recipient will receive.   

Before sending this gift make sure that the recipient is not suffering from any life threatening illness or the “joke” will not be appreciated.  This over the hill gift basket is also great for sending as an anonymous birthday gift to your boss and co-workers.  I do not recommend sending it to someone who may have you as a recipient in his or her will.  In that case I recommend you choose from other birthday gift baskets available to you.

You are ready for your friends wedding, and you have the gift in hand, but should you bring it with you to the wedding reception?  Probably not.   

Bringing a gift to the wedding is certainly appreciated by the bride and groom, but if you have another way to get the gift to them, you should consider it.  Gifts brought to a reception are seldom opened there, so it makes more sense to deliver the gift to the home of the bride and/ or her parents.  If you do bring it to the wedding, someone will have to transport it to the home, and there is a chance of the gift being lost or destroyed in the past wedding chaos.   

This is good news to anyone who is too caught up in wedding plans and other drama to take time to get a gift.  You can always wait until after the wedding to purchase and deliver the gift after the fact.  Do not worry about the registry being depleted, if it is, that only means the bride and groom got everything they wanted and you are free to order a gift basket online to have delivered to the home.   

Just remember that it is proper etiquette to send the gift within two months of the wedding, while technically you have a year.  However, after six months, you tend to just forget.  Besides think of how wonderful, it would be for the doorbell to ring two months after the wedding and for the couple to be handed a wonderful romantic gift basket with your congratulations card attached!

If showering the new couple with gifts is leaving you strapped for cash, here are some tips you can follow. 

For the engagement party, bring a gift that is inexpensive yet meaningful.  Put a lot of thought into the card and sign it lovingly.  As far as the gift is concerned, purchase a nice vase, or a bottle of wine.  If you feel like splurging, you can order a wine and cheese gift basket for them to enjoy as they prepare for the wedding.

For the wedding shower, purchase the bride or groom (if he is having a shower) a personal gift.  Take the time to do a bit of bargain shopping, since you do not have to purchase an item off the registry yet.  Go to your local outlet mall, or discount department store (like Ross and Marshall’s) and look for lingerie and other romantic items for the bedroom.  If you are not attending the shower, you do not have to send anything, sending but a romantic gift basket that they can enjoy on the honeymoon would be appreciated.

Unless you have no problems with spending loads of money on one couple, when you are likely to have several people you know getting married this year, remember that you do not need to feel pressure to purchase more than one gift per type of party.  At most, you should purchase one engagement gift, one shower gift, and one wedding gift.  Budget a minimum of $100.00 for these gifts.

Deciding on how much money to spend on a wedding gift can be difficult.  There are numerous factors to consider.  After all, the couple has had to pay the caterer for your dinner, they have had to pay for the reception hall, and if you are invited to their wedding, chances are they care about you.   

In my opinion, the gift should be comparable with the amount of money that they spent for you to attend the reception.  I would calculate $35.00 a plate (which is common for an average wedding), plus another $15.00 for miscellaneous costs.  This means my minimum recommended wedding gift if $50.00 for an individual, or $100.00 for couple.  This price is suggested whether you give a gift off the registry listing, cash, or unique gift baskets.   

Relationship is also important when deciding how much to give for a wedding gift.  A close family member is expected to give exponentially more than a co-worker.  A relative should probably give closer to $200.00 to the new couple, especially if you have the means.   

There are always exceptions to these rules.  For example, if you already gave an elaborate romantic gift basket for the wedding shower or engagement party, you can give a lesser wedding gift.  If you paid hundreds of dollars to fly across the country to attend the wedding, you need to take your expenses into consideration, and I am sure the couple would agree.  If you are going through hard financial times, and the couple asks you to attend the wedding anyway, they will surely understand. 

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