Browsing Tag

Spring

Philanthropy

Smile Farms Farmer Spotlight

April 5, 2016

In our February newsletter, we proudly introduced Smile Farms Inc., and its inspiring story! Today we would like to introduce you to Thomas Reilly and Dominique Johnson, two farmers at Smile Farms at IGHL. They have been featured in the Farmer Spotlight on Smile Farms’ Social Media platforms. Check out what they had to say!

 

farmer spotlight, Thomas Reilly

Farmer Spotlight, Thomas Reilly

farmer spotlight, Dominique Johnson

Farmer Spotlight, Dominique Johnson

Farmer Spotlight! Congratulations Thomas Reilly and Dominique Johnson on four years of employment with Smile Farms Inc. Best of luck with your future plans!

As a corporate sponsor of Smile Farms, 1-800-Flowers.com® provides the charity with support in many ways, including donations, volunteers, business mentorship, cause marketing campaigns and most importantly — spreading the message.

Currently located on Long Island, New York, with the help of citizens, corporations and government entities, they have ambitious plans to expand and create a network of farms across the United States.

 

Smile Farms farmers in the greenhouse

Smile Farms Farmer Spotlight Farmers Working with Mulch

Read more about Smile Farms and how you can get involved:  http://www.smilefarms.org/

Stay connected with Smile Farms on all social media platforms!

     Follow Smile Farms on Instagram

Entertaining, Party!, Picnic

St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef & Cabbage Sliders

February 29, 2016

A big plate of corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, carrots and other vegetables is traditionally served on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a hearty supper for a day in March that could bring “fierce weather”.

You’ll love this new twist on traditional corned beef and cabbage perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day party buffet!

St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef and Cabbage Sliders with Guinness Mustard

This recipe was inspired by the St. Patrick’s Day scene in St. Louis. The Gateway to the West is lucky enough to have two St. Patrick’s Day parades! A big downtown parade and a smaller parade in the Irish part of the city — Dogtown.

St. Patrick's Day Slow Cooked Corned Beef and Cabbage Sliders

Be sure to make plenty of these sliders because they’ll disappear in the blink of an eye like a leprechaun! The quick Guiness mustard is a tasty addition to the corned beef and cabbage sliders. Here’s the recipe:

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Sliders with Guinness Mustard

 Add some Shamrocks!

Serve on a St Patrick’s Day buffet table with

Cheryl’s St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Cut Outs!

Cheryl's St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Cookie Cutouts

 

 

Uncategorized

The Best Snacks for Baseball Season

April 29, 2013
Candy Bar Pretzels

Candy Bar PretzelsPlanning on enjoying America’s favorite pastime this spring? Whether you’re watching the ballgame from your living room or from the bleachers, rooting for the home team isn’t nearly as fun if you don’t have some awesome treats to chomp on. Handy bite-sized snacks are the MVPs of baseball snacking: They’re easy to pop into your mouth while you concentrate on the biggest plays, and they have big-league flavor. Here’s our all-star lineup of the best snacks to eat during baseball season!

Flower in Bloom Gourmet Fruit & NutsFlower in Bloom Gourmet Fruit & Nuts

A healthier spin on the traditional peanuts and cracker jacks, this assortment of mixed nuts and dried fruits is a delicious and guilt-free pick for the big game. The sleek wooden tray is loaded with cashews, almonds, pears, peaches apricots, dates, plums and more—all cleverly arranged into the shape of a blooming flower. Perfect for spring’s best sport!

Candy-Covered Pretzel RodsCandy Bar Pretzels

This sinfully delicious snack brings together all the classic treats you’d find at the concession stand—without the hefty price! Golden pretzel rods are dipped in creamy caramel and then covered in one of five candy favorites—Oreo, Butterfinger, M&Ms, Mounds or Heath Bar—to make a sweet-and-salty double play that no one can resist.

So Good Gourmet ApplesSo Good Gourmet Apples

These pitch-perfect candy apples come in four decadent flavors and are served on an easy-to-hold stick so you won’t drop the ball on game day. Take your pick from toppings like white confection and cinnamon; honey-roasted peanuts and milk chocolate; white confection and milk and dark chocolate; or pecans and milk chocolate drizzle.

The Popcorn Factory Snack Attack Deluxe TinThe Popcorn Factory Snack Attack Deluxe Tin

Only for serious snackers, this deluxe tin comes with enough sweet treats to feed the entire team. With mini pretzels, licorice, Tootsie Rolls, peanuts, chocolate chunk cookies, popcorn balls, gummy bears and five different flavors of popcorn at hand, you’ll have enough to satisfy your cravings, even if the game goes into extra innings!

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere Martini Mixer Market BoxIt’s 5:00 Somewhere Martini Mixers Market Box

Forget boring old beer. Celebrate your big win in style with one of your favorite cocktails and some fancy salty snacks. This kit already comes with everything you need to make a toast your team players: lemon drop, cosmopolitan and dirty martini mixes, plus savory bits like stuffed Greek olives, cheese straws and more.

So, baseball fans: What’s your favorite team, and what kind of snacks do you like to eat while you cheer them on?

Customer Appreciation, Feedback, Gift Baskets

Picnics!

April 12, 2012

Welcome back readers,

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter and didn’t eat their way into an early coma like I did! I asked that if any of you had some great desserts or decorations you made for Easter to send me a picture and thankfully one reader, Sharon, sent me a picture of some creative and delicious chocolates she made! Seriously awesome decorating skills on these chocolates!  It’s never too late to send it your own pictures if you still have them, especially if you tried out any of the recipes we’ve posted. Now, on with the show…

Last week I asked you all to vote in the comments section on what you wanted me to write about and the clear winner for the week has been picnics! Coffee and tea came in second with fitness following close behind, but clearly everyone is very excited about this nice Spring weather and can’t wait to get out and enjoy it (without breaking a sweat that is).

Picnics should be fun and easy, something you can throw together in a few minutes. So I have a couple of sandwich recipes that would be perfect for a Spring picnic, as well as a few suggestions to make your time outdoors a little more comfortable.

Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

This is an absolute favorite of mine! All you need is some bread, peanut butter (I prefer smooth), sliced bananas and you’re good to go. I like to add a few extras to my sandwiches for more flavor and components. I usually add some honey and granola mix, gives it extra flavor and a little extra crunch.

Peanut Butter Apple Sandwiches

Are you sensing a theme or my love of peanut butter? You can always substitute peanut butter for any other nut butter (almond, sunflower, etc.) or if you want to make it a super sweet treat you can add Nutella. For this “sandwich” I don’t actually use bread, instead I slice apples to be the holders. You spread peanut butter (or whichever you prefer) on the apple slices, add granola or chocolate chips (or both!) and stack the slices together to form a sandwich. It’s a fun and healthy treat that is very easy to make!

For picnics, you can generally use any kind of outdoor blanket or mat and you’ll be fine, but the problem always lies with where and how you’re sitting. Sitting outside is probably one of the more uncomfortable things since the invention of the sofa, so it’s hard to get used to (especially if your knees are about 40 years older than you are like some blog writers). So I have two cheap options for outdoor seating to make your picnic a bit more comfortable! Our first one is from Target, a reclining picnic seat. It seems like it would be nice for back support and easy to pack up and go with. I’m probably the clumsiest person around though, so I would find some way to keep falling back on myself. So I have a second option from IKEA for us…balance challenged people out there. It’s technically a stool, but it’s also very sturdy, wide and doesn’t seem like it would fall over on you! All the makings of an easy picnic seat (for me at least!).

If you want some great picnic gift baskets that are all ready to go, we have some seriously amazing picnic options on our site right now! My three picks:

Well I hope you all enjoyed this picnics post and have some more ideas for the rest of us! In the comments section (1-2 paragraphs), tell me some of your picnic ideas and recipes! FIVE lucky and random winners will receive the Impromptu Picnic Cooler & Snacks Tote Gift Basket!

Happy Picnicking!

Customer Appreciation, Party!, Sweepstakes

DIY Easter Party

March 22, 2012
Easter gift baskets

Welcome Back Basket Readers,

Thanks for bearing with my late post earlier this week and the kind messages. Aside from some annoying allergies, I and my car are doing a lot better (who knew cars were allergic to pollen)! Also, congratulations to any of you who were lucky to win one of the truffle cake pops in our Facebook Sweet Spring Sweepstakes! Personally, I can’t be trusted to be alone with the cake pops for fear of eating them all and putting myself in a sugar coma; just know that I am very jealous of all of you who won. One more thing before we get on with the show, we’ve had a slight change in our shipping process over here and I know a few of you have emailed about your winning gift baskets. If you’re a blog winner who still hasn’t received their prize, please email me at amariscal@1800flowers.com with your name, the blog date you won and the gift, so I can track and correct anything that needs to be fixed!

Easter! It’s a great family holiday with lots of delightful treats to it. I’m also convinced that everyone wised up to the incredible egg and decided that we needed a holiday to celebrate how insanely delicious it is no matter what time of day it is (just go with it)!

I thought it would be fun to write about how to plan a DIY Easter party this week, so let’s jump in. Decorations are essential to any party, and lucky for us, I found this super cute, cheap, and easy idea to brighten up any Easter celebration. Modern Parents Messy Kids has come up with a creative way to use paint and pantone chips as colorful “DIY Egg Garland.” All you need for this easy activity is a hearty collection of paint chips (very easy to pick up at your local home improvement store!), scissor, hole punch, and string! Check out the blog for the DIY details, and enjoy this cute pic tutorial below: DIY easter party egg garland

Our Easter gift baskets make for festive and fun center pieces for your Easter party. Filled with lots of delicious chocolates and treats it will be hard not to touch, but you can incorporate them into the day’s activities as game prizes (see later in the post)! My top picks for the party: The Happy Easter Cuddle Plush Bunny Gift Basket, Flowers of Spring Gift Basket, and the Blooming Spring Sweets Basket. They’ll be extremely excited to win one of these great gift baskets!

Easter gift baskets

(left) Happy Easter Cuddle Plush Gift Basket; (center) Flowers of Spring Gift Basket; (right) Blooming Spring Sweets Basket

So, Easter is pretty much the one holiday I can get away with eating all the deviled eggs I want without (too much) regret. It’s a holiday staple, but Foodjimoto offers a cute and simple “Doh! Why didn’t I think of that?” way to make them festive. Use the eggs that you color the night before for your deviled eggs! It adds a great pop of color and interest to a regular dish. colored deviled eggs for easter

You’ll need some activities during the party to keep it fun, especially if there’s an abundance of young kids with short attention spans!

  • Easter Egg Hunt (Duh, Alex!)
  • DIY Bunny Ears: Pick up a bunch of $1 head bands, pastel color felt (make sure to pre-cut it in bunny ear shapes), colorful pipe cleaners, glitter and durable fabric glue. Kids can glue the felt to the pipe cleaners so that they can shape the ears, decorate with glitter, and attach to the headbands.
  • Pin the Ears on the Bunny: Just like pin the tail on the donkey, but you know…
  • Guessing for Prizes: Fill some baskets or jars with M&Ms or foil-wrapped chocolates, let everyone guess the amount of pieces in there and reward the top 3 closest guesses with Easter baskets!

Well, there is more than enough to do here! But if any of you are still looking for more ideas, let’s take it to the comments and help each other out. In the comments section (1-2 paragraphs) let us know what sort of fun Easter activities (for adults or children or both!) you can come up with! FIVE lucky and random winners will receive the Flowers of Spring Gift Basket.

Happy planning!

 

18B Easter blog

 

DIY Easter Party!

Welcome Back Basket Readers,

Thanks for bearing with my late post earlier this week and the kind messages. Aside from some annoying allergies, I and my car are doing a lot better (who knew cars were allergic to pollen)! Also, congratulations to any of you who were lucky to win one of the truffle cake pops in our Facebook Sweet Spring Sweepstakes! Personally, I can’t be trusted to be alone with the cake pops for fear of eating them all and putting myself in a sugar coma; just know that I am very jealous of all of you who won. One more thing before we get on with the show, we’ve had a slight change in our shipping process over here and I know a few of you have emailed about your winning gift baskets. If you’re a blog winner who still hasn’t received their prize, please email me at amariscal@1800flowers.com with your name, the blog date you won and the gift, so I can track and correct anything that needs to be fixed!

Easter! It’s a great family holiday with lots of delightful treats to it. I’m also convinced that everyone wised up to the incredible egg and decided that we needed a holiday to celebrate how insanely delicious it is no matter what time of day it is (just go with it)!

I thought it would be fun to write about how to plan a DIY Easter party this week, so let’s jump in. Decorations are essential to any party, and lucky for us, I found this super cute, cheap, and easy idea to brighten up any Easter celebration. Modern Parents Messy Kids has come up with a creative way to use paint and pantone chips as colorful “DIY Egg Garland.” All you need for this easy activity is a hearty collection of paint chips (very easy to pick up at your local home improvement store!), scissor, hole punch, and string! Check out the blog for the DIY details, and enjoy this cute pic tutorial below:

[Picture]

Our Easter gift baskets make for festive and fun center pieces for your Easter party. Filled with lots of delicious chocolates and treats it will be hard not to touch, but you can incorporate them into the day’s activities as game prizes (see later in the post)! My top picks for the party: The Happy Easter Cuddle Plush Bunny Gift Basket, Flowers of Spring Gift Basket, and the Blooming Spring Sweets Basket. They’ll be extremely excited to win one of these great gift baskets!

[Picture]

So, Easter is pretty much the one holiday I can get away with eating all the deviled eggs I want without (too much) regret. It’s a holiday staple, but Foodjimoto offers a cute and simple “Doh! Why didn’t I think of that?” way to make them festive. Use the eggs that you color the night before for your deviled eggs! It adds a great pop of color and interest to a regular dish.

[Picture]

You’ll need some activities during the party to keep it fun, especially if there’s an abundance of young kids with short attention spans!

· Easter Egg Hunt (Duh, Alex!)

· DIY Bunny Ears: Pick up a bunch of $1 head bands, pastel color felt (make sure to pre-cut it in bunny ear shapes), colorful pipe cleaners, glitter and durable fabric glue. Kids can glue the felt to the pipe cleaners so that they can shape the ears, decorate with glitter, and attach to the headbands.

· Pin the Ears on the Bunny: Just like pin the tail on the donkey, but you know…

· Guessing for Prizes: Fill some baskets or jars with M&Ms or foil-wrapped chocolates, let everyone guess the amount of pieces in there and reward the top 3 closest guesses with Easter baskets!

Well, there is more than enough to do here! But if any of you are still looking for more ideas, let’s take it to the comments and help each other out. In the comments section (1-2 paragraphs) let us know what sort of fun Easter activities (for adults or children or both!) you can come up with! FIVE lucky and random winners will receive the Flowers of Spring Gift Basket.

Happy planning!

Gift Baskets, Gift Baskets Catalog

Spring Gift Baskets Preview

February 23, 2012
Glorious Garden Sweets Spring Gift Baskets

Welcome back readers!

According to all of your answers in the comments section, I clearly have not been trying enough “exotic” foods (no fried insects for me please, I prefer to think that maybe the food that I’m eating doesn’t already purposely have bug legs in there!) I didn’t think anything could ruin my love of eggs quite like that half developed “delicacy” does…also, fly larva? I need some ginger ale stat! Anyway, we have some winners who will be receiving a tasty gift basket that’s not filled with octopus, tongue, or insects! Congratulations to Ellen B (February 16, 2012 at 7:37 pm), Franklin (February 17, 2012 at 9:34 am), Amanda Vogel (February 17, 2012 at 10:37 am), Matthew Mckay (February 17, 2012 at 2:10 pm), and Tiffany S. February 23, 2012 at 10:17 am! Please send your name and shipping information to me at amariscal@1800flowers.com and I can send out your gift baskets!

Glorious Garden Sweets Spring Gift Baskets

Glorious Garden Sweets Gift Basket $39.99; Product Code:96395

I don’t know if this is unique to the Midwest, but the weather channel informed me that tonight we have a “thundersnow” ready to hit the Chicagoland and suburban areas. For those of you lucky enough to not know what it’s like to live in the crazy weathered world of that Dennis Quaid movie, The Day After Tomorrow, a “thundersnow” is the mixing of a thunderstorm, heavy snow fall of up to 10 inches, and wonderfully strong winds that will ensure an extra 2 hours added to your commute! It will be gloom and doom tonight and probably tomorrow for sure. But by Sunday, I’m almost certain it will feel like middle of Spring. Seeing as I’ve already forgotten what the sun feels like and I’m prepping for my commute home driving at 10 mph, I thought we should take a look at our Spring Preview and dream about what it will be like to not wear a parka outside every day!

Flowering Fields Spring Gift Basket Gift Tower

Flowering Fields Sweets Gift Tower $34.99; Product Code:96392

Spring means floral and pastels, the smell of fresh rain and dew on grass (I’m so close to breaking out into a Sound of Music song and dance right now). I won’t even mind the apparent community of 200 geese that live in the pond in my backyard making noise in the morning! Just looking at the bright colors and flowers on these gift baskets and gift tower is enough to remind me that Spring time is close.

Our Flowering Fields Sweets Gift Tower is bright and bouncy with its orange, yellow, pink, lime green and red colors popping out from a white background. Packed with delicious gourmet foods like Cheryl’s® Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ghirardelli® Dark Chocolate Squares, Harry London® Milk Chocolate Crispy Joys®, and more, the gift tower’s bright colors won’t be the only part of the gift to delight!

Spring Has Sprung Gift Basket

Spring Has Sprung Gift Basket $34.99; Product Code:96391

The Spring Has Sprung gift basket has enough in the title to make me excited for the upcoming months. Inside you’ll find delectable gourmet treats like Harry London® White Confection Pretzels with Pink Drizzle, a Daisy-shaped Sugar Cookie, Spring Pastel Taffy, Eurostyle Biscuits, The Popcorn Factory® Pink Berry Kettle Popcorn and more! Not to be outdone, is our Glorious Garden Sweets Box Gift Basket in similar Spring fashion. This gift basket is filled with the finest sweet and savory treats perfect for a fair Spring day (real or pretend!). Honey Wheat Pretzel Braids, Cheryl’s® Chocolate Chip Cookies, Dragonfly-shaped Sugar Cookie, Assorted Fruit Slices, Spring Pastel Taffy, Robert Rothschild® Chocolate Fudge Pretzel Dip, Tazo® Zen® Green Tea and more can be found in this beautiful Spring gift basket and enjoyed by all!

You can check out a small collection of our early Spring Preview here!

In the comments section (1-2 paragraphs) tell me what you’re most excited for this Spring and we can all hope it comes back really soon together!

Have a great weekend with normal weather!