Monthly Archives

April 2012

Gift Baskets, Gift Baskets Catalog, Teacher Appreciation, Thank You Gifts

Spring Delight Godiva® Chocolates Gift Basket

April 30, 2012

Whoever said that diamonds were a girl’s best friend clearly never had a sweet surprise like this Spring Delight Godiva® Chocolates Gift Basket delivered to them!

Upon delivery, this beautiful gift basket is perfectly assembled (not a box out of place!) in an off white aluminum gift basket and protected by a tight seal and a glimmering green bow with a floral decoration to top it off. This chocolate gift basket has a very stunning presentation!

First things first, laying out all the chocolate that’s inside this gift basket. I slip off the hand-tied bow ever so carefully, so that I won’t ruin it and place it to the side. Tucked inside the gift basket is an array of chocolate bars, pieces, cocoa and more. As a proper product review, I know immediately that I have to taste every bit of chocolate in this basket (professional obligations of course!).

The Godiva® Dark Truffle Heart Biscuits are absolutely delicious. A sweet yet buttery cookie with a topping of smooth dark chocolate, this cookie is too good.

I set aside only one Godiva® Gems® Truffle, because I don’t have that strong of will power if I leave them all out. Another rich chocolate to eat, also more rich chocolate to hide from myself.

Inside this chocolate gift basket is Godiva® Caffe Chocolate Truffle Coffee and a packet of Godiva® Milk Chocolate Cocoa. It’s too late in the day for me to make either of these surely delicious beverages, but I know they will come in handy when the weather decides to randomly dip down about 20 degrees!

I’ve seen the Godiva® dessert bars and chocolates around a few stores or checkout lanes for a while but I’ve only bought one flavor as a special treat. The Godiva® gift basket contains one Godiva® Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar that perfectly marries dark chocolate with sweet raspberry filling. I’ve read recently that dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you, so I’ll just count this as a healthy part of the gift basket (it has fruit; that counts right?).

There really is no health-conscious excuse for the Godiva® Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Chocolate. It’s just amazing and tastes like they were able to fit a strawberry cheesecake inside a tiny chocolate casing. Maybe that could be my argument, this beautiful chocolate bar makes up for me not eating an entire strawberry cheesecake slice with chocolate drizzled over it. Sounds like a good excuse to me!

The last item in this bountiful chocolate gift basket is the small box of Godiva® Dark Chocolate Covered Raisins. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate covered raisins, but even I can’t resist eating a few because the chocolate enrobed over it is just too good to say no to.

The Spring Delight Godiva® Chocolate Gift Basket is basically the best chocolate gift to give for any and all chocolate lovers. There is more than enough chocolate inside this small gift basket to hold you over for a few chocolate cravings. They’ll love every content of this gift basket and can even use the container when they’re finished!

For the Love of Coffee, Gift Baskets, Gift Baskets Catalog

Starbucks Break Time Gift Basket

April 30, 2012

One of 1800baksets.com’s best-selling gift baskets and it’s clear to see why. Just about everyone loves coffee, and even better when it’s from Starbucks. This Starbucks Break Time Coffee Gift Basket comes with a whole lot more than just coffee though, it’s positively packed with all sorts of sweets, treats and extra gifts that will bring a smile to any coffee lover’s face!

The first thing you notice about this bountiful coffee gift basket is the beautiful green and gold bow that sits wrapped around the contents, Starbucks® official colors. A real dark willow basket with wooden handles holds a variety of coffees, tea, cookies, mix boxes and two very large white Starbucks® logo coffee mugs. This gift basket seriously has everything you could ever want in a coffee gift basket, and is even very well color coordinated with the dark basket, white and tan coffee and treat contents and the green and gold bow completing the gift.

So let’s examine what treats await us inside this supremely awesome coffee gift. Like I said, the two Starbucks® coffee mugs are huge! The coffee mugs are much larger than a normal cup and I can even fit my hand in them. This is a definite plus for when you need a large coffee or tea. These mugs will also come in handy when you want to add some marshmallows to your hot chocolate or dip biscotti in your morning coffee without spilling all over the place. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the coffee gift basket, and they’re just mugs.

For coffee, they’ve included Starbucks® Espresso Whole Bean Coffee and Starbucks® Sumatra Ground Coffee. For the whole bean coffee, this is for those of us who are lucky enough to have our own coffee grinder and enjoy having super fresh coffee in the morning. For the rest of us, just go into your local Starbucks® and they will gladly grind the coffee for you for free! They’ve also thought about those times when it’s either too late for coffee or you’re just in need of a warm drink and included a packet of Tazo® Tea (Calm and Awake Flavors), Starbucks® Classic Fair Trade Cocoa, and Starbucks® Marshmallow Cocoa! And yes, I’ve already gotten to the hot chocolates and they are very delicious and chocolaty and they go perfect with the other goodies inside the Starbucks® gift basket! I haven’t opened the tea yet…but that’s because I already have a box of the Calm flavor that I had previous bought from Starbucks®!

Now to the edible treats! Inside this Starbucks® coffee gift basket, they’ve graciously included Starbucks Selects® Vanilla Almond Biscotti, Starbucks Selects® Key Lime Cookies, Starbucks Selects® Honey Oat Biscuits, and my favorite part of all: Starbucks Selects® Scone Mix. I am just genuinely impressed that so many delicious treats are provided in this gift basket. The honey oat cookies are so flavorful and fresh tasting, I’ve already paired them with my own tea and they go perfectly together. I didn’t even hold back when it came to the key lime cookies, they lasted all of five minutes and I wish I had them back already! There are plenty of the vanilla almond biscotti to go around, and I’ve already incorporated one into my breakfast coffee each morning that was the other part of the gift basket, I will definitely need to run out and grab more soon. But let’s move on to what really impressed me, the scone mix. I decided to try my hand at making these and they came out perfectly (I’m attributing this more to the box mix than my ability to follow directions). I spread a little bit of butter and preserves, had them with some coffee…it was a delicious breakfast!

This Starbucks® coffee gift basket is the perfect gift for your coffee obsessed friends! Use it as a birthday gift, house warming present, a nice gift to celebrate a new job, when you get to the winter months it will be perfect for the holidays, no matter the occasion, this is the best gift basket to get!

Gift Baskets, Gift Baskets Catalog

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

April 26, 2012
mothers day gifts

Welcome back readers!

I’m so glad that a lot of you are already using some earth-friendly tactics in your home and everyday life, and that a lot of you go to farmer’s markets (aren’t they the best?!). Nothing beats fresh fruits and veggies for me, and farmer’s markets usually have really great gifts there as well. Anyway, on to the winners! Congratulations to Natalie J Vandenberghe (April 20, 2012 at 10:15 am), Elaine C (April 20, 2012 at 1:41 pm), Rajat (April 21, 2012 at 7:38 pm), Noel (April 22, 2012 at 7:19 pm), and Esther (April 25, 2012 at 3:32 pm)! Please email your shipping information to me at amariscal@1800flowers.com and I can send out your avocado spa kit.

I didn’t actually plan for this, but last week’s Earth Day blog post was a great lead in for my new post today on unique and thoughtful Mother’s Day gifts! (Okay, so it only makes sense to a certain blog writer…) Mother’s Day is just around the corner, yet I’m a little ahead of the game. I’ve been thinking and planning for the last month about what to do for my own mom this Mother’s Day and I finally settled on a great plan the other week: I’ll be helping her with some gardening and landscaping in the backyard! This has entailed measuring the yard, drawing out plans and finding out where certain lines or pumps are, while trying to design a nice back yard space that doesn’t block their view of the pond behind the house(I will be lucky if 2/3 of this all gets done). My search history has been filled with Lowes, Home Depot and driving directions to local greeneries. I have never been happier to have a comfy writing job. Either way, my mom will be happy to pick out all the flowers, plants, trees, stones and outdoor furniture she wants and obviously she’ll enjoy spending the weekend with me even if we’re doing some hard work. Also after this, I will have solidified my place as the favorite child (not to mention, this gets me out of SO many other tasks). And who knows, maybe I’ll gain one muscle in my arms!

Need some other ideas for a great Mother’s Day present? Look no further:

Afternoon Spa Day
Maybe your mom isn’t into all that getting into dirt and greenery, in which case we think a nice day at the spa together for you two would be a great gift to give! You can always find a great Mani/Pedi combination deal for around $30 per person. If you’re feeling extra crafty, you should try out these natural DIY spa treatment masks featuring oatmeal, avocado, banana and orange from She Knows! Finish the day with a light lunch or dinner.

Pampering Breakfast
If your mom has always been a very busy woman, take this Mother’s Day to pamper and take care of her for a change. What better way to do this than a nice relaxing breakfast in bed! If she doesn’t already have one, pick up a nice and sturdy breakfast tray here or here from Target. (I have a bed tray of my own that was originally just for decoration, and now I use it more than I probably should!) Get to your mom’s house early that morning and prepare their favorite breakfast dish, ready to be brought up to them (or you could bring their favorite breakfast over and arrange it on plates to make it look homemade…we won’t tell!). You could also grab a new book, magazine, or their favorite paper to read in the morning. Spend the rest of the morning taking care of mom and letting her veg out for a bit, we know she’ll love it.

Shopping Trip
Never underestimate the power of a good day walking around the mall or window shopping! Plus, you should keep in mind all those times your mother took drove you to the mall or took you out shopping for things you wanted when you were younger! Mother’s Day is the day to finally treat mom to the all the things she wants.

Event Tickets
This would be the perfect time to take her out to see one of her favorite plays, musicals, or even a movie out at the theater she has been wanting to see. Check out deals on Groupon, Living Social or your local theater to see what events are going on. Make a full day of it and couple the show with either a nice lunch or dinner outing.

Of course, we always have some gorgeous gourmet gift baskets ready for Mother’s Day when you’re in a rush or don’t know what to include! My Top Three Picks of the Week:

mothers day gifts

Tell me in the comments section (1-2 paragraphs), what’s the best Mother’s Day gift you’ve given or received? FIVE lucky and random winners will receive the Gourmet Garden Tote Gift with Tools!

Have a great day!

Birthday Gift, Customer Appreciation, Feedback, Gift Baskets, Product Designers, Thank You Gifts

Earth Day

April 19, 2012

Welcome back readers,

I hope you all enjoyed the picnic post, because I seriously loved reading all your own ideas and recipes (I will definitely be remembering that frisbee/plate tip)! I feel very confident that all FIVE lucky and random winners will be putting this picnic gift basket to good use. Congratulations to Melissa (April 12, 2012 at 1:40 pm), Sharon R (April 12, 2012 at 1:59 pm), Riyan (April 12, 2012 at 8:44 pm), Shannon Schulte (April 13, 2012 at 8:44 pm), and Diana (April 15, 2012 at 9:18 am)! Email your shipping info to me at amariscal@1800flowers.com and I’ll send out your picnic gift basket!

As I’m sure you all have starred on your calendars, Earth Day is this Sunday! It’s truly important for all of us to know and be aware of how we impact our home and figure out ways to be more environmentally friendly. At 1800Baskets.com, we try to be as environmentally conscious as we can be. We love that our gift baskets can always serve another purpose when the products are gone, and most (if not all) of our gift basket content can be recycled! We even try to sell eco-friendly gifts at affordable prices.

Recently I was looking around for a small cleansing gift for a friend, so I figured I would check out our spa gift basket section. I just noticed that we started selling products and gift baskets from Crabtree & Evelyn! All natural materials, very environmentally conscious, and they come in such cute and stylish containers. Obviously, I have to have these (especially the avocado products!).

We also have a ton of Source Vérité gift baskets in our spa gift baskets collection. I wanted something a bit smaller though, and I saw these eco-friendly soaps that I thought could be a cute host/hostess gift or just something I could add to my stock pile for Mother’s Day gifts.

If you want to have fun with this weekend (or even week!) check out our friends at Cheryl’s who have an awesome idea for an Earth Day Party!

Want to get started on how you can do small or large things to help the environment this Earth Day without having to drastically change your life? Small changes help just as much as large changes, and it will be easier to stick with when it doesn’t affect you or cause extra work! We found this cool list of how to help here, so I’ll just highlight the very simple ones:

  • Change your lightbulbs
  • Turn off electronics (especially computers!) at night when you’re not using them
  • Don’t rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher
  • Recycle glass products
  • Go vegetarian at least once a week
  • Use one less paper napkin when you go out to eat
  • Wash your clothes in cold or warm water
  • Recycle newspapers
  • Plant a tree!
  • Use cruise control while driving to get up to 15% better gas mileage!
  • And many more great ideas here at 50 Ways To Help

So tell me in the comments section (1-2 paragraphs) in what ways you give back the environment or ways that you plan to start! FIVE lucky and random winners will be taking home Crabtree & Evelyn Avocado Sampler!

Happy early Earth Day!

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, Feedback

Reader’s Choice

April 5, 2012

Welcome back gift basket fans!

You all had really awesome ideas for desserts in the comments! Have any of you tried out the festive cakes yet? Don’t forget to send me pictures of your Easter decorations or displays and I’ll post them here on the blog! Anyway, on to the winners of last week’s blog: Congratulations to Rachel V (March 29, 2012 at 5:24 pm), Pamela Hansen (March 30, 2012 at 9:56 am), Heather Garity (March 31, 2012 at 12:12 pm), Jenny (April 2, 2012 at 1:41 pm), and Cathy P (April 4, 2012 at 3:09 pm)! Send your shipping information to me at amariscal@1800flowers.com and I’ll send out your truffle cake pops!

Holiday weekends are always busy ones, lots of planning and cooking and shopping and worst of all, cleaning. So today is going to be very short, so short even that we’re near the end of the post! Sure, this might feel like when you were in school and the teacher would roll in the stand with a TV strapped onto it and call that the lesson for the day while they caught up on grading, but… well yes, this is actually kind of like that. No worries though, I’ll have a nice, detailed post ready for you all next week with great giveaways as soon as you all decide for me!

Vote in the comments section: Which topic would you like me to write about for next week with a giveaway?

  1. Fitness
  2. Coffee/Tea parties
  3. Picnics

Whichever topic gets the most votes in the comments section will win! Our staff here is patiently waiting for your replies:

Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!