Gift Baskets, Party!, Summer Time Gift, Uncategorized

Not the average bear-eakfast picnic basket

July 28, 2011

Whoops! Looks like I was still a little loopy yesterday and forgot to pick a second winner for our fruit gift baskets. Some of you must be picking up a lot of lucky pennies to get all these chances to win. Congratulations to Swisspotluck (posted at July 19, 2011 at 11:57 pm)! Please send your real name and address to amariscal@1800flowers.com and I can send you a fruit gift basket. Now on with the show!

Picnics! Everyone loves picnics; Adults, kids, bears, everyone! July and August fall into the wonderful time known as picnic season, when it’s guaranteed to be nice, sunny, and cheerful out (unless of course you live in the Midwest where it’s apparently ‘anything goes’). Picnics are a great way to find another use for your gift baskets, and spend some quality time in the great outdoors.

"We love picnics!"- Those guys.

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Uncategorized

Sorry! The Cyber-dog ate my blog work!

July 27, 2011

Welcome back, Baskets Readers!

News about the other week and a new winner to announce! Sorry for the lack of posting last week. Sometimes people go on “vacations” that entail helping out their parents for a week to retain their spot as the favorite child, as well as realizing while they’re gone that their Macbook isn’t compatible with any of the work servers! Yippee!

Starbucks® Blends Gourmet Coffee Gift Basket $39.99, item code: 94331

To our winners from the last post, turns out we sold out of the popular Tazo Tea Gift Set during the contest. I never want to leave you guys in the dust, so to make it up to you I will be sending you a much better deal in the form of the Starbucks® Blends Gourmet Coffee Gift Basket ($39.99). Don’t fret, it contains your favorite teas from the last gift, but it also adds a bonus of having a larger, fashionably sturdy, green gift basket, selections of delicious Tazo tea and several samples of Starbucks coffee! Your gift baskets have already been shipped out and should arrive on the 28th. Sorry for all the delays, I really do hope you enjoy your new baskets!

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Gift Baskets, Gift Baskets Catalog, Product Designers, Uncategorized

Exclusive 1800Baskets.com Sneak Peeks!

July 14, 2011

Welcome back Baskets Readers,

Hooray! I think everyone deserves a good pat on the back, high five, or congratulations-method of choice. Our “50 Likes Challenge” on Facebook was a HUGE success; also it appears that everyone here really did make a lot of new friends, which is always something to celebrate. As promised, because you were all so great at getting us to our goal, I have 4 random winners to announce. Congratulations to Patty Mitchell (posted at July 11, 2011 at 4:21 pm), Arturo Cabrera (posted at July 7, 2011 at 5:29 pm), Kathy S (posted at July 14, 2011 at 2:09 pm), and Ashley (posted at July 8, 2011 at 8:45 pm)! You will each be receiving our Tazo® Take A Break Tea & Teapot Gift Set that was featured in last weeks’ blog post. Please send your full name, address and any questions to amariscal@1800flowers.com and we can get your prize sent to you. As always, thank you so much to all of our readers. We really do appreciate and take into consideration all of your input.

Does everyone have access to a non-descript trench coat, black sunglasses and maybe a fedora? Being loyal Baskets readers, I would like to let you in on a couple of exclusive sneak peeks to some incredible treats we have coming your way. First things first: be on the lookout Tuesday July 19, to enter for a spectacular gourmet give-away on our Facebook page. I can’t say too much about it (top-secret, official business stuff) but the prize is valued at over $500! Share the secret and tell a friend to check out our page as well (don’t worry; we’ll still recognize that you heard it first).

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Feedback, For the Love of Coffee, Gift Baskets, Gift Baskets Catalog, Product Designers, Summer Time Gift, Uncategorized

10 Ways to Spruce Up Your Space

July 7, 2011

Hello again, Baskets Readers!

WOW! We had a HUGE influx of commenters to the blog today. Thank you to everyone who has read and participated, I hope you all stick around. Before we get into this weeks post, we have 2 winners to announce from last weeks’ contest. Congratulations to our two random winners, JD Burnsed (posted July 7, 2011 at 11:04 am) and Patricia Sauber (posted July 2, 2011 at 11:55 pm)! You will both receive the Regal Oak Grandeur Gift Basket. Please send your full name and address to amariscal@1800flowers.com and we can help you claim your prize. To our other readers, stick around at the end for another possible contest!

Friendly Baskets blogger at home w/part of the Starbucks® Break Time gift basket!

Mondays! Ack! Okay, so it’s not actually Monday, but it feels like it right? The week after any holiday weekend always feels like a series of never-ending Mondays. Extended holiday weekends are all fun, beach trips, excessive eating and games, until you wake up to find an army of ants making claims of Manifest Destiny over your kitchen. Which, coincidentally is also the time you curse your apartment for its lack of a dishwasher appliance (yeah, that one is probably just me). Maybe you had a fun party weekend in or out of the house, or maybe you’re Joey Chestnut and on your fifth consecutive hot dog eating championship win (woof!). Either way, I think we can all agree that we need a break from our vacations (also we need to clean and rightfully take back our kitchens).

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Uncategorized

Blogger Blurb

July 7, 2011

Contest news!

I just wanted to clear a few things up regarding the multiple contests and information we have circulating right now.

Not too sure what Facebooks’ deal was last night, but I know that when I was trying to check on the status contest, the 1800Baskets fan page was unavailable for at least 3 hours. We all know that the internet, although a very fun and informative place, can also be frustrating and give us (me) large headaches when it decides it doesn’t want to cooperate.

I don’t want anyone to miss out on a possible give-away, so we are extending our “50 Likes Challenge” until NOON tomorrow (Friday July 7, 2011). All you have to do is “Like” our status and invite some friends to “Like” our Facebook page. I will be including the give-away instructions on our normal blog post later in the day, so please be sure to check that out!

Also on our regularly scheduled blog posting later today, I will be announcing our 2 random winners from last weeks’ “Hostess with the Mostest” blog! You will have until 3pm TODAY to leave us a summer story in the comments section, and be entered to win!

If you have any questions at all, please send them to amariscal@1800flowers.com and I would be happy to help!

See you soon!

Uncategorized

Contest Revival!

July 5, 2011
Stonewall Kitchen® Breakfast Gift Basket

Quick update, 1800Basket Readers!

I’ll keep this short, but I have exciting news! We have selected a NEW winner for our give-away from the “Baskets With Basia” posting a couple of weeks ago. Our randomly selected winner from that contest respectfully let us know that they were an employee and as such, we needed to find a new gourmet gift basket winner. We always want our contests to be fair and keep our credibility with our readers.

Stonewall Kitchen® Breakfast Gift Basket

Stonewall Kitchen® Breakfast Gift Basket

So…Drum roll please!

Congratulations to our new random winner, Lori (posted June 23, 2011 at 3:47 pm)! (I hope you don’t work for us). As a reminder, you can select any gift basket from this selection and then send over your gift basket choice, full name, and address to amariscal@1800flowers.com where we can help you claim your prize right away!

Thank you to everyone for reading and participating; don’t forget to check in Thursday for another new blog posting.

Gift Baskets, Holiday Gift Baskets, Party!, Summer Time Gift, Uncategorized

Be the “Hostess with the Mostest” at your own Fourth of July celebration!

June 30, 2011
Summer Shrimp Salad Recipe

Hello readers!

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s contest, we always love bringing you the best information and hearing what you have to say. As far as this last contest goes, there can only be one winner. Congratulations to our random winner, Bob (posted June 23, 2011 at 4:25 pm)! Please send your full name, address and gift basket selection (from the “gift baskets” gift type page) to amariscal@1800flowers.com and we can help you claim your prize. To our other readers, stick around at the end for another contest!

My grandma

my grandma

The excitement is far from over though, so don’t navigate away from me! (See? I can do internet humor). Are you all still with me? (Phew). This week we’ll be changing things up and featuring some hot summer food trends and ways to solidify your reign as “hostess with the mostest” (Martha won’t even know what’s coming). Fourth of July and summer in general, usually mean a lot of outdoor parties, grilling, and trying to come up with foods that won’t melt or make you melt in the sun. Usually I like to gather with friends or stop by my grandparents for a family party especially for my grandma’s Spanish rice and steak (we got half the holiday right). My grandma (pictured) is the one who typically does all the cooking, even the grilling (if she delivered, I would be set). At one particularly infamous family BBQs she was making her usual home-made salsa and chips and additional sauces for the meat, in which she cooks and adds a hot pepper or two, some cilantro, and usually chills the salsa (it normally helps cool you off). I guess she had too many dishes going at one time and didn’t realize how many peppers she added because what was normally a tasty and refreshing meal had nearly everyone red and drowning in their own sweat (even with the air conditioning). Eventually it became a challenge to see who would “sweat” it out the longest to please her. Needless to say, there is more taste testing during the cooking process now.

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Uncategorized

Baskets with Basia and a Gourmet Give-Away

June 23, 2011

Welcome back 1800Baskets.com readers,

The one day you have to let your dads have their way (and sadly the remote and choice of music selection) is finally over! (Well, officially that is). I hope you all had a great holiday though, and are ready to get back into the swing of things with our task at hand. This week we are jumping head first into learning all about gift baskets! (If you have any noise makers or those confetti poppers, now would be the appropriate time to use those).We’re going to delve into a behind-the-scenes look in an interview with our very own in-house designer, Basia. (Pronounced: Bah-see-ah). Don’t forget to stick around at the end for a gourmet gift basket give-away!

Taste of Tradition Gift Basket

Taste of Tradition Gift Basket

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably thinking, “don’t you just put some food in a basket and slap a bow on it?” Well dear readers, we would all be extremely wrong about that (and a little hasty I might add) also, that is mostly just describing an unnecessarily decorated picnic. Gift baskets are definitely more complicated than that. There is a distinct art and procedure to them that I never even knew existed. Go ahead and try to make your own gourmet gift basket, I’ll wait…Done yet? Probably having troubles with a floppy bow, I bet. It’s always the bow. Well, you made a good effort at least. (Please, come back!)

There really is so much more to our gift baskets than you would expect. Every little detail has an entire team dedicated to making it perfect for our customers, from the kind of basket or container we use, choosing which products go best together, right down to that pesky bow. And we have the perfect person at the head of our team, who is always one step ahead of the crowd. Sitting with Basia is a treat, especially when you see how every part of her exudes style. With thick, trendy hair and a quick smile, Basia is truly one of a kind when it comes to design. A former architect in Poland, she came to us here at 1800Baskets.com about 10 years ago to put her talent to much-appreciated use. Her architectural training is evident in her masterfully crafted gift baskets that are both visually and structurally balanced, as well as beautiful. After sitting with Basia for a good, long talk about just how our creative designers work, I’m happy to share with all of you this crash course in Gourmet Gift Basket Designing 101!

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Father's Day, Gift Baskets

When you’re too old to pass off a hand drawn card as a Father’s Day gift, with Alex

June 16, 2011
Alex the Intern

Hello, 1800Baskets blog readers!

I hope none of you have shied away during our little hiatus (not my fault, I promise, I’m new!), because we definitely have a lot of great, interesting topics and give-a-ways to get to this summer. Before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming, I would like to introduce myself as someone other than an anonymous face who happens to blog about gift baskets. My name is Alex and I am a recent college grad interning at 1800Baskets.com and will be your new Summer Guest blogger.

Alex the Intern

Alex the Intern

To tell you the truth, I don’t really know too much about gift baskets, so this will be a huge learning process for me. Join me on this exciting adventure and read about my new discoveries, curiosities and even (willingly) help me out with what you want to know about as well. Now if I don’t know about gift baskets, then why work for 1800Baskets you ask? Well dear readers, let me explain. After a few job fairs where no one wanted to look at me unless I had a business degree, I found a booth that lured me in because I was convinced I would get to eat the contents of the gift basket if I talked to them, and if there is one fool-proof way to attract a college student, it’s offering free stuff. After talking to the nicest human resource representative, she told me that they keep getting people with business resumes but were actually looking for someone with a creative writing background (in your face other job fairs!). I was on board to learn about anything they asked of me, starting with that tasty looking gift basket at the booth, which I eventually won in a raffle later that day (Yeah me!).

After several weeks of emails, a couple of interviews, getting lost driving to the building, and a lot of research, I finally get to start my blog assignment of taking a close look at Father’s Day gift baskets. Being a procrastinating shopper myself, I’m always looking for a gift with good value and one that will convince my dad that my gift was planned and not a last minute grab (something tells me he’s not a clearance bin Hawaiian shirt kind of guy).

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New Baby Gift Baskets

New Baby Gift Basket Blog Party! 3 Prizes!

May 4, 2011
Mrs. Beasley’s Welcome Baby Boy Gift Basket

Mrs. Beasley’s Welcome Baby Boy Gift Basket

Welcome to the 1800Baskets.com New Baby Gift Basket Blog Party!

So as many of you know, we have a New Baby Gift Basket line that is quite popular and is a lot of fun! People just love that caterpillar in particular 🙂  So Today we wanted to chat about a new entry in our New Baby Gift Basket line, the Mrs. Beasley’s Welcome Baby Boy/Girl Gift Basket. The boy version is pictured to your left.

So in about a paragraph or two, let us know what you think about this new baby gift basket! As we mention in the description, we really think this is a great way to congratulate a new Mom and Dad. We wish we could spend all day making New Baby Gift Baskets, they are so much fun to work on. 🙂

We will pick 3 random winners.

Surprise “1st Post” Winner) Natalie J Vandenberghe (Post on May 5, 2011 at 12:45 pm)

Winner #1) Pamela Hansen (Post on May 10, 2011 at 4:38 pm)

Winner #2) Amanda Moline (Post on May 10, 2011 at 9:28 pm)

Winner #3) Melissa (Post on May 9, 2011 at 10:38 am)

Go Baskets! Go Sweets! Go Babies!