A College Gift Basket: Follow One Parent's Experience

I’ve always thought that giving someone a gift or gift basket was a pretty good way to celebrate a special occasion. And one of those is surely sending a daughter or son off to college. This is a family milestone that has everyone emotionally involved. No amount of preparation is complete when the time comes to leave the nest but for mom and dad it sure is the beginning of a brand new chapter.

And at that time of the year, cars full of teens and all their personal belongings are pulling up to college campuses to transfer everything to a space that will be their new home. It makes for a long day but it all gets done somehow. It makes for a long day but it all gets done somehow. And what follows, soon after, is a stream of care packages filled with urgently needed items.

Fixing up a new room to make it comfortable and with a new look will be an early project. Once all the roommates get acquainted they can pool their ideas and resources and get down to mapping out how to decorate their new space. Moms are usually called in at this point to help supply some of the things needed.

In addition to the “much needed” stuff that needs to be sent, it’s a good opportunity for mom to think about sending a welcome present like a college gift basket.. I was glad I did, it was a big icebreaker for a group of young people who might be about to begin lifelong friendships.

If you have a friend that can recommend a basket maker, you can go with that. But it’s just as easy to search the internet for a college gift basket to fit your needs and price range. Keep an eye out for what is popular, which could be a simple movie night theme or a wholesome basket of fruits and cheeses. Searching mail order sites will also give you ideas for care packages of your own.

A look around the internet and you will soon be collecting your own ideas for popular themes with the dorm set. One of these might be a 1-cup coffee maker for the coffee lovers gift basket. Keep a drawer full of novelties and craft tools and it will be easy to add a touch of fun. I always have something like a handmade card, finger puppets or moon pies in my college baskets. It might inspire you to throw in a wind up toy, a cute finger puppet monkey or an etch-a-sketch as a way to put a light spin on things.

You probably have your own memories of homesickness and care packages during those college days. I knew kids who got them as regular as clockwork, the same day every week. For me, those college gift baskets help when money was tight and made me laugh with some of the funny things mom would tuck away in them. For me that box was home.

Gift Baskets for College - How-to Tips You Can Use

If you have kid away at college and you want to punctuate all those phone calls with something special, I have a suggestion from my friend Dena, I would like to pass on: Care packages from home make a big hit. Whether it's a delivered college gift basket or a box from home, with wrapping tape all over doesn't matter - it can be anything and the gesture will be just as warm. The idea of getting some homemade cookies or other snacks along with the toothpaste, aspirin, bath mat and other practical things is always something that college kids love.

Something else that might be appreciated: One-cup coffee makers are a big hit with those who need a jolt in the morning as well as anyone trying to study late into the night. So consider a mini-coffee maker as one of your gift basket items - it’s a good way to reach out with a coffee lovers gift basket surprise.

We know how popular and important it is to keep the brain focused for those long study sessions so maybe you can stock the shelf with a few other items like cocoa, tea and power bars to keep the brain working past midnight.

Of course something from the cookie jar, like homemade chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal or even those famous Oreos would surely be appreciated. Cookies survive the mail pretty well if they are cushioned with plastic peanuts or air bags.

Add a gift card to that basket - cards are easy to make once you realize all it takes is a couple old magazines, scissors and a glue stick. Of course a 4X5 envelope (even used will do, just doctor it up) and a couple of sheets of colored paper. Rubber stamps are always helpful but potatoes and erasures will work as a quick way to make your own.

Where do ideas come from? You can get off to a good start by going for the wacky look. Paste cutout faces or just lips on a stick figures. Or pictures of something ordinary, like a spoon or sugar packet and draw arms and legs, then add word balloons. The sillier the better.

It’s all good fun and hard to beat when there is someone wishing they could spend some time with family back home. Put your "what would my teen like" thinking cap on and see what you come up with. If you are short on time, try an online service that specializes in college gift baskets, it's an easy way to send your message.

Gift Basket Ideas for College Thoughts

Sending a kid off to college is an emotional milestone and a college gift basket is a good way to make this new experience go a little smoother. By adding care packages to all those calls and letters you will be sending, you can do you part to help him or her to settle into their new campus life.

There are many online companies ready with baskets for this situation. Do a little search and you will soon find a suitable basket to perk up someone's day. May of these college gift baskets are geared to the trends of this age group, so as you are shopping, take note of items that might be useful when you are looking for ways to add variety to the packages you will be sending on to college.

Themes are often a fun way put together a gift basket. For instance, a single cup coffee maker might fit nicely with biscotti or quick fix muffins, if the rules allow hot plate or kitchens are available. Coffee makers are easy to clean and don't take up much space.

We know how crazy study schedules can be, so this is where having snacks on hand can help keep students to the books rather than slipping out. Cocoa is another favorite of the dorm crowd and will fit nicely in a college gift basket, as well as an assortment of teas. Tea has a long history as a health drink, so encourage your student to drink more, it’s an easy way to help ward off sickness.

And of course a package from home should include something from the cookie jar - everyone has a favorite. Oatmeal and peanut butter are two that rate up there with the traditional chocolate chip. You can start you own test kitchen by trying out new recipes on a sure to appreciate your work audience.

Whether it is an online college gift basket or package from home the thought counts. Even the smallest item, like a greeting card or clippings from the local paper help span the distance. Try your hand at a do-it-yourself card. All it takes is a glue stick and scissors. Let your creative side loose, try your hand at newspaper comics with new word balloons for giggles. No matter how wacky or primitive it may seem to you, it will be a big hit to someone far away at college.

Many moms have found that keeping a notebook handy for jotting down gifting ideas works well. It’s all good fun and every one of these cards, parcels and gift baskets that arrive on a college doorstep will be fondly remembered.

More thoughts about college gift baskets:
College Gift Baskets resource 1
College Gift Baskets resource 2

Easter eggs - A time to get creative

Easter snuck up on us, so before it gets any later I want to show you some Easter egg decorating ideas we came up with last year that resulted in a fantastic pre-teen party and our discovery that you can even use Easter eggs to decorate gift wrapping.

Decorating Easter eggs is an annual event at our house but we've had to make some changes as our children get older. Last year we turned it into a pre-teen Easter Egg Decorating Party and it was such a success we’re doing it again this year. The idea was to have a fun time decorating with craft products. If you have the materials, you can do the same.

The results were much “splashier” than previous years since we decided to forego the usual dip-it-in-the-food-coloring-dye. After seeing the colorful results, we decided the eggs might make fun package decorations as well. Since we were using plastic eggs, it seems that these could be used with bows or even as replacements for bows on a wrapped gift.

We all had so much fun that we want to share these ideas with you and we'll start with how it all came about, from the original teen "can we have a party?" pleading down to the final decorating of packages with our finished eggs. We hope you'll try it, too, because the best part is that you'll have a great time with your children and their friends. I’ve included some pictures of a few of their finished eggs just for some ideas. Just remember that saying about beauty being in the eye of the beholder!

Our daughters (ages 10 and 13) wanted to have an Easter egg dying party similar to the cookie decorating party we have for them and their friends at Christmas. After negotiating attendee numbers, we decided to go for it and it was a huge success! Using plastic eggs, the girls had a great time gluing, glittering and decorating to create fabulous Easter eggs.

Even though you might have visions of gorgeous Martha Stewart-type decorated eggs, the reality is that these girls are into Hannah Montana style decorated Easter eggs. Most pre-teen girls are into the whole glitter, feather boas, purple, pink and black color scheme. You just gotta go with the flow, Mom!

It was a super-easy party to arrange and this was our supply list, some of which we already had on hand or other moms donated from previous craft projects:
· bags of colored plastic eggs – 18 to a bag, 99 cents each at Michaels Crafts and you only need about 6 eggs per girl
· a couple of bags of eggs in various shades of tan and cream, also from Michaels – these are optional as the colored plastic or metallic painted eggs were more popular
· 2 cans of Krylon metallic paint: shiny silver and gold
· embellishments – stuff to glue on the eggs including feathery ribbon (like miniature feather boas), colored tissue paper, small fabric flowers, tiny mirror pieces, rhinestones and sequins, glitter, metallic braids and ribbons, fancy yarns, beads, etc.
· 1 bottle of fast drying craft glue, several bottles of silver and gold glitter glue, scissors and one adult had a glue gun for special applications.
· jar lids or small plastic cups to hold glue
· lots of cheap watercolor brushes to apply glue – they come about 12 to a package and you need a minimum of 3 per girl but have some extras on hand

We used the plastic colored eggs because dying real eggs just doesn’t take very long and only requires the attention span of an average pre-schooler. Besides, we always seem to run out of appetite before we run out of hard boiled eggs at Easter time. As for blowing out raw eggs and using those – don’t even go there! We didn't want to make chocolate eggs, either, for various reasons.

It took a little prep work but with the daughters helping, it went quickly. We wanted to paint some of the eggs silver or gold and found it was much easier to do it when the eggs were open. The plastic eggs have a little dab of extra plastic acting as a hinge to keep the halves together.

We carefully opened the eggs so as not to break the hinge, placed the open edges flat on newspaper, sprayed just the outsides and then carefully slid them to clean newspaper so they wouldn’t stick while drying. The gold paint actually dried almost instantly; the silver usually took two applications.

Whole eggs have to sprayed in stages so it’s easier – and less time consuming - to spray them when opened. We left the pink, purple and blue eggs unpainted. We could’ve done lots more with paint but the idea was to give the girls an opportunity to express their creativity with the decorating.

On party day we covered the table with lots of newspaper and topped that with a sheet of brown paper. We set out bowls and baskets with all the embellishments plus small plastic cups – similar to the ones for catsup at McDonalds – for craft glue, along with watercolor brushes and a few pair of scissors. You can use jar lids for the glue if you don’t have any small cups.

Each girl only needs a tiny bit of glue at a time; just replenish as needed. Glitter glue was a real hit because it added glitz to the egg at the same time acting as glue for beads, etc. We also had a few pair of tweezers handy to help with picking up and placing beads but they’re optional.

Helpful hint: I put sand in large plastic cups – one cup for each girl – and they used these to stick their brushes in, handle first, while not in use. This way their gluey brushes didn’t stick to the paper or get glue on anything else, including their sleeves.

When they were little, the girls decorated eggs with cotton balls and construction paper ears to look like bunnies. Now that they’re older, we went with dazzle and glitz and to help get them started, we showed them pictures of jeweled eggs. While these were probably a little too sedate for them, they loved the idea of decorating eggs like the famous Faberge eggs.



Faberge Eggs Imperial Russian Fantasies Poster Book


We provided bottles of water and cupcakes for snacking. The whole party was inexpensive, took up most of the afternoon and the clean up was negligible. The girls had so much fun making their beautiful creations to take home and those eggs (and remembering the fun they had making them) will last for years. The other moms thought it was a great party, too, particularly since we all know there won’t be many more opportunities like these as our children get older and have more activities on their calendars.

At the end of the day - and after the girls left - we were about out of steam but still had lots of creative ideas running around in our brains. So, we decided to take our ideas one step further by adding the decorated eggs to Easter gift wrapping. It's always exciting to explore alternatives to traditional gift wrapping, so this was an unexpected post-party bonus.
If you're interested in having an Easter egg decorating party like this for your daughter/friends and want a little more info or suggestions, just e-mail me at MissDiezella@yahoo.com. and I’ll answer any questions from our personal experience, which is somewhat limited but maybe helpful.

Illustrating Easter with a look at Chinese cut paper

Imagine walking through a doorway to the sight of an elaborate red paper cutout. In traditional Chinese culture it was common to place these papers over doorways and in windows where the contrast of sunlight would have a dramatic effect. These were handmade decorations that performed as beautification for the modest home. They also served as an aid to home schooling; used as a teaching aid for the young.

Mothers would instill important messages of character and morality with these cut papers. The idea is strong in symbolism; embedded in these artistic embellishments are familiar images to most Chinese. In a culture that mixes folklore and symbolism; paper cut into fanciful designs became the perfect medium to tell a story. Children grew up recognizing that flowers, fruit and animals had symbolic meaning in addition to their common status.

In addition to that there were mythical characters and beasts woven into folk tales that had a moral to be learned. In spite of Chairman Mau’s cultural revolution this culture survives and now the art of paper cutting, both in the old tradition and innovative new ways, lives on.

The Chinese have many visual symbols for birth, believing that the calendar has a strong influence on a person’s future.

As Easter approaches why not take a try at using this age-old paper-cutting technique for crafting a hand made card or gift-wrap. I think that it would be nice to blend the Chinese style of paper cutting with images that are familiar to Western culture. We too rely on symbols for our holiday traditions, and these can be easily applied to Easter decorations.

Western/Easter symbols
Easter - from Eastre, the Saxon Goddess of Spring
White lily - Purity, Virgin Mary
Lamb - symbol of sacrifice, symbol of Jewish Passover (escape from Egypt)
Candles - Jesus
Rabbits and eggs - pagan symbols of birth
Carnivals - time of gaiety before the fast of Lent
Colors - white, purple, green, red

You can find out more about this:
http://www.annieshomepage.com/symbols.html

Working with cut paper also has a place in Western culture, with, of course, a much shorter history. Before there was photography there was the popular practice of cutting paper silhouettes of loved ones to be framed or carried in a locket with a clip of hair.

Of course not all these very popular oval frames contained cut paper likenesses but it was one of the techniques employed by the talented to record the memory of someone dear. As art became freer and more diverse artists began to explore new ways of expression, like the technique of collage, where layers of paper and ephemera were add to the composition to make a modern look.

The idea of making a collage is a good fit in today’s culture. It’s relatively fast, it’s expression, it’s the opportunity to say something in your own unique way. So I hope you will use my invitation to explore this creative avenue the next time you feel the need to express yourself, or have want to make a creative gift-wrap or personalized gift card for someone special. There are many possibilities for you discover that go beyond the usual ribbon and bow.

Greeting card software

If you are ready for something with a lot more punch, here is a program that is like tooth paste, you will want to use it every day. It’s not quite as easy as Jackson Pollock but you can pick up the basics pretty quick and do a card like this in about 15 minutes.

It’s Elements by Photoshop. I bought my copy at Target for $50, you may not find a bargain like that but even at the regular price it’s a great deal.

This card didn’t take much longer to do, but it was one of those where I just started pushing buttons and there it was. The nice thing about Elements is that everything can be on separate layers. Any layer can be changed or moved to another project.



Exercise a different part of your brain today, try art.

Greeting cards as a fun family project

How would you like to have a one-of-a-kind card to go with that gift you are wrapping? In addition to updating our wrap ideas we are also adding a new feature, it’s greeting cards for those who are looking for something different. These fresh ideas are free to use and easy to print out. Using photo paper or heavy weight brochure paper will give excellent results.

I hope too that these will give you some ideas for making your own greeting cards, and perhaps used as an opportunity to reconnect with someone. Making a handmade card and sending it out of the blue is a nice way to let someone know they are still in your thoughts.

Then there is the rare possibility that someone will return the gesture with a card of his or her own. Most unlikely, I suspect, as hurried as most people are. But just the same it‘s the thought that counts.

Use card making as a family project. Plan it as an activity that you can share with your children. It’s so much easier to do if you already have box of tools and materials ready to pull out.

The art of collage is still a popular craft activity with the younger set and perfect for greeting cards. The wonder of collage is that it takes little more than the desire to express a feeling or idea - perfect for young minds (and older.) So if you can pull them away from the TV for an hour why not challenge them to make a birthday card or a simple “I love you” for someone close.

This is an easy to do card that can be done with a pc and printer. Just go to jacksonpollock.com and sketch out your masterpiece. Kids love this simple to use painter program. Print it and add your message with cut out letters.




Everyone I’ve shown this site to has gotten a big kick out of it.