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Six Edible Gift Ideas

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Do you have people on your gift-giving list that are hard to buy for? Or people that seem to already have everything? If these scenarios sound familiar, then you may want to consider giving these people something everyone enjoys – an edible gift! Edible gifts are a pleasure path for your recipients – especially when you give a delicious gift! These are our six favorite edible gift ideas, so feel free to follow suit or get creative and come up with an edible gift of your own – bon appetit!

 

1. Seasonal Mug with Chocolate-Dipped Spoon
With the cooler weather upon us, hot chocolate is the perfect compliment and practically everyone loves this childhood favorite hot drink. As a gift you can create a fun way for them to enjoy this all-time favorite. Pick out a mug that suits the style of the gift recipient, and with a plastic bag layer hot cocoa mix with marshmallows (just enough for one drink per bag). You can also add a special chocolate-dipped spoon to the gift as well. It is as simple as getting a plastic spoon and dipping it in some melted chocolate chips. For a more specialty boutique look, consider adding colored sprinkles (Christmas, Hanukah or even Halloween colors).  Wrap the spoon in cellophane and tie with ribbon and you are done!This is not only a delicious gift, it is also a great gift for anyone watching their wallet.
2. Jar of Cookies Mix
Along the same line as the hot chocolate mix kit, you can also do a cookie mix. In a large mason jar, layer the dry ingredients needed to make your favorite cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin or even white chocolate macadamia nut. Then create a decorative card that shares your recipe and baking instructions, as well as what is needed to complete the cookie mix in the jar. These look really cute – especially when they are dolled up with ribbons and gorgeous cards. The cards can be hand-crafted or printed. This is a great gift for the sweet tooth in your life or even as a great housewarming gift.

3. Cake Pops
If do-it-yourself gifts are not your cup of tea, there are plenty of other edible gift ideas that you can buy (or make yourself if you are feeling gutsy). Cake pops are a huge trend right now – and give the right amount of sweet. Most bakeries, even Starbucks, carry these popular treats – so order up half a dozen or more and give away!

4. Cookie Bouquet
Another fun edible gift is the cookie bouquet. The neat thing about these are cookies can be so customizable – nearly any occasion can be celebrated with a cookie bouquet, especially when you have a good baker.  The bakers can make the cookies into shapes of surfers, golfers, your favorite sport and even cartoon. Then they are decorated with delicious frosting and you have a powerful and tasty treat to give away! These are great for kids, adults and even baby showers!
5. Wine of the Month
If your gift recipient does not have a sweet tooth, you will want to go another direction. One that may be a great option is signing your friend up for a wine of the month club. This will allow your friend the opportunity to experience many different types of wine. This is a pricier edible gift, but will surely be enjoyed!
6. Steak & Lobster
There are also a number companies that will deliver edible gifts to your friends’ and families. You can shower your friends and family with delicious delicacies like steak and lobster – all of which are sure to bring a smile to their faces and fill their bellies.
Apart from being a licensed veterinarian, Susan Wright is also a freelance writer. Susan enjoys sharing gift giving ideas for friends, family and pets.






What are your hobbies?

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I was in my basement the other day and I came across an old spoon rack that my parents gave me many many years ago. I’m not really sure where all of the spoon are that used to be in the spoon rack went, but they are still somewhere around. I know they are. My parents bought me that spoon rack because somehow, when I was quite young I got started on a spoon collection.

It wasn’t me that started it. I didn’t know anything about spoon collecting when I was a little kid. However, relatives that travelled would be nice and they’d bring me back spoons from Africa, Germany, Spain, England and so on and before I knew it I had quite a few spoons. My parents and I would also go on road trip vacations and we’d drive across parts of Canada and the US so of course I have spoons from all of the Provinces in Canada and most of the States in the US.

Anyway .. I know people have all kinds of hobbies. Some people start on their own and others get started with a little help from other people. My nieces husband is in the Military and just recently she took an interest in our families military history. She requested pictures or copies of my fathers and other relatives Air Force challenge coins or any other items we could come across. I don’t have any of that stuff but I know where she can get more information on my fathers and other relatives service records so I sent her that information. So that’s her hobby now .. collecting our families and her husbands service histories.

Of course I have other hobbies .. spoon collecting isn’t really one of my hobbies anymore, although if I started travelling again or went somewhere where I didn’t think I had a spoon from I might get a spoon and maybe my hobby would start again. What kind of hobbies do you have?

The 5 Most Memorable As Seen on TV Products in the Last Decade

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As seen on TV products. We’ve all seen innumerable commercials for these products. Many of us have even purchased one or two of them now and then. Some of them are actually quite useful. Some of them… not so much.

Either way, there is one thing that can’t be argued: these As Seen on TV Products definitely make quite an impression. There are certain products that we’ve all heard of, and seen the commercials for. If any of these products come up in a conversation, everyone is sure to know exactly what you’re talking about. There are several As Seen on TV Products that we all remember, and that even have affected the way we do things.

Below are 5 of the most memorable As Seen on TV Products we’ve seen:

1. Snuggie

For this one, we don’t even need to mention that the majority of households now own at least one of these blankets with arms… even if they won’t admit it openly.

To discuss how memorable this product is, let’s just take a minute to talk about their commercials. None of us can forget the lady who throws her blanket off of her in annoyance when she can’t figure out how to answer the phone with her blanket on her. And need I mention their more recent commercials, where they have everyone dancing around in their snuggies? I’ll just say this: that is definitely unforgettable.

2. ShamWow


Oh, the ShamWow. What is there even to say about this product? We all remember all of the one liners in their commercials: “You’ll be saying wow every time you use this towel.” (Oh, so that’s where they got the name from!). “Made in Germany, you know the Germans always make the best stuff.” “You following me, camera guy?” “All I can say is, Sham WOW!”

Even though we’ve all made fun of the commercials, this is another product that we’ve all secretly wanted to try out.

3. Perfect Brownie Pan

No one can forget the first time they saw a commercial for the “Perfect Brownie Pan.” We all thought, “Why didn’t I think of this?? Every brownie gets to be a corner piece? Genius!” This simple pan changed the way we think about brownies.

4. Pillow Pets

This is one of those products that became an instant sensation the minute it came on the market. First it was the beanie baby, then the giga pet, and now it’s the pillow pet. Every child HAS to have one. Every parent has had their own experience where they’ve had to search from store to store for this one item because that is the ONLY thing that their child wants for their birthday. And you have to find the exact right animal. And every store is sold out. Because, guess what? Every other child in the world has also sent their parents on a crazed hunt for this must have item.

5. Justin Bieber Toothbrush

Anyone who has a preteen definitely can’t forget this product. That is because the moment our daughter saw the commercial for a toothbrush that sings Justin Beiber songs to you, she turned into a lunatic. She can’t live her life one more moment without this toothbrush. She will be the best child you’ve ever imagined, she will walk the dog, do her homework, and happily finish all of her chores, if you just purchase her this one item. She will never ask for anything again. The Justin Bieber toothbrush: a preteen’s dream, an adult’s worse nightmare.

Nicole is an author for StarReviews.com, where they review websites, software and services. Check out Star Reviews 2012.

photo by: akeg

Care For The Environment Even When Out Shopping

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These days we are all looking for ways we can help the environment. At home we recycle our waste, we try and walk or cycle rather than use our vehicles and we try and reduce the amount of electricity we use by ensuring things are turned off when not in use.

More homes are being built these days with solar energy and wind power and hybrid and electric vehicles are more common on our roads than ever before. For many of us these new environmentally friendly inovations are not achieveable due to cost for example and so we need to find different ways to help the environment.

Recycling

The one big thing I have changed in our home is our recycling habits. Our waste is removed weekly and recycling every second week, I am sure it’s much the same everywhere in the UK. The scary thing is that many people don’t bother to recycle, sending their everyday trash to the overflowing landfills. If everyone was to make the change and start recycling we could dramatically reduce our carbon footprint.

Now I know I’m a tiny fish in a huge ocean when I recycle and the amount of recycling I do on a weekly basis probably isn’t going to make a different, but I only need a few more people like me and together we will make a difference.

All my recyclable materials get collected every second week and I try and save as much of the natural items such as my veg peelings for my compost heap at the edge of my garden, this means I am sending a limited amount to the landfills. Our landfills are overflowing with waste that could have been recycled, we are running out of space and unfortunately shooting our waste into outer space is not an option. What comes up must come down.

Shopping Bags

Every time I head to the shop I notice people grabbing at the plastic bags, filling them up and heading home. Chances are those bags are landing up on the landfills. Buying canvas bags are a great way to reduce the number of plastic bags you use and they are stronger and more stylish at the same time.

Canvas bags are so durable and can easily help you transport your groceries from the store to your home without damaging the environment. I am surprised that we don’t charge for bags here in the UK, you have a small handful of shops that do charge, but if everyone were to charge, more people would buy canvas bags and make a positive impact on our environment.

Canvas bags are available in a range of colours and designs and are ideal when going shopping. Make a difference to our environment in a positive way and don’t grab that plastic bag when out shopping.

My laptop is acting up – Again!

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I’ve had my laptop for about a year and a half but it’s been acting up almost the whole time I’ve owned it. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. I’ve never had a computer act up as much as this laptop. I mean, I’ve build computers pretty much from scratch and haven’t had this much trouble.

I had to wipe my computer twice so far since I bought it and put all the programs back on it again. Now in the past week it started acting up again. My computer just freezes and nothing I do will turn it off except for holding the power button down until it shuts off. I hate turning it off that way. Luckily it’s not doing that all the time, but every few days it does it once or twice in a day.

I don’t know if it was a windows update that caused it to start acting that way or another program update. I certainly haven’t installed any new software. Of course, It figures that my computer starts acting up just when I started taking some college courses online. I really need my computer to be working properly. Maybe I’ll try a clean up computer program … although as I said my computer should be fairly clean since I’ve had to wipe it and reinstall twice in the last year.

Anyone else have a troublesome laptop? Mine’s an Assus.

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