Finding the “perfect” gift for everyone on your list for summer birthdays, weddings, anniversaries as well as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be time-consuming and difficult. However I have a few things I would really like to suggest that are very much outside the typical realm for gifting!
Part of what makes a gift special is that you look at the lifestyle and the home/apt where the recipient lives. Do they have animals? Are they consistently planning vacations? Do they cook or collect wine? Are the movie or theater fans?
Look around their house and check out these ideas!
Cars, Cars Cars:
These days people don’t have enough time to wash their car, much less detail it, because of the crazy weather. How about giving Mom or Dad great carwash packages- either an upgraded carwash or a complete detailing or a booklet for carwashes for their use. It makes life so much simpler to know that payment for it is already done.
Other suggested items: a GPS system that works with their car and install the apps on their smartphones.
In the Kitchen:
No matter what I have thought of in the past about kitchen appliances, almost everything still applies except for a Keurig coffee brewer! Keurig is a MUST- have in most houses and it’s certainly changed how I think about coffee- as well as cut my expenses in take-out coffee from places like Starbucks et al. If anyone on your list doesn’t have one of these, take a look at the different models. They will pay off in the long-run since on other gift-giving occasions (Christmas, birthdays etc) think about adding to their K-cup collection!
If you go with Keurig– or the gift recipient has one- try giving an assortment of K-Cups. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now has K-cups in 3 different flavors: Viennese, Costa Rica and Cafe 63!! These great coffees are specially tailored to the K-cup experience and gives your brews the flavor you seek and it makes the entire experience a huge plus. Find them at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf stores or their website!
Techie Gone Wild
I love tech stuff and one of my fave online haunts is QUIRKY.com. However you don’t have to just hunt it down online, you can find some killer Quirky.com tools, toys and lots more at your local RADIOSHACK store as well as their online site.
I was recently at RadioShack for a tech product round-up and saw an amazing array of must have products for everyone on your list from now through the end of the year. For summer, keep it light-hearted with great items like Power Pivot— a daisy-chain sort of chain of of electrical plugs that you can allow you access to ALL the plugs!
Also while you wonder whether you might get the fam together to buy “someone” a new smartphone, do realize that being proactive with ancillary memory cards is smart too. Head to Radio Shack because their memory cards are about 50% off the cost than most retail stores. Bonus: if you buy a phone from RS (and they have all the big brands) you get an extra 20% off that discounted memory card. 64GB becomes distinctly affordable at that point.
Color Speaks Volumes
Floral arrangements sound boring and “ho-hum” but not if you buy via Bloomnation.com. This online floral curator shows you the best florists in your area and their most creative work at reasonable prices compared to the “big boys” on the web. The images of floral arrangements featured on this post are those for MY personal location. Your choices will vary based on your location.
From Vida Florist , the SAVANNAH arrangement is:
a fun and cheerful arrangement of hot pink and orange roses, yellow billy balls, green moss carns and a fuschia succulent stem all inside a cylinder vase lined with variegated leaves.
Primal Flowers created this richly colored arrangment:
Twilight garden arrangement with tulips, hydrangea, and calla lilies. Flower selection may vary depending on availability.
Charlene’s Events did some major magic with fuschia to purple hues for Mother’s Day or can do it based on availability at the time you order. It features a stargazer lily, roses, stocks, and other assorted fuschia to purple flowers!
From Primal Flowers is the amazing array of cool flowers in hot colors. LOVE IT!
Suddenly Teleflora and ProFlowers.com look so yesterday and Bloomnation might be your new best friend. www.bloomnation.com . Makes for a great last-minute gift as long as you tell your recipient it’s in transit!
Looking Good & Smelling Good!
This one is easy- or you might think it is but honestly, buying beauty or grooming products or tools is often iffy. Unless you come to me (as a personal shopper) or one of my friends. I collect amazing experts!
LuckyScent.com is a great place to try out new scents. Unless you know they carry your recipient’s favorite scent or type of scent, don’t just buy one and hope for the best! Give them a gift certificate and allow them to SHOP the array of great choices on Indiescents.com or LuckyScents.com. This is a gift that keeps on giving -because they can order samples to find their selection and talk to people live to give them ideas. The array of scents between the two sites is AMAZING!
Bad hair days are dreaded occurrences but here’s a product that will take care of hair that is dry, lacks shine, unmanageable or if you need to give your scalp some stimulation to encourage more hair growth.
Kellie Little’s Groove Elliptic Brush is a terrific tool. It’s unlike any other brush I have ever had – and that’s saying a lot when you consider I have been writing beauty for over 15 years! It’s done wonders for my temperamental fine but wavy and thick hair. 3 passes of the brush on my unwashed hair made it shine and get smooth.
Now if your recipient (or YOU) has hair issues or just needs some pampering (and no matter if it’s girl or guy), this is the brush for them. It’s not even close to the price of brushes used by many high end salons (Mason Pearson) and the price that’s on Kellie’s site is really affordable when compared to brushes that have been featured by a slew of celebrity hair pros on my youtube.com channel.
I adore this brush and I recommend it to everyone and anyone who is seeking a great hair product to make a HUGE difference in your hair.
Skincare is often a hard product to choose for someone else — particularly if it could be men or women, younger or older. However there are two products I would recommend:
City Face Moisturizer is a product suitable for anyone. This one will make a difference in your skin if you are faithful to it – meaning use it daily!
City Face Anti-Aging Moisturizer replenishes the skin with intense hydration that restores luminosity that diminishes over time. The exclusive formula is designed to restore skin’s youthful, firmness while reducing deep facial wrinkles. Enriched with a potent blend of active peptides Kombucha, Celadrin, Vitamin C and Antioxidants, City Face boosts collagen production and provides intense hydration throughout the day.
This product is affordable and is a no “BS” product. It delivers and it does a slow transformation on your skin!
Check it out on http://citycosmetics.com/p/skin/
Another product I like and guys I know like it equally well is Mito-Q supplements and skincare treatment.
MitoQ® Anti-aging Serum supports healthy skin cell function.
MitoQ® protects cells from the increasing oxidative stress associated with age and returns skin cells to optimal function. MitoQ® supports youthful collagen and elastin production – the key building blocks of healthy skin.
The result: MitoQ® Anti-aging Serum is an effective anti-wrinkle product that reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, skin becomes denser, firmer and age spots fade.MitoQ® Anti-aging Serum has been formulated in a hypoallergenic fragrance free base designed to fit in with your regular beauty regimen.
MitoQ® Anti-aging Serum makes a perfect night cream and combines well with sunscreens and moisturizers for all day skin repair and protection.
Don’t forget your body! Herban Body Care is a line I found at an Oscar suite that blew me away. This is serious stuff yet seems too beautiful to be true. Hand-made here in So. California, it’s a blissful dream come true of all natural ingredients. The perfect gift for everyone.
Live the Herban way! This set for the HERBAN REGIMEN includes everything you need for a full daily regimen.
Set includes: 2 plant bars, shea, lip butter, salted butter, sisal cloth, clay bar
Find this at Herban Body Care
This ends the Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Bridal & Grad Gift Guide that’s more unusual than most. (No jewelry, handbags or other frou-frou stuff. No ties or boring gifts. Just seriously great items)
Have a great weekend. Leave a comment and tell me what you did for Mother’s Day Gifting?
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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Some new ideas here..Kombucha in a skin care line..the Power pivot is more useful than ever..it does help to look around instead of sending the same old tired gifts. You keep me up on all that is new and fun.
wonderful flowers! And I’m all for that kinky little plug system
Glad you like this stuff. I was really pushing the thought of new gifts.. And Fiona there are many more cool plugs and other “must have” techie gadgets at Quirky.com. SO cool. I could spend an hour daily going through their site.