Mother’s Day is three days away, and if you still need a gift, don’t stress out just yet! If your mom is always there with cocoa and sympathy when you need it, your rock, and your biggest supporter – and chances are, she is all of the above – you probably want to give her a gift that is as special as she is.  Finding a last-minute gift for your mom doesn’t have to mean settling for buying the same flower arrangement you get her every year. You can still get something creative and unique without spending days working on a DIY project. Here are a couple of gift options your mom will be sure to love:

For a sentimental gift: a flip photo album

If your mother is the sentimental type and loves to reminisce about the good old days, a flip photo album would make the perfect gift for her. You can have recent photos printed quickly and inexpensively, or you can use photos you already have tucked away in your own albums. Try filling the album with photos of yourself and your siblings in chronological order, with pictures from your early years first and your most recent photos last. Your mom will love flipping through the photos and seeing how much her children have grown through the years.

For a personal gift: a personalized glass keepsake block

A personal gift is always great, and if it can serve as home decor, even better! If you’re looking for a gift that fits this description, try getting your mom a personalized glass keepsake block that you can engrave with a short message. Keepsake blocks are elegant in their simplicity, and they are impossible to clash with other home decor. Instead of giving your mom a single photo, you can also place one photo of yourself and each of your siblings in several mini keepsake blocks and have these engraved with your names.

Either of these options will make a fantastic gift that your mom will treasure. Best of all, unlike flowers, they can be enjoyed for years to come!

When celebrating Easter this year, make it extra special for you and your family by adding the extra touches. Here we give you some great tablescape elements to choose from.

Choosing the right tablecloth

Adding some decorative place mats is a nice way to enhance the look of your table, but using Easter tablecloths 144 inches long will beautifully frame your table and make it a focal point of the room. Having a tablecloth draping marvelously over the sides of your table will give it an ornate look that will define the tone of the occasion. 144 inch table cloths come in many styles and colors. Some feature intricate flower embroidery and lacing, while others come in solid colors and are 100% cotton.

Easter Baskets

Easter baskets are great for holding pastries, flowers and even stuffed animals (shown above). Investing in basket liners will help you prepare your basket neatly and make for an easy clean up. Like tablecloths, they come in many colors and designs, making it easy for you to match it to the color scheme of your tablescape. You can also get kids Easter baskets with liners to prepare favors for the kids (right), filled with chocolate bunnies, crayons, mini coloring books, etc. They can take it home to enjoy and remember the occasion.

Easter Cake

Another festive (and delicious) addition to the table would be Easter cake. This is a definite crowd pleaser that lets you have the fun of being creative! If you’re wondering how to make every day cake into an Easter-themed cake, here are some ideas:

• Individual, mini cakes shaped likes eggs. You can bakes these with the help of Easter egg mini cake pans like the one to the right, and decorate with frosting according to your color choice
• Easter cake pops. You can buy these ready-made in the shape of peeps, bunnies, and Easter eggs.
• Classic Cake. Bake a normal sheet cake but decorate it with pastel colored frosting with any symbolic Easter decoration of your choice.

Share your tabslescape favorites below in the comments section!

There certainly are ways to enjoy Easter with your family while making sure that your baby is having a good time and creating some wonderful memories that you will all be able to look back on down the road.  So put your baby boy in his infant boy Easter romper and get the party started.

Invite the Family Over

Visiting relatives can be tiring when you have a baby.  Instead, invite everyone over to your house for lunch or dinner, along with an egg hunt and other activities for the older kids (which, if your family is anything like mine, means the adults).

Easter Gifts

There are plenty of great gifts you can buy your baby this Easter:

• Easter basket filled with -
  
  • Easter clothes
  • Baby toys
  • A stuffed bunny rabbit

• Personalized Easter Book for Baby – When your baby gets a little older, flipping through this gem and seeing himself as a baby and a part of a story will truly be a moment to treasure.

While you have everyone over, definitely do not forget to take a family photo with big cheesy smiles.  That’s a photo you can keep forever, perhaps framing it and putting it up on the wall in your hallway, to remember your baby’s first Easter.  By next year, he will be talking, walking, and running to an Easter egg hunt victory.

Spring is already here and Easter will be here in a few days. The stores, schools, restaurants and street corners have already started decorating their space with eggs, bunnies and Easter baskets in anticipation of the holiday. Parents are generally in a dilemma explaining the significance of Easter and want their kids to know more about the day than just bunnies and eggs. Here are a few tips to make Easter an educational as well as a fun day.

Explaining Easter to kids

Explaining Easter to little kids is not as simple as explaining Christmas, but it is important for them to understand the significance of the day. If you find it difficult to communicate it to your kid you can explain it to them by getting age appropriate books and making them understand. Some of the popular books that you can read on Easter for kids are “What is Easter?” by Michelle Medlock Adams or “The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story” by Mike Berenstain.

Hunting for Easter eggs

Now that they understand the significance of Easter, you can tell them that an egg signifies the symbol of a new life just like when the chick emerges from the egg. The hunting of eggs will make more sense to them and they will enjoy it more after knowing the meaning behind it.  You can either take them to the local community or do it in your backyard for fun. Hide the eggs in the bushes or in plain sight on the grass so that your little ones can find it easily.

Make a unique Easter basket

You can make a unique Easter basket with the things you already have at home. You can use sand buckets, storage containers, paper gift bags or old Halloween trick or treat bag as an Easter basket. Decorate the basket with ribbons and label your kid’s name on it. Fill the basket with goodies like egg shaped chocolates, crackers, cookies, coloring books, crayons, Easter face tattoos or small toys and look at them squeal with joy when they find it.

Finally, in the night tuck your little one with a bun bun the plush blue bunny so that they continue to enjoy and have fun in their sweet dreams.

Hello out there Pocket Change readers and welcome to a very special Easter edition of our blog. Easter is coming up on the 8th of April and for many it will be a time to get together with family and friends in a celebration of life and Spring. In fact Easter and Spring time are closely associated as Easter actually marks the Spring Equinox – a time when the day and night time hours are very nearly equal, each being 12 hours long. The Equinox actually happens around March 21st, but Easter is celebrated on the 8th of April because it was originally a festival that marked the true start of Spring and lasted several weeks. If you didn’t know that, you’re going to love the rest of this post as we’re going to learn about some fun Easter facts!

Easter – A Pagan Thing?

You’ll often hear Easter being referred to as a pagan holiday, but is it? The answer is yes and no – Easter really stems from two separate traditions. There is the pagan holiday the question refers to, but there is also the Judeo-Christian tradition which actually ties into the Jewish celebration of Passover.

By The Numbers

• 16 BILLION jelly beans are made in preparation of Easter every year. That’s enough jelly beans to fill a Maryland Plastics plastic Easter egg the size of 9 story building!
• Perhaps not so surprising after our last fact, Easter sees the most candy consumption of any holiday except for Halloween.
• Take note parents: not only do kids prefer red jelly beans over any other color, 75% are actually willing to do extra chores to get more Easter candy.
• When eating a chocolate Easter bunny, over 70% choose to eat the ears first, compared to just 5% who prefer to start with a foot – oh the humanity!
• The exchange of eggs for Easter dates back to a springtime custom older than Easter itself in which eggs were given as a symbol of rebirth in many cultures. Today it’s still possible to find fun antique wooden decorated easter eggs.

We know that St. Patrick died in the fifth century and that the Irish have observed the anniversary of his death for over 1,000 years.  What we are not exactly sure of is at what point it became a rule that you have to wear green or get pinched by random people all day.  As the story goes, people wearing green are invisible to leprechauns – who, for some reason – pinch everything they can see.

Just to be on the safe side, have something green handy on St. Patrick’s Day to avoid those mischievous little leprechauns when they come out to pinch people, hide their gold, or do whatever a mythological cobbler would in his free time.  Any of these long sleeve rhinestone St. Patrick’s day t-shirts should keep them away while you celebrate (or pretend) being Irish – which usually entails some fun activities, such as:

• Drinking green beer.
• Watching the Empire State Building or Chicago River turn green.
• Singing Irish folk songs.

A new development in the constantly evolving history of St. Patrick’s Day is the idea of going green environmentally as well.  Before dressing up in your green outfit to go drink green beer, you can take a quicker-than-normal shower.  You can also use this day to:

• Replace the bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent light bulbs.
• Eat locally grown veggies.
• Unplug your electronics when you’re not using them.

Having fun while doing something great for the world – even St. Patrick might approve.

But, there is still that pesky leprechaun situation.  Keep your home safe from them while you’re out having a good time by setting up an extra large lighted shamrock.  The shiny green light ought to be enough to keep your home invisible from those little bearded guys.

However you want to celebrate on March 17, just remember to wear green and be safe.

Image by Garry Knight

“Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.” – John Lennon.

Understanding the meaning of gifts that one gives is important in human relation. Gifts express your feelings and care for the person you are gifting it to. The gift could be either expensive or inexpensive, but a good gift should always be an expression of your genuine attention. There is a special joy in gifting something that can bring happiness for someone who receives it. But some people do not feel happy with their gift, because it did not convey a specific meaning of the relationship. So this Valentine’s day, think again if your gift has meaning before you send it to that someone special. Here are some general expressions of gifts to know:

• Jewelry:  Jewelry makes an expensive gift which is expected by most women. Gift meaning of jewelry is “You mean a lot to me and you are special for me.” Men who do not care for a committed relationship will not spend money on expensive gifts like jewelry. For example, he will not buy you peridot and citrine jewelry unless you are special.

• Diamonds: Diamond are a girl’s best friend and forever known as a symbol of love and eternity. Show your valentine how amazing she is with a gift from the heart. Meanings of gifts like a white gold diamond bracelet with heart is highly sentimental and romantic. Nothing says I love you better than a beautiful heart-themed accessory.

Valentine’s day is very special for you and for the person you love. It is the day you celebrate your love for each other. Men, you can go the traditional route that is tried and tested by giving her flowers, chocolates and taking her out for dinner. But you can make this day even more special and unique by either surprising her or including her in your plan to make some home cooked meals and to decorate the house with balloons and festoons.

Create an experience

Make Valentine’s day your day by doing the things you both love and adore. You can skip the long lines and long wait at the restaurant and enjoy a nice romantic meal right at home. You can make the house look more festive by lighting candles, placing fresh flowers in the vase and hanging the Valentine garland in the room. It is going to be hard for her not to fall in love with you all over again.

Personalize your gifts

You can make this Valentine’s Day even more special by gifting your loved one personalized chocolate bars. It is totally exclusive and a very personal gift to give. How excited will your Valentine be seeing this chocolate with your personal message on the cover? Another wonderful option is to buy your Valentine chocolate dipped bing cherries. Juicy cherries are hand-dipped in various chocolate flavors to give the ultimate unforgettable tasting/eating experience. If you haven’t gifted them before then these two options are considered a very sweet gesture for your Valentine.

Whatever you do will be received well by your Valentine as you have put so much thought and effort in coming up with the home cooked meals, decorations and chocolates.

So readers, what are your plans for this Valentine’s Day? Have you thought of doing anything special for your Valentine? Please share any fun ideas you can think of to do for Valentine’s Day.

1. Spend Time With Family- Growing up, my sister and I were always encouraged to say ‘I love you’ to other family members with flowers and a simple gift. If you’re a family oriented person, spend time baking Valentine’s Day cupcakes with your family. Such traditions help generate positive feelings for one another and create happiness in the family.

2. Have a Wii & Wine Party- Round up some healthy snacks and gather your pals around a Wii Fit! You can also add Brut Champagne into the mix if you’re more into bubbly than flat wine. Nothing beats a night out with your best friends! You’ll have a great time and get in some exercise together.

3. Go for a Movie Date- Set up a movie date with your friends. Go out and catch the latest comedy at your local theater. If you’re indifferent about going out, bring the cinema to the comfort of your home. Snack on some fresh veggies, hummus, pita, fruit, or whatever you wish in order to avoid popcorn and candy cravings.

4. Set Up a Gratitude Box- In an episode of the Oprah show, Oprah had demonstrated the purpose of a heart-shaped ‘gratitude box’. Not your typical V-day box filled with guilty calories, a gratitude box is where each person can jot down the things they’re most grateful for about their friends. Throw a party and invite some of your best friends over for a sincere bonding activity to liven up the Valentine’s Day aura.

5. Plan a Trip- Plan a getaway trip with your closest friends. There’s nothing more luring than white sands, blue beaches, drinks, and a nice tan! Preceding Valentine’s Day, set realistic goals for one another to inspire a fitness routine. People who share fitness goals working together are twice as likely to reach their goals versus someone doing it alone. So gather your pals together and make some plans for a great escape!

Nothing against candy and romance, but Valentine’s Day is a great way to show you care for your friends, so share the V-day love with those around you!

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and it’s important that you spend the day with your Valentine instead of waiting in line to get a last minute bouquet of roses. To make this year’s Valentine’s Day a pleasant one, place an order with 1800FLOWERS ahead of time. Your Valentine will also appreciate if you know the meaning behind the roses that you give them. Here is a guide to help you pick the right roses for your special Valentine.

Red roses

Red roses symbolize true love. You can’t go wrong with red roses because they are the most traditional to give on Valentine’s Day. The Blooming Love 12 Premium Red Roses in Red Vase from 1800FLOWERS is elegant and romantic making it the perfect bouquet to surprise your loved one.

Pink roses

Pink roses represent passion and grace. A bouquet of pink roses would not only be a romantic surprise, but they also make a lovely Valentine centerpiece. The Floral Embrace bouquet from 1800FLOWERS is all about pink. These beautiful pink roses are mixed in with pink Gerberas, carnations, alstroemeria and cushion mums. If you’re able to name each type of flower for your Valentine, they will be even more impressed with you!

Assorted roses

Assorted Roses are perfect for every type of Valentine whether they are for your husband, mom, brother or niece! If you are celebrating a milestone this year and need ideas for 25^th anniversary gifts for example, then try the Two Dozen Assorted Rose with a free vase from 1800FLOWERS to make an extra special gesture.

If you order your flowers through 1800FLOWERS this year, you can save $10 off when you spend $59.99 or more. With a savings like that, you’ll have a little extra cash to buy those chocolate for your Valentine too! Make this Valentine’s Day special and don’t forget to pick out the perfect roses for your sweetheart.