The Gift Exchange

When giving Champagne gifts do you ever wonder why the Champagne bottles are so thick and heavy? Because of their pressurized, excitable contents, Champagne bottles must be able to withstand at least 6 Gs of force when opened and thus are thicker-walled than normal wine bottles. To put this in perspective, blasting off in a rocket would put about 6 Gs of force on you. The bubbly is powerful stuff indeed.

Recently the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) announced the official launch of a new standard Champagne bottle that will significantly cut the Champagne region’s carbon emissions. The heavy bottles previously used were requiring more glass in manufacture and more fuel for transportation, which was adding up to more carbon released into the atmosphere. The new Champagne bottle, which is more than 2 ounces lighter, will reduce annual CO2 output by 8,000 metric tons, which is approximately equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 4,000 cars. About 300 million bottles of Champagne were produced last year alone.

The new bottle has undergone significant testing and market use to ensure the highest quality and safety standards, and we should be seeing them on the market sometime in the next year. Cheers to going green!

The new Tree of Enchantment Ornamental Glass is a beautiful work of art. Each signature piece is created by a 12 hour melting process using broken shards of glass from a Seattle, WA supplier that makes windows for cars, homes and offices.

Stephen Kitras, a world famous artist, is the designer of this hand-blown glass orb. The internal stranding represents the tree trunk and the branches that reach out to the exterior of the ornament support the translucent tree’s leaves on the globe’s exterior. Truly a stunning work of art by an incredibly talented artist.

Stephen got his start as a glass blower in 1988 acquiring his knowledge and skills at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario Canada. His company, Kitras Art Glass, was formed in 1994 and initially he and his wife, Elke, handled production and administrative tasks; shipping products from their dining room table. By 2001 the company’s sales had increased to a point where they had to build a new facility to accommodate the growth. In 2006 Stephen’s oldest daughter, Sophie, joined the company as the sales and marketing manager. In 1999 Stephen suffered the loss of his wife to leukemia, but the vision that she and Stephen had for the company continues to flourish.

Each piece of Stephen Kitras’ artwork is an individual, unique piece of art making it a perfect gift for an art collector or someone who enjoys nature. The Tree of Enchantment would make a bold interior decorating statement during the fall and winter months reflecting light while hanging in a window and during the spring and summer months by dramatically adding to the beauty of your outdoor decorations. While the piece, by it’s nature, is weather resistant it is not advised to hang the orb in a tree. Each ornament measures 6″ in diameter and arrives gift-wrapped.

Get busy welcoming spring to your little corner of the world…either by adding the new Tree of Enchantment Ornamental Glass to your private collection or giving it as a gift for a birthday, for Easter, Mother’s Day…or just because!

Congrats to our February contest winner, Pam Smith. Great quality, secure website, unique gifts – That’s what we like to hear. Thanks, Pam!

“I enjoy shopping at GiftTree due to the great selection and if I forgot an important date, I can order a gift and it can be sent out the next day. The prices vary so it gives me a choice on what I want to spend. The GiftTree website is easy to use and it is secure so I don’t worry about personal information. Great place to shop and my friends and family enjoy shopping there too. I just ordered the Get Well Medicine Cabinet and it had unusual gifts inside, perfect to make someone smile and let them know you care. I like different.” –Pam Smith

St. Patrick’s Day is an incredibly fun excuse to pinch people, “forget” not to wear red so people will kiss you, drink green beer…but why is it that on a holiday like this, those that are TRULY Irish don’t get presents?! I have my own personal reasons for thinking that the Irish should get pampered, showered and adored with gifts on a holiday that came from their own roots. Especially since Irish people are so wonderful, amazing and gift-worthy. Personally, if I were Irish, I would be overwhelmed and feel so loved to receive presents on St. Patty’s Day.

IN FACT, I think the Heavenly Cheesecake would be an ideal gift for such a person. A giant piece of luxury that comes in three rich flavors capable of feeding up to 10 people (I say “up to” because, if it were sent to me it would only feed one). To keep up the holiday spirit, select the Simply Vanilla Bourbon Cheesecake flavor. It has a Chocolate Macadamia Crust and is elegantly wrapped in an edible green chocolate bow, hand packaged, and can be delivered right to the Irish recipient. Preferably one with flaming red hair, albino-pale skin covered in freckles, and writes awesome blogs for GiftTree. Money is also green and festive, and could be sent as a gift alongside the cheesecake.

Just sayin’.

In case you didn’t know, March 21 is considered by many to be the first day of spring. Some say it is really the middle of spring, because of the position of the sun, but I don’t think spring is quite here yet in the Pacific Northwest. I am very ready for winter to end. Winters in the Northwest are dreadful. Everyone stays indoors because it is so cold, grey and wet outside. The sun comes up late in the morning and it gets dark early.

The spring and summer seasons here are, however, magical. The days never seem to end. Everyone is out walking, biking or playing. Neighbors stop to talk to you. Flowers are everywhere and everyone wants to talk about their garden.

The next time the weather is nice and I have the chance, I plan to go to Sauvie Island and have a picnic. I have just the gift basket in mind to celebrate my first picnic of the year. I have been eyeing the Fruit & Gourmet Delight basket for some time. It has everything I like:  pears, apples, oranges, cookies, pistachios, jalapeno jack cheese, crackers and tea. It also comes with a cheese knife and in a travel trunk that will remind me of my first picnic of 2010 all year long. I might even get the travel trunk personalized to say “Spring 2010”. The reminder will be especially helpful next winter, but I’m not ready to even think about next winter yet.

Mmmm wine…I love to wine! Everyone here knows what a big fan of wine I am. So needless to say, any questions the customer service department have regarding wine are usually directed to me!

This year, I’m totally excited to be going on my very first ‘wine walk’. I’m going to one on the Oregon Coast in May and there will be a TON of wineries from the Pacific Northwest participating. Each winery will be providing samples of their wines and selling bottles to take home. Participants pay $5 for a wine glass and are given an ID bracelet and a map showing which businesses each winery will be set up in. For four hours you go visit and taste at whichever wineries you’d like…each business is also set up with complimentary hors d’oeuvres to nibble on while you taste and some even have live music or other entertainment! I am very excited for this upcoming trip, especially because I love Pacific Northwest wines so much!

Here at GiftTree, we have a wonderful variety of Pacific Northwest wine crates for you to give as a gift or to try for yourself! One of my favorites include our Oregon Pinot Noir Trio. You get three great bottles of Pinot from three amazing Oregon vineyards. We also have a Washington Duo, which showcases a Merlot and a Cabernet from two Washington wineries. For those of you who prefer white wine, we have the Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris.

Cheers!

Ahhh…here it comes again…good ol’ St. Patty’s Day. I always got very excited for St. Patrick’s day as I was growing up until the day actually arrived. Oh I had good intentions, always promising myself that I would remember to wear green so that this year I would not get pinched. But every year it was the same story, it would take the first pinch of the day to remind me that I had forgotten my green! Ouch!!!

This got me wondering a few things. Why green? For that matter why do they even pinch people who don’t wear green? And what is up with those pesky leprechauns and green beer?

It turns out that a lot about pinching and green have to do with that leprechaun. According to Irish mythology he is an unfriendly fairy that lives alone. If you are lucky enough this St. Patrick’s Day to find this pesky creature he can lead you to his pot ‘o’ gold as long as you keep your eyes on him every second. If you look away, even briefly, he vanishes…and be warned that he uses trickery to distract you. The Irish believe the leprechaun can conceal himself with the rich green countryside in Ireland and that people who wear green are invisible to leprechaun’s. Legend has it that if you do not wear green then leprechaun’s can see you and if your are visible to them then they will pinch you. Ouch!!! Your friends are suppose to pinch you if you aren’t wearing green to remind you about the leprechaun.

Putting coloring in beer can be fun and interesting and green beer, well, it’s pretty. There really is no other reason for green beer. In Ireland more beer will be consumed on March 17th than on any other day of the year. As a matter-of-fact on any given day 5.5 million pints of Guinness, a famous Irish Stout, are consumed world wide, however on St. Patty’s day 13 million pints will be consumed!

Get started planning your St. Patrick’s Day celebration by ordering The Beer Basket, the Party Perfect Gift Tower and a beautiful Irish Wishes Bouquet.

This St. Patty’s day remember to wear your green, have some green beer, find yourself a leprechaun and get your pot ‘o’ gold!!!

Everything around here seems to be shedding those winter blues. It’s no longer dark when I wake up for work in the morning, the birds are all flooding back home and we have our new selection of spring flowers.

I was sitting at my desk staring out of the window at the blue sky (which is a RARE occasion here in Washington where, as Jeannie says, “our state flower is mold”) and realized the mess winter left behind. My desk is cluttered, I still haven’t found the energy to take down the rest of the holiday decorations at home, the kittens are shedding…I think it’s definitely time to sweep up last year’s dirt and make way for more bright and cheery things. Yes, it’s time for spring cleaning.

I don’t know many people who have the motivation to jump right into good ol’ cleaning time, especially when you stand in the middle of a room and have no clue where to begin. I’ve rounded up a few tricks on how to make it just a little easier:

1. If your rubber gloves are sticking to your skin and you can’t remove them, hold them under cold water for a few seconds and they’ll come right off.

2. Take a digital photo of something as you take it apart to fix it. This way you’ll be able to reference how to put the darn thing back together.

3. Can’t fit a brush into narrow bottles and vases to clean them? Fill them with water and add a tablet of denture cleaner. Viola!

4. Put a tiny amount of baby oil into your bath water to keep that impossible-to-scrub-water ring from showing up.

5. Wait until the sun is shining to rake the leaves. Wet leaves weigh much more and are harder to get rid of.

6. Take the stench out of sneakers by sprinkling baking soda inside of them and letting them sit for a day.

7. Put a sheet or two of fabric softener in your dresser drawers, closets, suitcases, etc to get rid of the stale odors.

8. Rub toothpaste on a rag and go over the scratch marks on your glass ware to remove them.

9. Zipper’s stuck again? Rub your pencil along it. The lead lubricates the teeth so it will be easier to unzip.

10. To remove wax from your candlesticks, pop them in the freezer for about half an hour. The wax will chip right off.

Spring cleaning check-lists are available all over the internet to help you from becoming overwhelmed and refresh your memory of all that’s left to be done.

When all is said and done reward your family and helpers with a pizza and movie night for all of their hard work. Reward yourself with the perfect addition to your bright and cheery home with one of our new colorful springtime bouquets, such as Pretty in Polka Dots, or add the new Hand-Blown Hummingbird Feeder outside of your living room window. Then sit back and watch spring at its best with your loved ones day after day as the hummingbirds begin to make your house their favorite rest stop for lunch!

Happy Spring Cleaning from GiftTree!

I just have to share this incredibly sweet valentine. John and his wife, Mary, have been married for 36 years. This year, John gave his wife a huge valentine in the snow. He shoveled the snow in the shape of a heart, including an arrow shot through it. He even added “JS + MS.”

Flowers, candy, jewelry – They are all great Valentine’s Day gifts, but a heart in the snow…that’s down right priceless. Way to go, John! I’m sure your snow valentine melted your wife’s heart.

This Valentine’s Day around 110 million roses will be given in a three day period. It makes sense, since roses seemed to be most attached with romance, love, and someone really trying hard to get a second date.

While roses alone can sweep a woman off of her feet, it’s a little known secret that getting a little more creative will score you some extra brownie points. If you’re scared-to-death about getting an arrangement that will get the woman of your dreams to say “Yes,” spoil your partner, or make your momma happy, you’re sure to nail it with any of these:

With All My Heart Bouquet

Definitely NOT just a vase of flowers. A big heart made out of eucalyptus leaves tower over romantic tulips, asters, red roses AND spray roses, snuggled together gorgeously (and finished off with a bow).

Gift Card Message Tip: Leave the time and place of your surprise dinner reservations.

Blushing Love Bouquet

If you’re trying to find the perfect way to propose, relax. Stargazer lilies and soft pink roses are elegantly hand-tied together and placed in a clear glass vase. Disguising your flowers this weekend as a bridal bouquet will be a memory she shares with her friends for a lifetime when she reminisces with everyone over how you popped the question.

Gift Card Message Tip: Include the message “Close your eyes and make a wish.” As she’s closing her eyes get down on your knee with ring in hand.

Love & Adoration Bouquet

Don’t forget about making a good first impression. No woman can resist the heavenly fragrance of asiatic lilies combined with passionate red roses and eucalyptus. This bouquet pops with color, and will say so much more than ‘you went out of your way to get her these.’ Impressive much?

Gift Card Message Tip: Waiting for the perfect moment to say “I love you” for the first time? Those three words alone on the card is all it will take to let her know what you’ve been waiting so long to say.