The Gift Exchange

July is absolutely jam packed with celebrity birthdays, A-listers Tom Cruise, Robin Williams and Sandra Bullock, to name a few. As I was looking through the long list of celebrities, I came to the realization that I must watch way too much E! TV or I just have a knack for retaining useless celebrity information. So, did you know…

Brian Austin Green turns 35 today. Brian played David in the original 90210 series. 90210 is coming back with a second generation of the Beverly Hills clan. There is talk of Jenny Garth, Shannon Doherty and Tori Spelling joining in the fun too. Will there be a truce between Jenny and Shannon?
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I recently celebrated a birthday and I was lucky enough to be in the company of my brother and his lovely girlfriend. As one of my birthday gifts, they made me dinner to order (I requested steamed artichokes and Alaskan salmon with freshly-made hollandaise sauce – and they delivered, adding homemade strawberry shortcake as the dessert). My favorite part of the evening, though, was the decorations that they put up. Nothing fancy, just cheap balloons and streamers, but this simple gesture really made it feel like my birthday was truly a celebration and fondly recalled the giddy birthdays of my childhood. Just wanted to mention it to you because adding decorations to a birthday dinner or event is a small task with a big payoff. Happy celebrating!

I’ve done it, you’ve done it, some people are notorious for it: we all forget birthdays from time to time. Birthdays are obviously a very sensitive time of the year for most people and the timely recognition of one’s birthday is often paramount to the gift.

So what do you do if you do forget a loved one’s birthday? Don’t make excuses – just say you are sincerely sorry and then kill them with kindness. Of course, be sure to get them an over-the-top birthday gift to show just how sorry you are. In fact, if you get them a grand enough gift, you can put an end to your driveling apology because the gift will speak for itself.

Some ideas on our site: Happy Birthday Champagne and Chocolate with Dom Perignon. The mere mention of this famous champagne gives people a rush, making it adequate for your belated birthday gift. Flowers are also a safe bet, especially if you remember that this is one situation where bigger is better. Who can be angry when they can hardly navigate through their house without getting a face full of roses? Check out the Superlative Rose Bouquet and good luck!

A half-birthday is a day six months before or after a person’s real birthday. While most half-birthdays go unremarked, many people whose birthdays fall around Christmastime will choose to celebrate on their half-birthday instead, saying that the holidays are just too hectic. Or could it be because they just want more birthday gifts?

Either way, it’s fun to figure out when your own half-birthday is. Check out this handy calculator. Now that I know when my half-birthday is, you can bet that I will use it as a reason to celebrate and will give myself a half-birthday present!

The rose is commonly used to celebrate the birthdays of those born in June and a great option to consider when looking for a birthday gift for that special Gemini.

Long a symbol of love and passion, the rose also symbolizes beauty, perfection, and virtue. The rose could easily be the most popular flower in the world – or history. The rose’s lore is long and colorful, and according to fossil evidence, the rose is a 35 million years old species.

Garden cultivation of this famous flower began some 5,000 years ago, mostly in China, though roses have ample mention in many tales of the ancient world. The Roman Empire lauded the rose and greatly increased it prevalence and popularity, using it everyday for decoration, perfume, confetti, and medicinal purposes. At the height of the rose’s popularity, it became synonymous with the worst excesses of the Roman Empire when peasants were reduced to growing roses instead of food crops in order to satisfy the elite’s demands. Emperors and the upper class would even fill their swimming baths and fountains with rose-water, and sat on carpets of rose petals for their feasts and orgies.

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Did you know that October 5^th is the most common American birthday? An average of 12,576 people are born on this day every year. It may not seem so strange when you consider that, in order to be born on October 5^th, the date of conception would have occurred on New Year’s Eve.

According to anybirthday.com, which keeps over 135 million birth records on-hand, May 22^nd is the least common birthday in America. An average of 10,259 babies are born on that date—about 2,300 less than October 5^th. Conception for those babies would fall late August when it is speculated that intense heat may keep couples from…well, you know.

Wherever the birthday of your loved ones falls, be sure to surprise them with not-so-common birthday gifts.

Here are some humorous sayings to accompany your birthday gifts:

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. - Reverend Larry Lorenzoni

The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune. English Proverb

Everything I know I learned after I was thirty. - Georges Clemenceau

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific. - Jane Wagner

Middle age is when you’ve met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else. - Ogden Nash

Women deserve to have more than twelve years between the ages of twenty eight and forty. - James Thurber

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Going green is a popular ecological movement across America, and yet birthday parties for kids are still in many ways environmental nightmares. Parents often provide bags of confetti for surprise parties, and use streamers and other paper products as decorations. Plastic table cloths, crepe paper, and cheap goodie bags filled with dollar toys often head straight to the land fill. And let’s not forget about the mountains of discarded wrapping paper.

The good news is that it is easy to host an environmentally conscious party without sacrificing fun or coming off as a fervent tree hugger. Here are some great ideas to get you started:

-Use washable dishes and napkins instead of paper plates and napkins.

-Save party hats and decorations for the next birthday and re-use them (kids never know the difference!).

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Festivals all over the world celebrate Vesak, or the birthday of Buddha, on the 8^th day of the fourth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This year that date falls on May 12^th.

Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gotama in the foothills of the Himalayas over 2,500 years ago. He was born a crown prince of a kingdom in northern India, but later became known as the founder of enlightenment.

While some festivals directly celebrate the Buddha’s birth, many focus on promoting peace and harmony by “bringing the temple to the people.” Australia’s festival involves rituals, guided meditation, parades, and performances. In Japan, the day is known as Hana Matsuri, or “Flower Festival” since the date coincides with the blooming of the cherry trees. Sri Lanka hosts a country-wide festival with much of the population decorating their houses and streets with lanterns. The people attend religious observances and release thousands birds, insects, and animals in what is known as “a symbolic act to liberation” for those that are in captivity or imprisoned against their will.

There are smaller festivals in American cities, including Vista, CA, and Portland, OR. We offer a few Eastern-themed products at GiftTree, but my favorite is a Buddha Board. Using a paint brush and water, you create enchanting, bold designs that linger and then magically disappear, leaving behind a clean slate. Having analogous meaning to much of the tenants of Buddhism, like forsaking attachments and having a clear mind, this board is rich both in its meaning and its beauty.

For most of us over the age of 21, milestone birthdays come about when we face another decade (30, 40, 50, etc). There are two ways to approach these momentous occasions when planning a birthday party: kindly or humorously. If you do take the humorous approach, make sure the guest of honor has a sense of humor. Funny party themes include the standard “over the hill” variety to mock funeral parties, complete with lilies, organ music, and party guests dressed in mourning clothes.

If your friend isn’t in the mood to jokingly celebrate their inevitable aging, a kinder, gentler celebration is in order. In this case, it is always a good idea to have a party theme based on a favorite pastime, such as gardening, a sports team, or a preferred vacation spot. Having each guest bring a fond memory to read during a champagne toast can also make the occasion memorable.

In terms of birthday gifts, it is best to match the tone of the party. If the party is humorous and wild, get a gift that would go along with the theme. Fun over the hill gifts include reading glasses, hair dye, denture cream, and even adult diapers. If that seems too caustic, try our Sweet Nostalgia Birthday Surprise. It has all of the old-time candies from their youth and gently insinuates their old age without being overbearing. For the more serious milestone birthday party, consider an engraved wine bottle with the person’s name and the date and location of the party. Our Engraved Birthday Bottle of Snoqualmie Wine is a popular choice.