gifts - Views From the Ville

2011 Holiday Gift Guide – Suggestions For Her
(Be sure to check out all the other great Gift Guide items and giveaways here.)

You may already have your outfits selected for all the holiday parties this season, but have you thought about your accessories yet? One item I consider an accessory – and that I love to shop for – is nail polish. Nail polish to me is really quite awesome; it finishes off any look, is easy to change and allows you to keep up with seasonal trends without breaking the bank.

If you’re like me in your love of polish – or you have someone on your shopping list that is – you will love Julep’s holiday sets. Whether as a gift or stocking stuffer any of their polishes would be sure to please.

Julep is a boutique nail salon that is also a place where girlfriends can go to take a moment for fun and style. They want to be a space where women can gather and find themselves, to connect and celebrate as part of a community. They are very focused on their message and they put their money where their mouth is; $1 of every nail color sold goes to organizations that support women. Check out the below pilot clip of the PBS show “Trendspotting” to see more.

I love burgundys and other shades along those lines so I’m really enjoying the Demi polish in the Julep Holiday Reds set (see below). The Brooklyn shade is my next favorite of the three; I enjoy the touch of sparkle that really steps it up for the holidays. The third shade is called January and it’s a real, tomato-red with a bit of shine to it. I’ve never tried wearing true reds but I’m looking forward giving it a try at one of my upcoming parties. I love the quality of the polishes and how easy they are to apply. They also wear nicely; a lot of polishes chip I use chip after the first day or two because of the amount of time I spend at the keyboard and these did not. I’m totally in love.

I also really like the Silver Belle’s Holiday Polish Collection (I’m a sucker for silver and slate gray).

And if you’d like to make an entire group of friends smile for the holidays, consider purchasing the Julep Spa Pedicure At-Home Party for 6. It comes with four polish colors, topcoat, basecoat, Pomegranate Body Creme, Cosmopolitan Mix and 6 each of the following: orange sticks, nail brushes, toe separators, nail files, and pedi slippers. (If Santa’s elves are reading I want this please.)

Where to Buy:

All of the holiday collections – and much more – can be found on Julep’s site. Both the Holiday Reds and Silver Belles collections retail for $42 and the Pedicutre Kit for 6 retails for $84 (a $145 value). As a special for you all Julep has given us promo code SHOPPINGFORSAVINGS – use it to take 15% off your purchase!

Want to Win?

One winner will receive the Holiday Reds Collection! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received a product in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are 100% mine and my family’s.

2011 Holiday Gift Guide – Suggestions For Her

(Be sure to check out all the other great Gift Guide items and giveaways here.)

I think that most – if not all – women like a little bling. I prefer my bling to be silver, usually, and so I love the items at Something About Silver (they do have a few gold items, too, if that’s your preference). Not only are they, well, silver, they’re customized and unique.

The Something About Silver studio is located near the sunny beaches of Clearwater, Florida, where they fabricate all of their custom hand stamped jewelry. They offer a wide selection of keepsake necklaces that would make a perfect gift or could become your own most cherished piece of jewelry. If you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for, you can even email them and they will work with you to create a piece that is perfect for you or your gift recipient.

Their site has so many pretty things that it took me hours to choose my favorite and even then there are at least a half-dozen other items I really want (are you listening, Santa?). What I did choose is The Family Tree necklace. It’s a 1 1/4″ washer with a tree charm that hangs inside it. Mine came on a ball chain (various lengths available) but you can also choose a link chain if you prefer. We had our last name engraved on it; you could also do each of your kids’ names, or all the grandkids’ names as a gift for Grandma.

The finished product was exactly how it looked online – really beautiful. They’re also really well-made. Depending on what you choose, it could easily become a family heirloom.

Their packaging is really nice, too; it makes it feel like you’re giving yourself a gift (or if it is a gift, it will feel extra-special).

In addition to necklaces, they have rings, bracelets, earrings, bridal jewelry, ornaments, baby spoons and more. Here are a couple other items I love.

Where to Buy:

You can purchase directly from the Something About Silver website. And I have an exclusive promo code for you! Enter LMC502 at the checkout and get 10% off your order (expires12/19).

Want to Win?

Something About Silver has provided one winner with a $40 Gift Code for their site! You’ll get to choose your own beautiful item. To win, just fill out the form below. Reminder: Rafflecopter sometimes takes a moment to load; if you don’t see the form after a minute, please try refreshing your browser.

I received an item in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are 100% mine and my family’s.

I couldn’t wait any longer so today I am officially kicking off my 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! For the next month or so I will be bringing you a number of reviews and giveaways to help you complete your shopping lists.

As sponsors are confirmed I will be adding them to the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide page. Here you’ll be able to get a sneak peak at the products coming; you’ll also find links to each sponsor’s website in case you’d like more information. And as each item’s review and giveaway goes live, you’ll also be able to click the image and go directly to the giveaway.

I’m also bringing you two special additions. The first will be the “For Your Holiday Table” supplement. Towards the end of the month I will have reviews and giveaways that focus on tasty treats to serve at your parties plus decorating items for entertaining. These will all happen over the same weekend as opposed to spread throughout the month (meaning that there will be tons of great giveaway prizes for you to win that weekend, especially!).

The second special treat is an ongoing giveaway that starts today and ends on 12/16. The giveaway is for a Christmas Stocking full of gifts, treats and gift cards. Each day after you enter the new Gift Guide giveaways you can come back to this post and fill out the Rafflecopter form below. For each Gift Guide giveaway you enter you’ll get an entry into the Christmas Stocking giveaway. There will also be an extra “Bonus Entry” each day that you can complete.

ENTER HERE:

I love gift baskets.

I love receiving them, I love giving them, I even enjoy putting together that perfect basket on occasion. I very vividly recall what is probably the best gift basket I ever had. It was during my senior year of high school, when I went to Walt Disney World with my math class. My family is all well aware of what a “Disney freak” I am and so my Mom wanted to do something special for us. She also knew that one of the people sharing my room was a friend who had never been to Disney (hadn’t even been out of state, if I remember correctly), so she wanted to start us off right.

So when we got checked into our room we discovered this huge refrigerated bag (printed with Mickey & friends) filled with all kinds of snacks and drinks and other goodies. It couldn’t have been a more perfect way to sprinkle our trip with pixie dust. Funny how a basket of food can get four girls all excited.

Gift Basket & Delivery Box

Putting a gift basket together can be just as fun. But there are times when you want to do something special for someone but need something faster and easier while still looking great and showing some thought. GourmetGiftBasket.com can help you with that.

GourmetGiftBaskets.com just sent us this Classic Snack Gift Basket to check out. I have to say, it was awesome. My husband loved it because there were so many items that contained nuts and he loves every kind of nut there is. Just seeing the box it was delivered in was enough to get everyone excited. The box was printed with their logo and colors.

Once we opened it we were even more excited. The basket was tied up in a festive raffia bow and came with a personalized gift card. And while I appreciate a nice bow and packaging I didn’t get to appreciate them for long; everyone wanted to hurry and try all the yumminess it contained! There were:

Dipping pretzels: These were great; even my husband who says he’s not a big “pretzel person” liked them.
Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip: I loved this stuff. It definitely has a little kick to it, which I enjoyed.
Key Lime White Chocolate Chip Cookies: These were by far my favorite product. Kind of a shortbread/butter cookie with a touch of key lime taste and white chocolate chip chunks mixed in. SO good (and addictive!).
Almond Pecan-dy Crunch: Toffee-covered popcorn, whole almonds and pecans. Quite tasty.
Petite Cheese Biscuits: Nice cheesy little bites of goodness.
Metropolitan Trail Mix: Everyone in the family loved sampling this. I loved the dried pineapple, especially.
Buttered Peanut Crunch: I didn’t get to try these because hubby commandeered them and they disappeared. Guess that should tell you that they were good!
Peanut roll: Another thing that hubby snatched and disappeared with. He said it was pretty good.
Snack mix: This appears to have been replaced by peanuts in he current basket. They’re by the same company so I would guess they are also tasty.

You know how sometimes you get a gift basket or sampler and there are a few things that you’re, like, “eh”? Definitely not the case with these. There honestly wasn’t one thing that at least one of us loved. Everything from the delivery time (a couple of days) to the packaging (everything arrived intact) to the product itself was above expectations. And the basket the goodies came in is now being used to corral all the things that used to get tossed on the end of our counter (keys, etc.).

Snack Gift Basket from GourmetGiftBaskets.com

My brother has been asking for suggestions on what to get his groomsmen as thank-you gifts for participating in the wedding. I could definitely see suggesting this basket to him as their gift. Or even this golf-themed “Hitting the Range” basket (love the cute ball-bucket they use as the basket!) as they’re all avid golfers.

Then I started thinking that these would make great care packages for A1 while she’s at college this year. I was pleased to find they have an entire section on their site just for college care packages! The Exam Cram Care Package (the included ramen is a nice “college-y” touch) and the Junk Food Care Package (she loves Easy Mac) are my two faves.

I was surprised to learn that GourmetGiftBaskets.com started back in 1940! That’s a testament to their great products and service. But if for some reason you’re not 100% happy, they do have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. They’ll make it right or refund your money.

Where to Buy

The Snack Gift Basket sells for $59.99. You can purchase it (or any other product) online from GourmetGiftBaskets.com or you can place your order over the phone by calling 1-866-842-1050.

Want to Win?

Snack Gift Basket from GourmetGiftBaskets.com

GourmetGiftBaskets.com is giving away a Snack Gift Basket (like the one pictured above) to one lucky Shopping for Savings reader! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter. (Please note: Rafflecopter sometimes takes an extra moment to load. If you don’t see it right away, please give it just a moment.)

From the day the engagement is announced to the day of the wedding itself, there are a number of occasions where someone may want to purchase a gift. Some people may choose to give an engagement present (especially because some couples now throw engagement parties), and then there may be a gift for the shower, a gift for the wedding – possibly even a bachelorette or bachelor party gift. And the couple may want to purchase gifts for their bridal party, too.

Whatever occasion you’re looking for the prize sponsors for Week 2 of the Goin’ to the Chapel event have items that anyone would love.

Simply Said Wedding Wall Design

Appropriate for an engagement party, bridal shower or wedding gift the wall sayings from Candace at Simply Said Designs would make a nice touch for the couple’s new home. I also think they could be very unique shower, ceremony or reception decorations. They have four whole pages (14-17) of wedding design packages.

Simply Said Last Name Design

And for the home they have personalized designs of the couple’s name and year of marriage as well as sayings like “Together We Make a Family”, “Be True to the Family Name You Bear”, “A Smile Last a Moment, the Memory Lasts a Lifetime”, “I Gave You My Heart and You Filled it With Love”, and “Together is a Wonderful Place to Be”. All the designs come in a variety of different sizes and price ranges so you’ll be able to find something perfect for every spot in the home at the price point you’re comfortable spending.

Scentsy DIY Silver Wedding Pack

Another great option are the products from Brandy at Scentsy Candles. Almost everyone loves candles and that warm feeling you get when you catch the soft scent in the air. Scentsy gives you that great candle scent minus the fire (which, as an aside, makes them a nice gift for college students who can’t have a flame in their dorm room). One item they have that I think would make a great shower gift would be their DIY Warmer with DIY Wedding Theme Packs. Not only is it a nice home decor item, the bride could set it on the head table at their reception.

Scentsy Bar in Love Story

If you’re giving as a shower or wedding gift you could also pick something that might match the couples decor, their favorite sport, or their favorite team to cheer for together (go UK!). Then you can choose one of the scented bars to add to the warmer. The Romance Collection or Corner Cafe Collection might be good places to start to select a scent.

Outdoor Cool & Serve Square Tray

And of course you can’t go wrong with selecting a gift if you’re choosing something for the kitchen. Everyone loves to eat (they do say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach) and preparing food together is an activity that can truly bring a couple closer together. Pampered Chef in Louisville (delivery US-wide) can help you choose a gift that’s perfect for the couple. Do they like to grill or entertain outside? Then maybe one of the grilling tools or outdoor serving & dining pieces would be a great choice. Maybe they’re bakers?

Dip Set with Bamboo Spoons

And for a great wedding present you may consider purchasing a knife block and choosing a couple of knives like the chef’s knife, Santoku, paring or utility knife. They have a lifetime warranty and I guarantee they would be used on a daily basis in the couple’s new home – even if they’re not big cooks. (And if they’re not big chefs, you might want to think about tossing in a cookbook or two and maybe some mixes or spices.)

Our giveaway sponsors have put some great prizes up for this week and I will be posting the entry forms shortly. In the meantime please take a moment to visit them and show them a little support if you enjoy their products!

Views From the Ville

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Deck Your Nails With Julep Polishes – Review & Giveaway (US; ends 12/23)

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Something About Silver – Review, Giveaway & Promo Code (12/16) #SfSHolidayGiftGuide

2011 Holiday Gift Guide Starts Today! Great Reviews & Giveaways for Everyone on Your Lists #SfSHolidayGiftGuide

GourmetGiftBaskets.com Review & Giveaway!

Goin’ to the Chapel Event Week 2: Purchasing Gifts