Friday’s Finds – Gifts for Guys

I am a lucky duck this holiday season because the perfect book just came out for both my Father and Brother all about the Cincinnati Reds baseball team in 1975 their heyday year.  We were big fans of the Reds when I was a kid, having lived in Cincinnati and I even remember going to a game.  So now I get to revive those memories for them and have the perfect gift for two people on my holiday list!  My Dad will get nuts and salty snacks in his Book Bouquet and my brother will get healthy nuts and snacks in his!

So if you are stuck on what to get the men in your life here are some great ideas:

Men's Gift Chest

1.  For sports fans get the Nuts About You Gift Box with either The Machine by Joe Polanski about the Cincinnati Reds or Shooting Stars by Lebron James his basketball memoir.

2.  For the brainy type get the Bestseller Book Bouquet with either Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt a funny look at the world economy or Ford Country by John Grisham a collection of seven new short stories.

Snack Attack Gift Box

3.  For the political junkie go with The Reader’s Gift Chest for Men with Culture of Corruption by Michele Malkin, Speechless Tales of a Whitehouse Survivor by Matthew Latimer or True Compass by Edward Kennedy.

4.  For the couch potato go with the Snack Attack Gift Box with a thriller or detective novel like Robin Cook’s Intervention, Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman, or Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly.

5.  For the workaholic get him a vacation.  But if you don’t have two thousand dollars to spend on a getaway give him a mental vacation with The Guilt Free Gift Basket full of healthy snacks and a good book like Fearless by Max Lucado or Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom.

Friday’s Finds – Gifts for the Sick

As I am sitting nursing a flu like bug it got me thinking about get well gifts.  In fact I started Book Bouquet because I wanted to send a book to a sick friend and got fed up waiting in line at the bookstore!

Boredom Buster Box

My frustration is your gain, because you’ll never have to go through that again.  One of our great get well gifts is the Boredom Buster.  It was the first “Book Bouquet” product and is our most popular gift year after year.  What’s great about it is you can send it to men, women, good friends, co-workers, basically anyone who you know that might be stuck in bed for a period of time.  The Boredom Buster includes puzzle books of all kinds along with a pen and pencil, funny fortune cookies and a get well balloon.  And, because we know not everyone who is sick can eat fortune cookies, even the funny ones, we decided to add a “NO FOOD” version of the Boredom Buster gift this year.  Instead of the fortune cookies you get to choose a paperback book to include with the puzzle books and balloon.

Kids Get Well Activities Box

For kids, we created get well gifts with activity books and games that could be done in their bed.  Our Kids Get Well Activities Box has four puzzle books selected according to the child’s age, crayons or colored pencils, a small game, like cards or checkers, a box of get well cookies, a teddy bear friend and a get well balloon.  It provides things to do when they feel up to it and that are easily put away when they don’t.  The teddy bear is a comforting friend to hold while sleeping and resting.

Ten Ways to Thank a Veteran

With the events at Fort Hood yesterday taking time to thank on Veteran’s on November 11th is more important than ever.

Serving our country is sometimes a calling, sometimes a necessity due to economics, sometimes a family tradition, but whatever the reason the servicemen and women of the United States are the best volunteer force bar none. So reach out this Veteran’s Day and say thank you, we appreciate your sacrifice.

1. If you see a service person in uniform at lunch you can buy their lunch. This is always a nice gesture and the waiter or waitress ends up with a great tip from the service member so it extends your generosity!

2. Send a Thank You note to a soldier through http://www.amillionthanks.org/

3. Send a care package to troops serving overseas at http://www.anysoldier.com/

4. Adopt a soldier and provide support through http://www.soldiersangels.org/

5. Send the Hero Gift Box to your favorite soldier.

Hero Gift Box

6. Send a Veteran’s Day Ecard at: http://www.123greetings.com/events/veterans_day/veterans28.html

7. Donate to a wounded veteran at http://www.veteranlove.com/

8. Just say “Thank You”. Walk up to a service person in uniform and hold out your hand and say “Thank you for your service to our country.”

9. You can donate $5 to Wounded Warrior Project by texting ‘WWP’ to 90999 from your cell phone.
Standard text message fees apply. Visit mgive.com for more information.

10. If you have a VA Hospital near you team up with the local school, your neighbors or your church and bring “thank you” cards to the patients. Call the VA hospital administrator first to find out how many cards would be needed and what their procedures are for delivering the cards.

Do you have a great idea for thanking a veteran? Please Share! We’ll be sure to Facebook, tweet and pass along your idea.

Top 5 Gifts for the Hard to Shop For

A Book Each Month Makes a Great Gift for Readers!

Scary Good Gift Giving

So you put it off, because you can never figure out what to get your Mom (Dad, brother, sister, insert hard to shop for person’s name here_______________) for her birthday and now you are late. This woman gave birth to you and you are a week late with her birthday gift. Oh the shame.

Fear not you ungrateful child she is your Mom, so of course she will forgive you. But, you can make her job of forgiving you easier with a really good gift.

Here’s our 5 Gifts for the Hard to Shop For:

1. Bestseller Gift Basket which includes a book that you pick. It’s a bestseller so 10,000 other people liked the book and chances are good your hard to shop for person will too!

2. A custom gift , because your Mom loves to knit and you want to get her a knitting book. Build your own custom basket and add any book you want. Don’t know the title, just put “Knitting Book” and we’ll do the rest. That’s not so bad is it.

3. Guilt Free Gourmet Gift Basket also with a book you choose, and healthy snacks so you don’t have to worry about her tossing all the treats, she can actually eat these if she’s dieting.

4. The budget friendly Curl Up & Read Gift Box because you’re going to ship overnight and that’s going to cost you more than your gift, but hey next time you’ll shop Book Bouquet first and won’t have to ship overnight anymore…right!

5. A Book Each Month the gift that keeps giving all year long, or half the year or for three months you get to choose how long and what kinds of books are sent.