What to Buy the Hard to Buy For

Honestly, most new couples aren't hard to buy for because, well, they need everything. But, I am currently planning my parent's 25th anniversary, and I think it's a really neat idea to tell the guests to bring a bottle of their favorite wine as a gift. For people who like wine (who doesn't like wine!?), this can be an excellent, hands-off gift.

There are some really nifty websites that could help this gift idea along. The one I will share here (this is just a quickie idea, after all) is called Wines Till Sold Out, and features one extremely good deal on a certain bottle of wine, each day. The bottles are all excellent, and the prices are usually around $15-20. Here is a link to the site. Check it out! It makes me want to stock up...

Bridesmaid Gifts, Centerpieces (Ikebana)

So, two things this morning, both inspired by a gigantic art fair in Michigan my mom and I attended recently.

The first thing was something we both thought we be an absolutely charming bridesmaid gift, especially if the ones you bought matched the dresses. The company is called Forest Flower Jewelry, and they make some of the neatest jewelry I've ever seen - namely because they take live flowers and leaves and either hand-paint them with gold or lacquer. Besides buying jewelry before the wedding from them, they also offer a service where they lacquer and preserve your wedding flowers for you, which is a really nifty idea, for say, a wedding gift. Here are what some of their amazing pieces look like:

I love the small rosebud pendants, which I could make into earrings, easily. At $20 a piece, they aren't cheap, but I know from the art show, you can snag earrings from this company for $30 a pair, and if you only have 3 or 4 bridesmaids, it's a wonderful, classic gift (I mean, they're real flowers!), for not that much money!

On another note, with regard to these adorable little rosebuds, I might (might) attempt to make a pair, using stuff from the craft store. I'll let you know how that goes...

Secondly, at the art fair, there were tons of ceramics vendors selling these nifty little pots that I had never seen before - they're called Ikebana, and they are integral to the Japanese art of flower arranging. They look like this:

To hold the flowers in place, they have little spiky metal disks (I know that sounds more frightening than it actually is) called Frogs that sit right underneath the opening.

See the little metal spiky thing peeking out, there?

This picture is from an Etsy site for the fellow who I bought my Ikebana from - Here is a link.

You take flowers, or branches, and basically impale them on the spikes to hold them up, put a little water in the pot, and voila, you have a simple and elegant arrangement. I was just thinking that these would be a lovely centerpiece, however, and that you could even have a drawing and give them to people as prizes or somesuch after the wedding. Basically, pottery rocks. This also reminds me - I should really do a piece on Etsy one of these days, just to talk about how cool and endless the ideas you can get from Etsy are.

Guest Gift Idea

So! In the vein of love songs for a wedding, something I thought would be a really sweet gift for your guests would be a CD of all of your (you and your partner's) favorite songs. Good songs, like the one I posted a link to a couple of days ago, are great to listen to anyway, and it would be so sweet if the insert was of pictures of the two of you, or stories about why you like the songs that are on the CD.

Songs that I like, that could go on my CD:

• I Love Little Baby Ducks, by Tom T. Hall

• Home, Edward Sharp and The Magnetic Zeros

• Basket, Dan Mangan

• The Book of Love, Peter Gabriel

• Elephant Love Medley, from Moulin Rouge

• Kick in the Head, Dean Martin

• Such Great Heights, either Iron and Wine (original) or Postal Service ( I like them both!!)

 This is the Postal Service.

 This is Iron and Wine.

• Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop, Landon Pigg

• I Believe in a Thing Called Love, The Darkness

• Love Today, Mika

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Israel  Kamakawiwo'ole

• Nightminds, Missy Higgins

• Her Morning Elegance, Oren Lavie

•  Lost in Singapore, Pearl and the Beard

• That Thing You Do, The Wonders

• Hey Soul Sister (Because it's the best song ever. EVER.), Train

• Falling Slowly, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, from the movie Once

• Sorest of Eyes, William Elliot Whitmore

• Almost Like Being in Love, Nat King Cole

• L.O.V.E., Nat King Cole  (I couldn't find any videos!!) 
• You and I, Ingrid Michaelson

I might add more later. It was just a quickie idea!!