Great Non-Food Gifts

Professional Assistant's Day is April 22nd this year. I've talked with several of my clients in the medical field who want to recognize their assistants with a gift but are not comfortable giving a gift basket filled with Chocolates and other sweets.
So many people today are making an effort to eat well, and even though an occasional sweet treat is allowed, it would be counter productive to send a gift basket filled with "guilt".
Have you found yourself in this situation? If so, a SPA gift basket from Laurel Mountain Basket Company may be just what you are looking for. The Mini Spa (picutred above) is the perfect little gift. Two bars of hand made soap, a wooden soap tray and nail brush are wrapped in cello and tied with a pretty little bow. The soaps are high quality bars of 20% shea butter, olive, coconut and palm oil blended with essential oils and herbs. Just right for saying thank you, they also make great hostess gifts or a little something to bring to a friend in the hospital.
So, when faced with the problem of giving a gift to a friend who is working to stay fit, think of our Spa gift baskets. They are a great reward for being good.
Smile and be happy,

Marie

Spring Arts & Craft Festival

In addition to my website at http://www.laurelmtbasket.com/ I have a brick and mortar retail studio located in a beautifully renovated factory building called Eastworks in Easthampton, Ma. Eastworks houses artists, crafters, two restaurants, small business, photographers, a driving school, the Pioneer Valley Ballet School, a salon, a gym and retail shops.
For the past several years, we merchants have gotten some of our very talented friends to join us the Saturday before Mother's Day for a Spring Festival. The juried show features locally produced jewelry, photography, art, home decor, clothing, gift baskets (by me of course), candles, handcrafted dolls, soaps and lotions, hand knits, pottery, and much, much more. We still have openings in a few categories so if you are an artist or crafter interested in obtaining a booth, contact me at www.info@laurelmtbasket.com.
Open to the public with no admission charge and free parking, the May 9th event begins at 10:00 a.m. and runs until 4:00 p.m. We still have a few opening for vendors in a few categories so if you are an artists or crafter and are interested in a booth, contact me at info@laurelmtbasket.com for details.
The Spring Festival at Eastworks is a great place to find one of a kind Mother's Day gifts. In addition to the crafters, artists and retailers, The Your Way Gourmet will be serving up delicious meals and snacks all day long.
Just 20 minutes north of Springfield, Ma we conveniently located on Pleasant Street in Easthampton. For driving directions, go to the Eastworks website at http://www.eastworks.com/.

Administrative Professionals Day -Apr 22nd

According to Wikipedia, National Secretaries Week (the predecessor of Administrative Professionals week) was created in 1952. Working with the marketing firm of Young & Rubican, the International Association of Administrative Professionals was concerned about the shortage of skilled office workers and wanted to encourage people to consider careers in the secretarial and administrative support fields by promoting the value and importance of administrative jobs. In 1981 the name was changed to Professional Secretaries Week and in 2000 it was again changed to Administrative Professionals Week. The name changes reflected the changes in responsibilities and the expanding wide range of job titles taking place in the administrative support field.
No matter what you choose to call it, it is an opportunity to show your administrative staff how much you appreciate their hard work and dedication. You may think that a good salary, pleasant office environment and generous benefits are what employees want from a job. These are important of course, but when asked what they wanted, many responded that they wanted respect, to be appreciated and to know that the organization valued their contribution. A sincere "thank you" will go a long way.
In good times and in hard times, a loyal, professional staff contributes greatly to the health of any organization.
Call your gift basket professional assistant today! At Laurel Mountain Basket Company we offer a full line of appropriate corporate gift baskets , like our Daily Grind Gift Basket (shown). We design our gift basket to fit every taste and every budget.

Going Green In Holyoke

For those of us who grew up in the Valley (the Pioneer Valley that is) and marched the 2.6 mile long parade route with our high school band or town drum corp, the Holyoke (MA) St Patrick's Day Parade is not only a part of our own personal history but is an annual event shared with family and friends. Started in 1952 the Holyoke Parade has grown to become the second largest in the country, New York City's being number one. The event draws over one million viewers, boasts 40,000 marchers, 30 floats and 40 marching bands including the Philadelphia Mummers and Springfield's (MA) own Melha Shriners.
Over the 57 year history many famous people have marched along side our high school bands including the then Senator, John F. Kennedy and his wife, actor Robert Stack, actress Maureen O'Hara, author Tom Clancy as well as astronauts, and national sports figures. Of course, no St Patrick's Day Parade would be worth its green beer without a beautiful Coleen and her court, local dignitaries and contingents from the area Chambers of Commerce.
In 1976, a 10K road race was added to the festivities. Held the Saturday before the Parade, the race continues to grow, last year hosting 3,000 runners. Many acomplished runners use the Holyoke event as a training race for the Boston Marathon. The celebration also includes Irish Night events in many of the surrounding towns featuring the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinners with plenty of Irish soda bread and of course, green beer.
It's great fun.... Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

The Easthampton Bear Fest 2009 has begun. On Thursday night Easthampton celebrated with a Welcome the Bears Party! a Mardi Gras themed party held at Eastworks and catered by Apollo Grill. Party goers had the opportunity to view the over 130 proposals and vote for their favorite. The judges are going to have their hands full. There are only 30 life sized fiberglass bear sculptures and every one of the proposals I saw was amazing! On Friday, a Free Family Welcome the Bears Party took place at Eastworks. It was an opportunity for kids as well as adults to see the unpainted bears, view the proposals and vote for their favorite Local artists were on hand to help the kids make their own bear masks. CREATE Children's Art Studio hosted a "decorate your own bear" day. Kira created cute "bear statutes" to give little artists the opportunity to paint or otherwise decorate their own bear. A special bear will be marching with the Easthampton City Arts contingent in the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade (want to be involved? -- contact Easthampton Bear Fest or the Easthampton City Arts for information) and on June 13th there will be Bear unveiling during Art Walk! The Bears will be on display around the down town area for four months and the event will culminate October 11 -18 with a week long celebration of the arts, a gala ball and the auction of the Bears! The proceeds will benefit Eathampton public schools art programs, Riverside Industries Art Program, provide commmissions to the artists who decorate the Bears and to help sustain Easthampton City Arts.At Laurel Mountain Basket Company, we love bears! Our Bear-y-Special Gift Basket is one of the gift baskets we are featuring for Mother's Day this year and bears of all sizes in our large assortment of baby gift baskets.

Tea For Two Or Just For You!

I loved coffee. I would drink pots of the rich, delicious liquid every day. A treat for me was a trip to the new Starbucks in town for a Grande. Forget the biscotte or other sweet bakery treats offered as an afternoon boost. Give me a tall, hot cup of coffee!

Not today. Today I'll still enjoy a cup of coffee after a dinner out, or a breakfast meeting, but today my drink of choice is tea. In my Gift Basket shop I carry an assortment of teas as part of my inventory and I like to taste test the product I sell. I especially like to test chocolates and cookies, and I let my husband test the salsas and bar-b-que sauces. My dogs love to test the dog cookies and new toys! Anyway, I started testing the variety of teas I was offering and found that I really enjoyed the green teas and the white teas.

We have a local tea blender, The Tea Guys where I get some really exciting teas. Being from Massachusetts, and featuring many designs themed for Cape Cod, I use a lot of their Cranberry Harvest tea. It really captures the sweet-tangy taste associated with cranberries.

I find drinking a warm mug of tea sooths my spirit so I use teas in many of our bereavement and get well gift baskets. I'll often choose a green tea or fruit tea to compliment a gift basket filled some short breads and butter cookies while I'll use a stronger breakfast tea or Earl Gray with heartier fare such as pancake mix and locally produced maple syrup. No matter what teas I use, we top our cello wrapped gift baskets with beautifully crafted, colorful bows.

So, the next time you are looking for a really great gift idea for the tea drinker in your life, you'll find a great selection at http://www.laurelmtbasket.com/ . We're working on our 2009 line of gift baskets for Mother's Day. Be sure to check them out while your there.

Thanks

Marie

Best In Show

On February 9th and 10th we'll be watching a group of real champions at the 133rd Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. 169 breeds and varieties of dogs will be judged in seven different groups: Hounds, Terriers, Non-Sporting, Sporting, Herding, Working and Toy. One dog from each group is named Best In Breed and one will be judged Best In Show.
Last year after the show, we asked our clients to send us photos of their "champions" and tell us a little about them.
Our dog Dana holds the distinction of being judged Best in the Herding class again this year. We may be a little prejudice but she's still a champ at keeping our home from being overrun by chipmunks and squirrels.
Best in the Sporting class goes to our Chocolate Lab friend Sadie. I understand that you'd better not miss a shot while bird hunting with Sadie because she'll give you a look that lets you know you are totally incompetent and strongly suggests that you go back the range for more practice. Sadie just had her first litter. She and her nine puppies are doing fine, it's her human we are concerned about. While she is at the kennel, he's having to work on the house and drive around in his pick up truck all by himself.
Best of the Working class was the most difficult to judge. Many of our clients' dogs work very hard with their humans all day long. Gunner, Julee, and Sparky's owners all have home offices in which the dogs work very hard watching over their mistresses.
Our boy Fox is hands down winner in the Toy class. There is no toy in the world that does not belong to Fox and he will let you know in no uncertain terms. Just ask his sister Dana. But she has the game all figured out. She steals his "toy de jour" while he's eating and parades around with it until he is in tears.
A big silver loving cup is nice, but our champions prefer a more dog friendly prize, like their very own personalize doggie treat tin filled with lots of yummy treats and toys or a Best In Show Gift Basket with enough toys to keep them entertained for hours. We also have great gift baskets for people too! Visit us at www.laurelmtbasket.com .