Finest Expressions – How a dream become a beautiful reality

A month after my son was born, my sister and I opened our online store called Finest Expressions – Designer Gifts & Gift Baskets. It seemed like I had given birth to one baby but ended up with twins! We wanted to design gifts that were not only beautiful to look at but were practical for the recipients. It was then that we set out to channel our creativity through designing unique baby and wedding gifts for the North American market.

We started by offering beautiful and trendy gifts such as our baby diaper cakes, clothing bouquets, sock bouquets and gift baskets. We initially started with three designs of diaper cakes and a lot of the other items. However, within a couple of months we realized that our diaper cakes were our bestsellers. We were also getting quite a few requests for custom designs. So we started focusing more on our diaper cakes and adding to the category on regular basis.

We decided to start our wedding favours line when a stressed bride asked us to design distinctive favours for her wedding. We created our now signature product, the mini-chocolate bouquets. Since then we have designed a beautiful line of wedding favours along with DIY kits that make it fast and easy for brides to put together their own favours.

We understand that gift giving is an important and special part of life. Our goal is to create baby & wedding gifts that are not only useful today but also remembered for many years to come. We also custom design gifts to suit our clients’ theme selection and budget. We absolutely love what we do and enjoy everyday we spend creating exceptionally beautiful and useful gifts for our clients.

Last month was our first year anniversary and above is a picture of our very first baby gift basket. We wanted to share it with you and thank you for making our dream a reality. :)

Thank you,

Zakia

Co-founder, Finest Expressions – Designer Gifts & Gift Baskets

Bridal Shower Basics

Bridal showers have become an important part of wedding traditions. Initially the concept of bridal showers started when women chose to marry men who were for whatever reason deemed ‘unsuitable’ as partners by their families. For this reason the families decided to hold back their dowries. This is when the engaged couples’ friends got together to give them household items that helped to set-up their new home. What a wonderful way to support the new couple as they start their lives together!

Usually the bridesmaids throw the bridal shower with the maid of honour taking the lead in planning the event. Traditionally, it’s frowned upon for the bride’s immediate family to throw the bridal shower. However, in situations where the bride doesn’t have anyone else who can throw her the shower, family members can step in to be the host.

Bridal showers are usually held 1-2 months before the wedding. Besides the family and friends of the bride, some family members of the groom are also invited. Of course there is no one in particular that should not be invited to the shower. However, anyone who is invited should be invited to the wedding as well.

Bridal showers are usually an afternoon event. The menu can be snacks, finger foods and other simple appetizers. Light lunch menus could include small sandwiches, pastries or simple salads.

As a hostess of a bridal shower, you should keep the following tips in mind:

Set a budget: It is very easy to get carried away when organizing such a fun event but you have to keep a budget in mind. Setting the budget from the start will be incredible helpful in deciding who to invite, choosing the venue and selecting the menu items.

Involve the bride-to-be: If it is not a surprise shower, always involve the bride-to-be in finalizing the guest list and even choosing the theme. It is her special day, so you want to make sure that you have all the important people in her life present.

Keep a checklist: Prepare a checklist to plan the shower so you don’t miss any steps. There are loads of checklists on the web that you can use as a template and customize it according to your preference.

Get help: Involve the other bridesmaids and enlist their help. The honour of becoming bridesmaids comes with its set of responsibilities. Helping with the bridal shower is one of them!

Don’t forget the bridal shower favours to give to your guests as a thank you for being part of your event.

The most important rule is for the bride, the guests and yourself to enjoy this celebration of the upcoming wedding. So plan, be organized and have fun!

Halloween Trick-or-Treat Candy Alternatives

100+ Valentine Treat Alternatives
This article discusses alternative Valentine treats. These candy alternatives make excellent trick-or-treat prizes too. Over 100 ideas for inexpensive treats and candy alternatives.
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Finest Expressions Gift Tag

One-Up Design (our favorite design team!) have created these beautiful gift tags for us to include with our baby gifts. They are adorable and have ample space to include your loving messages to the recipients.

How cute!

Autumn Maple & Bourbon Barrel Aged Batch No. 1 - Levud's

Thank you all for being so patient with us on both Autumn Maple (in the bottles) and the rest of the Bourbon Barrel Aged Batch No. 1.  We're finally releasing both at the tasting room this weekend, and the Autumn Maple will be on store shelves and the finest of restaurants starting next week.  We anticipate high demand for the Bourbon Barrel Aged Batch No. 1 this weekend, so we're limiting each person to 4 bottles.  

We'll start selling both on Friday at 2 PM.  Autumn Maple will be $11 per bottle, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Batch No. 1 will be $20 per bottle.

Now that we have bottles of Autumn Maple, we won't be filling growlers of Autumn Maple anymore as we only have a few kegs left and want to keep it on tap for tastings.  Sorry for the inconvenience!

Also, don't forget about the Beer Geek Show-and-Tell on Saturday!  Sorry for those who get offended by the term beer geek.  I call myself one if it helps.

New Diaper Cakes Added!

We have added some beautiful designs to our diaper cakes selection so do check it out!

The selection includes different designs for single tier and 4 tier cakes as well as new designs for Jungle Safari and Princess diaper cakes.

There is also a new addition to the Baby Blossoms family – introducing Sweet Baby Blossom!

Photographs also available with tags detailing the contents on Flickr.com.

Polar Fleece Gift Crafts for Senior Citizens and Shut-ins

Polar Fleece Projects for Seniors and Children
Polar fleece is perfect fabric! Details and materials to make an inexpensive girl's polar fleece poncho and blanket for seniors.
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