Gourmet Gift Baskets Delivered

Soon our High School and college graduates will be embarking on a new adventure. It's time to celebrate! I love the idea of graduation gourmet gift baskets. Easy to personalize for you favorite graduate with their favorite things. When our neighbor graduated high school, we made her a college survival gift basket filled with essentials (kind of) like highlighters, post-it notes, and of course, candy.

As Father's Day approaches I think the best gift to give dad is the gift of time. This year my kids offered to work in the yard for free. We usually pay them to do this. This is a bonus because dad gets to spend the day with the kids working in the yard, and he doesn't have to pay them for it. What a blessing that is!

Of course, dad does deserve a special treat on his special day, too. We usually opt for making Father's Day gourmet gift baskets with all the things he loves. For us, that would be football and chocolate. Anything we can find related to the sport, and his favorite team, the Broncos.

Dad's are a huge part of shaping what kind of man their son's become. For daughters, dad is the first man in her life and he will shape all her future relationships with men. Dad has a tough job. He deserves some pampering on Father's Day, too. If Father's Day gift baskets aren't the thing, maybe a getaway for a weekend of fishing, hiking, or whatever activity he enjoys. This year, my husband will be spending the day with my son at the Boy Scout ranch.

Mother's Day usually get more attention and the bar is set higher for mom's. Father's Day is usually more laid back, I'm guessing because they are easier to shop for. Consumers spend almost double on Mother's Day than they do on Father's Day. Likely because their expectations aren't as high.

Interesting fact I read is that Father's day is the 4th largest card-giving holiday, behind Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and Christmas.

For me, this day is second only to Christmas. Not only for religious reasons, but it involves chocolate and bunnies – two of my favorite things. Put them in an Easter gift basket and you have the perfect gift.

Here are some fun facts I found:

• The tallest Easter egg weighed over 15000 lbs! It was made in Italy in 2011
• Surprisingly, only 12 states recognize Good Friday as a holiday
• Another surprise, 700 million peeps are sold during Easter. A surprise because I always found them way too sweet and sugary. Just give me chocolate.
• 76% of people eat the ears off a chocolate bunny first. Makes perfect sense. I am an ears person, too.
• Easter is second only to Halloween for candy consumption. It really is a good thing they are half a year apart. Can you image?

I have to admit, I miss when my kids were in elementary school and would make Leprechaun catchers, which was a shoe box with a trap door cut into the top and covered with green felt and bits of shiny glitter (because leprechauns like shiny things), or the teachers would leave small footprints on their desks overnight indicting Leprechauns had been there. It is still fun to pretend, though, especially with all the cool St. Patrick’s Day gourmet gift baskets delivered to you loved ones as a surprise.

I got curious about this interesting day and found that St. Patrick was a patron saint of Ireland, who wasn’t actually Irish, but a British Christian missionary and this is a day that set aside to remember him as it commemorates his death. Wearing green is a tradition that started in the 17^th century. People thought if you wore green you would be invisible to leprechauns. If you don’t wear green you get pinched as a reminder that leprechauns can sneak up on you at any moment.

Here are some interesting facts:

• It is the national holiday of Ireland.
• Corned beef and cabbage are the traditional foods to eat on this day.
• The three petals on the shamrock not only are supposed to bring good luck, but also represents the Trinity and is Ireland’s national flower.
• Leprechauns are small Irish fairies dressed like shoemakers (pointed hat and shoes, and a leather apron). They are unfriendly and live alone, guarding their treasures. If someone does manage to catch one, he will be forced to tell them where he hides his pot of gold.