Gifting :: New Baby Care Package

It has come to that point in our lives where instead of bachelor and bachelorette parties we spend our weekends at baby showers.  I am so excited for our friends that had a beautiful baby boy recently.  As we weren't able to be at their baby shower and since they live in Kansas City, I decide to send a little love, via a baby care package.  Here's the how to on baby care packages:

I included a few cute outfits, a pair of adorable sneakers, a fancy robe, wash cloths, baby wipes, Gripe Water, a teether, a book, and a stuffed animal.  I topped the package off with a yarn-wrapped letter L, which they used as a prop for his newborn pictures, and our wishes for baby card.  

And I got a little crafty with my stencil set and added a little message:  Welcome to the world!

I love sending care packages.  They're just a fun way of spreading some love.  What are your go-to baby care package items?

The Wise Baby :: Nursing Basket Essentials

I'm over at The Wise Baby today with my go to gift for nursing moms.  A nursing basket, is a great way to pamper her.  See which products are essential in a nursing basket.

The Wise Baby :: Pregnancy Gift Ideas

We are over at The Wise Baby this afternoon with our favorite ideas for pregnancy gifts.  I was on the receiving end of some incredibly sweet and thoughtful pregnancy gifts last year.  So I put together a list of some practical, sentimental, and just plain fabulous suggestions for the preggo in your life.  Happy Thursday!

Gifting :: DIY Housewarming Jar

I love all the adorable housewarming jars out there.  So when my cousin moved to the city with her Mister, I couldn't resist making them one.  I went to Home Goods, I should be upfront in saying that I have an addiction to that store, and picked up everything I needed.  I included: kitchen towels, a wood spatula, dirty or clean dishwasher magnet, cupcake liners, paper straws, cheers cocktail napkins, an egg timer, a lovely smelling candle, and Meyer's All Purpose cleaner.  Oh and for all the fun 'new house' things I picked up,  I also included a roll of toilet paper, because everyone needs the essentials.  And to tie it together I found this adorable glass jar with a chalk label.  I love the way it looked put together. 

The wooden spatula didn't quite fit, so I  used double sided tape to secure to the outside.  I liked the way this looked so much better. 

A close up of the jar's contents. 

Gifting :: Welcome to Chicago Foodie Inspired Basket

The Mister's cousin and family are moving to Chicago and we wanted to get them a little something to look forward to.  As foodies, they're excited for all the great eats Chitown has to offer.  So I put together a little preview for them.  The label featured the city of Chicago flag and the phonetical spelling of Chicago (ski-KAW-go).

 I included a six pack of 312, a Vosges Haut-Chocolat sampler pack, Frontera salsa, bread from Little Goat Bread Co, and doughnuts from the Doughnut Vault.

Other things you could include in a Chicago foodie gift basket: Garrett's popcorn, Wrigley gum, Frango mints, or frozen deep dish from UNO Pizzeria.

Gifting :: Survival Kits for the Bachelorette & Bride-to-be

With wedding season quickly approaching, bridal showers and bachelorette party planning is in full swing.  Since I wasn't able to make it to a few bridal shower and bachelorette parties with the arrival of the little Man, I threw together a few survival kits for the brides to be.   If you're looking for any of these cards you can find them over at our Etsy store.

The bride-to-be kit included a Red Bull, Vodka, Advil, Band Aids, Evian Facial Mist, Wisps, deodorant, and of course chocolate, and lots of it.  

Baby Week :: Preggo & New Parent's Gift Basket Ideas

I was on the receiving end of some incredibly sweet and thoughtful 'congrats your eggo is preggo' gifts this year.  So I couldn't wait to return the favor for our friends that happen to get pregnant this year as well.  Here are some of the pregnancy gift baskets I pulled together for the preggos in my life.

For the first time mom who has had her share of morning sickness:

~ Saltines & Sprite to help keep the nausea at bay

~ Preggo Magazine for some light reading

~ Tums because heartburn is every pregnant woman's friend

~ Palmer's Cocoa Butter for those dreaded stretch marks

 For the second time mom:
~ Something sweet & salty for those cravings
~ Flip flops for her swollen feet
~ Nail polish, at least her toes will look cute even if she can't see them
~ Earth Mama Angel Baby Happy Momma Body Wash & loofah, great for nausea and a boost of energy
~ Earth Mama Angel Baby Tea Sampler from nausea to heartburn and third trimester wellness

 For the mom that just gave birth:
~ Something cute for their new bundle of joy
~ Grooming: Face wipes & Hair ties because taking care of herself takes a backseat to the new arrival
~ For her lady parts: Witch Hazel medicated pads & Tucks cooling pads, for the party in the front and the back.
~ Keep Calm and Mother On sign now available on our Etsy store: rivernorthLove

For your neighbor & new parent:
~ Baby Shampoo & Lotion
~ Diaper Rash Cream
~ Baby Wipes
~ Saline Drops & Nasal Aspirator
~ Pacifier (not pictured)

Something cute for the mom and dad-to-be:

Other great ideas you could include:

~ Pregnancy Journal

~ Stretch Mark Oils: Bio-Oil, Noodle & Boo Elasticity Oil, Earth Mama Angel Baby Stretch Oil

~ Lotions: Mama Bee Belly Butter

~ Maternity clothing such as tanks (try Old Navy, Target, H&M, & Asos)

~ Pampering gifts: A prenatal massage, a mani & pedi, LUSH bath bombs, the Snoogle Body Pillow

~ Funny pregnancy books: Belly Laughs, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay.  We annotated a copy of Belly Laughs for our newest mommy-to-be, it'll be something we can pass around and write notes to one another as the rest of us become mommies.  And it's nice to know someone else out there went through the same thing.

~ Pregnancy workout dvds: Tracy Anderson's The Pregnancy Project

~ And of course anything the momma-to-be is craving

Gifting :: Nautical Hostess Gifts

As a follow up to the lovely nautical themed baby shower our friends and family threw us, today I'm sharing the hostess gifts I gifted them.  I wanted to get the ladies something useful and cute that wouldn't break the bank.  I decided to do a play on words and go with a "hope your shower is as fabulous as mine" theme.  Each lady received a bottle of champagne (because what bath/shower wouldn't be complete without it), and some of my favorite LUSH products: their bath bombs, and a tub of their limited edition Charity Pot.  On a side note, I love that LUSH uses all natural ingredients and that their products smell amazing, but what I love even more is when all of the proceeds go towards a charity.  To tie it all together, I used rope to make figure 8 sailing knots and attached them to the front of the cards.  And to keep with the nautical theme I used pretty red and white stripped packaging and blue tissue. 

 

Engineer Prints as Wrapping Paper

I'm sure you've seen the large black and white Engineer prints on Pinterest.  They're a great way to enlarge a print without breaking the bank.  As we are currently running out of wall space at casa Praveen/the Mister, I decided to find another use for them.  I realized engineer prints would double perfectly as wrapping paper.  We were celebrating one of our besties birthdays, so I created wrapping paper full of fun facts about the birthday girl's date of birth, birth year, and the number 29.  For example, in 1997 on her birthday the Bulls won their 5th NBA championship, and in 1983 MJ introduced the world to the moonwalk.  And in case you were wondering we gifted her with these lovely Henri Bendel stacked bangles.

The Mister and I are celebrating our second 3rd wedding anniversary today.  In celebration of that day 3 years ago when we said "I Do" again, I'm sharing pictures from our second wedding on rivernorthLove.



{the birthday girl loving her fun facts}



Gifting :: Something Old, Something New..

We recapped the beautiful wedding of our bestie today on rivernorthLove.  So I thought I'd share our take on the traditional, "something old, something new, something borrowed, & something blue" that we gifted her.

For her something "old and borrowed"  we gifted her bangles from our wedding chuda sets.  It's such a cute idea, is something she could wear on her wedding day, and it's a little of our wedding day bliss that we're passing on to her.

Her something "new and blue" were these I Do shoe decals from Etsy, and this pair of VS bridal undies.   The Jimmy Choo's were from her fiancee.

And our last little something for the bride were our love letters to her.  I love the idea of the bride and groom exchanging letters on the morning of.  So all seventeen of her bridesmaids, wrote her a little note, just to say how much we love her and how excited we were for her.  And we gifted her those love letters on the morning of.  The box (pictured above) is from the Container Store that we embellished with bling, because our bride loves bling.

Gifting :: Residency Survival Kit

One of our friends started his residency this past week.  To celebrate I put together this quick residency survival kit.  Contents: Advil, Batteries, Band aids, Wine, Snickers, Lifesavers, and Lucky Charms; with the following explanation:

Life Savers- Because you are one

Band-Aids- So you remember to be bendable/flexible

Snickers- Cuz laughter really is the best medicine

Batteries- so you can keep going like the Energizer bunny, and you’ll need it for your pager

Wine- No explanation necessary

Lucky Charms - let's just say I ate a box of his Luck Charms in college and I owed him.