Hugs & Kisses

It's a couple of days before Valentine's Day so I thought I'd give you some tips in case you need a last minute gift for someone. Don't worry - you don't even need to spend a lot of money. It's all in the packaging!!

How about some Hugs & Kisses?? Chocolate ones, that is.

No, I'm not here to give you a Hershey's sales pitch. I'm using these little guys just as reference. You can substitute whatever other candy you like. I just want to give you some insight into what the gift professionals use. (that would be me) Remember in my past life I had a gift basket business? Packaging is still in my blood and I use it for my other things - just not baskets. I can't even look at another basket!

You can try some of these ideas at home.

First off, if you're going to get someone these little chocolate morsels, you can't present them in their original packaging. Unless of course you're going for that "oh crap I forgot it's Valentine's Day and stopped at the local drug store" look. In that case, you're perfectly fine. For the rest of you, it's just not gifty enough. You may not be spending the big bucks but you will need to take an extra couple of minutes to spruce it up a bit.

Idea Number 1 - Bag It!

Get a clear or printed cello bag from a local craft store (usually sold in the baking department) and fill it with the chocolates. Take 2 pieces of ribbon in different colors (you may even have some left over from XMAS) and tie a bow around the neck of the bag. You're done! See, wasn't that easy??

Idea Number 2 - Do Me A Favor

If you're having a party at work, home or school, it's always nice to have a little party favor. Everyone likes to leave with a little something to remind them of the (hopefully) fun time they had at the party.

These little pillow boxes work great and they can be customized in many different ways.

Fold the sides of the box in to form a pillow. Fill it with the chocolates,

tie a small ribbon around and embellish with stickers. That's one fabulous party favor!

Idea Number 3 - Box It Up

The last idea I want to show you is how to dress up an ordinary white box.

Take a colorful piece of tissue paper and line the bottom of the box with enough left over to stick up a bit. You want it to look a little fluffy.

Next fill the boxes with the chocolates, fold the tissue paper down and put the lid on. Now you can decorate it however you'd like. Here I used the same 2 ribbons I used for the first idea.

I also created a little gift tag with a stamp I got at Michael's.

I think the stamp may have cost me a dollar!! I just love a bargain.

I hope I've inspired you to go the extra mile when giving someone a gift. The reaction you get will make it all worth it.

And it will give me the pleasure of saying "told ya so!"