Cookies By Design: Saving The Planet From Crappy Gifts
(Don't be alarmed, but I'm doing a giveaway. My first ever. Read on for your chance to be part of this historic event.)
As most businesses do, every year around Christmas I send my clients a little gift to say 'Thank You." This always seemed like kind of an odd tradition to me, since in essence what you're saying is, "Thanks for giving me money all year. Now here's a paltry assortment of baked goods."
But they always seem to appreciate it, and so around the first week of December I go online and start ordering gifts. I have to admit I don't get very creative: Year after year it's the same basket of muffins or the same box of chocolates. I imagine my clients receiving their baskets every year and saying about me, "For someone who's supposed to be creative she sure picks crappy gifts."
But then I received this awesome cookie bouquet from Cookies By Design and I knew my gift giving was about to take a turn for the better. Maria Bailey of MomTalkRadio is working with the CEO of Cookies By Design to help get the word out about their product, and asked me to review a cookie bouquet. I gladly accepted, knowing I could possibly save companies everywhere from an onslaught of tubs of stale popcorn and baskets of rotting fruit come December. Plus, I really needed something to dip in my coffee.
My basket arrived on my doorstep, beautifully arranged and wrapped in cellophane. (The whole thing was placed in a sturdy bag to prevent it from falling over.) The first thing you notice after tearing off the wrapper is the incredible aroma of the cookies - they smell freshly baked. And they're huge - each cookie is around 5" - 6" tall and around 1/2" thick. Why, you could even share one if you had that type of insane inclination.
I set the cookies out for my taste testers - my two tween daughters and two of their friends - and we all dug in. The girls chose to eat theirs still mounted on their sticks (which are holding them into the base), sort of like a cookie lollipop, which they thought was the best idea ever. The verdict: They tasted just as good as they looked. They were rich and buttery, and tasted homemade. I knew my clients would appreciate this more than those tins of quarter-sized, rock-hard cookies I sent out last year. It might even inspire them to start returning my calls.
And here's the best part: You can receive your own basket of cookies from Cookies By Design. Leave a comment here by Thursday, July 17th, telling me about the worst gift you've ever received. I'll pick the most pathetic and will have a Cookie Bouquet (this version) shipped off to you, courtesy of Cookies By Design and Maria Bailey.
And may you never send a fruitcake as a gift again.
(You can read about my own pathetic gift experience here.)
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tags: cookies by design | cookie bouquets | client gifts | food gifts
15 comments:
I wish I had a picture to go with this description...a lamp with a hot pink & white fringe on the shade with ceramic angels of various colors all around and up the base wrapped in cellophane. This was nothing like the fringed leg lamp from "A Christmas Story" which I have displayed in my family room. Go figure....
Okay, my brother will probably kill me since he is tired of hearing this story, but one Christmas his entire gift to me was a bottle of Pink Nail Polish that he purchased at the market (probably on Christmas Eve) -- that was it -- and even better I believe that he had to borrow the money from my mom to buy it. So sad. (P.S. He was a teenager at the time so I know he could have done way better -- but that is just my opinion!)
For my wedding shower, my MIL gave me ONE cereal bowl. I mean, from my registry, she bought one bowl off of it. I guess only my husband was allowed to have cereal.
My then-fiance (now ex-husband) bought me a bathroom scale for my birthday. No I did not ask for it, and there was the suggestion that whatever I weighed the day we got married, he would have the right to divorce me if I got any 'fatter'. I was a size 5 (at 5' 5" tall).
I let him keep the scale when I left. ;)
I received a box of sugar-free chocolate. The giver didn't want me to get fat. Funny thing is, the sugar-free chocolate has more fat than regular chocolate!
at my wedding, my grandmother pulled me aside and told me she had a special present just for me. i was so excited. she put it in my hand and told me not to look until later...it was something special because i was moving so far away to CAnada.
when i got back to my seat...i opened my hand.
wait for it...
$1.75 in Canadian coins.
Omigod - these stories are killing me. I can tell I'm going to have a hard time deciding which is truly the most pathetic.
When I was 15, my mother gave me this lame as-seen-on-tv ab roller. It was just a plastic wheel with two handles and it was supposed to strengthen and tone my flabby abs. This is how she wanted to celebrate my birthday, by chipping away at my fragile self-esteem.
Okay--I was going to leave a post about my worst gift--but I don't even know if it's worth it--especially after reading the scale story.
My worst gift was also an item of clothing from a guy. I was living in NY at the time, and I had recently started dating this incredibly handsome former coke addict and boxer--not exactly a brainiac--but really a very sweet guy, if a bit clueless. (He'd gone from snorting and boxing to bartending and acting. A natural segue, I'd say. We met while he was tending bar and I was waiting OVER AN HOUR for my friends to show up). Anyhoo, my story is similar to Marsha's--new relationship, holiday time, etc. Except that instead of a t-shirt, it was a pink sweatershirt, complete with the Everlast logo and boxing gloves. Sigh. How romantic.
ok, it wasn't me but it was my hubby, his mom got him a wind breaker from the local drugstore ???? for xmas, that was his gift. it has the name of the local town on it ???
Someone once gave me an enormous plastic duck that you could plug in - sort of a big duck night light if you can imagine that.
i think Starbucks Coffee Cards are the very best gift.
From my boyfriend in college. We had been dating over a year and he had shown some good gift-giving skill in the past, so I was completely speechless when I opened my birthday gift (on my 20th birthday) to find a LAMP. In the SHAPE of a MOOSE. A HUGE lamp.
For why?? I had no love of moose (mooses? meese? See? I don't even know the correct pluralization!) The worst part was that he was SO excited for me to open this gift. Practically rubbing his hands together with glee. He really thought it was the best gift ever. To this day I have no idea what the hell he was thinking.
The worst gift I ever received was a used sock full of Mexican pesos when I lived in Chicago...
I missed the contest but just had to comment and tell my story. A few years back my husband, the kids and I had to go do the relative visits over the holidays; not something I look forward to with great glee because you know how it is when people have those fake smiling faces but inside they wish you would disappear. Well, this is how this particular family group makes me feel. My husband always said it was in my head - haha. Time for the gifts -- my SIL's kids worked especially hard over the holidays making their gifts -- they had 2 aunts and then myself to make for. I sat at the table and watched Aunt #1 open her gift -- it was a beautiful handmade candle; exquisite design. Then comes Aunt #2; her's is beautifully wrapped and inside is another incredulous-looking handmade candle. Now, I am all excited because I love candles. I can't wait to see mine. They hand me a 4 x 4 box; not so nicely wrapped, and I am wondering what the heck could it be and I can already feel the snickers behind my back. I just figured I would get it over with very quickly and unwrapped my token of good will and cheer, and discovered I was bestowed with a $1.99 (actually 99 cents if you apply $1 coupon) Glades candle, but it was very special because it was one of their newest scents. I don't think my husband thinks it is in my head anymore. I just love visiting the relatives over the holidays.
My husband for christmas this year gave me- "his promise to run a marathon with me" and he even registered us. Where is the gift in this for me? Running is my salvation, my time away from everything, my time to be alone and now I have to run 26.2 miles with someone else?
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