Picking the perfect present for a proud party planner isn’t always, well, a party. They have the food, music, and games covered. Yes,they already have everything their guests need to have a great night down, but that doesn’t mean they won’t love to get one of these special gifts to help them create a fresh presentation for appetizers or add a little extra flair to their tablescapes.
We’ve long been fans of artist Patricia Carlin. We feature many of her beloved products in our assortment, and they’ve delighted so many people with their whimsy and personal feel. We (and our customers) just couldn’t get enough of Patricia, so our product development team worked with her to create this extra special Personalized My Alphabet Book.
The book is tailor-made from start to finish. The cover features your child’s name and a charming illustration of an animal that starts with the same letter (Liam gets a lion, Wyatt a wallaby, Everett an elephant, etc). Inside, they’ll find a little note from the same animal pal explaining why they love their shared first letter — “L is also for lollipops! And library! And leapfrog!”
Thanksgiving Day is less than one month away, which means that we are officially entering the eye of the holiday season! (Cue “Eye of the Tiger.”)
Between between hours of travel, days of holiday dinner prep, and months of coordinating reunions with loved ones, it can be hard to take the time to plan anything that doesn’t revolve around your own seasonal traditions.
But there’s no denying that taking the time to give back is invaluable. All year long, we offer our customers the chance to give back through our Better to Give program. With every purchase you make, we’re proud to donate $1 to a Better to Give partner of your choice (at no cost to you). This year, we want to make sure that giving back is part of your holiday planning. So, we turned to our community to spread the word about our Better to Give program.
I’m always trying to fit podcast listening into every at-home task that I can: cooking, folding laundry, braiding my hair. I also like to listen to music while I clean my apartment, shower, and start my work day. My phone speaker isn’t loud enough and doesn’t provide good enough sound quality to be used without headphones. I’ve tried other Bluetooth speakers and because they’re bulky or a pain to move around, they typically hang out in one room. I don’t think this will be the case with SoundFlex because it’s small and slim.
All images and videos courtesy of Solight Designs ™
Some of us take light for granted. The sun goes down, we flip a switch, and our homes are flooded with an electric-energy-fueled sunshine substitute. But for the 1.6 billion people in the world without access to electricity, it’s not that easy.
In many areas around the globe, kerosene is used in place of electricity. Kerosene, like gasoline, is a fossil fuel made from petroleum. It’s expensive, it has to be burned to create energy, and burning it creates air pollution. Unfortunately, many families don’t have access to any other source of light. That makes cooking, studying, or even seeing the face of the loved one sitting right across the room impossible without the aid of kerosine lamps. Use of these lamps can be dangerous. They get hot, they send soot into the air, and in some cases, they even use open flames.
Aiming to bring a safe, clean alternative to kerosene to those living by lamplight, product designer, architect, and Professor of Design and Material Culture at Parsons the New School of Design, Alice Min Soo Chun developed the SolarPuff™— an inexpensive, collapsible light powered by the sun.
As a photographer I’ve played with all kinds of cameras, from high-end digital cameras to dollar store 35mm, and Polaroids are no exception. So when I saw that the classic Polaroid camera has been re-imagined for the digital age with the I-1 Analog Instant Camera, I knew I had to test it out. With a trip to London and Paris coming up, I had the perfect opportunity to give it a try.
A hot bowl of homemade porridge for breakfast; a leisurely bike ride past warm, welcoming shops; a fresh pot of tea shared with an old friend; the comforting glow of candles—lots of candles. All of these things are hallmarks of hygge, an essential ingredient of life in Denmark. Though it has no tidy translation in English, some etymologists think it’s a distant Danish cousin of the word hug, an association encouraged by the cozy, comforting essence of both words. It may be hard for English speakers to pronounce (try “hyoo-gah”), but it’s not so hard to attain. The new Little Book of Hygge offers pointers on the Danish way to live well, while Morley College in London has started teaching hygge along with their Danish language instruction. But hygge isn’t just about warm, fuzzy feelings—it’s central to Denmark’s status as the happiest country in the world. That’s right, Denmark is consistently crowned the #1 country for happiness, according to the UN’s official World Happiness Report. And if it’s not too much of an oxymoron, the Danes are serious about their happiness. Just ask the staff of the Happiness Research Institute of Copenhagen. With chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire season just around the corner, we offer this cozy collection of uncommon goods that can help you mix more hygge into your home and lifestyle, whether you live in Copenhagen or Corpus Christi.
You might say that hygge is part of the Scandinavian landscape: serene stands of fir and birch, mossy forest floors dotted with red-capped mushrooms that might just be gnomes out of the corner of your eye…Our Nordic Tea Light Trough lends a soothing alpine glow to your decor.
