Apparently it's Birthday Season

I love Birthdays. Not just my own, but just Birthdays in general. I'm a ridiculous gift giver. I think "Oh, I'll go ahead and get this Present, her birthday's not for another month, but I'll just get this taken care of ahead of time." Yeah... all that really succeeds in making me do, is continuing to buy, and tweak for a whole month. I'm also very much a fan of gift baskets. Sure, you can give someone a gift in a gift bag, the object placed carelessly inside, the bag soon to be disposed of. But I much prefer to arrange gifts in a useful and creative container. I put together a basket of goodies for my best friend's birthday and bundled them all in a very functional purple basket that matches her room. Included in the basket was an SFA rain jacket (so she can stop stealing mine), a collection of her favorite candies, and homemade Mini Oreo Cheesecakes. I think what takes an ordinary gift (or any object for that matter) is in the details of the presentation. Anyone can take a bag of candy and toss it into a basket, but to present something lovingly and creatively shows an added level of commitment to the presentation. I'm a huge fan of mason jars. I think they are extremely under appreciated, and have infinite possibilities to go from ordinary to extraordinary. I took plain mason jars, and replaced the circular disks in the lid with more decorative paper, tied a tulle bow and the mouth, and filled the jars with bright candies. The overall effect was very charming. 


I am very much morally opposed to the idea of raisins. I think Johnny Depp's character Sam, in Benny & Joon had it completely right when he said  "Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes. I can't say I am a big supporter of the raisin council." Even more offensive than raisins would be the candy Raisinets, trying to disguise the disgraced grapes in a chocolatey suit of armor. However, despite my distaste for them, Mycah is very much a fan. So I grabbed four bags, weighing in at almost 3lbs. But as much as I'm not a fan, I still thought they deserved a slightly 'prettier' presentation than the yellow plastic wrappings. So I poured all four bags into a brown paper bag (another ordinary to extraordinary object). I folded over the top, and attached a paper doily to spruce things up a little bit. with a two simple holes made using a hand held hole puncher, I was able to thread tulle matching the one on the jars through to secure the bag, and tied it in a bow. 

It was also Kelly's birthday on the same day. She requested Chocolate Cupcakes. I made the cupcakes following this recipe: 

And I was extremely happy with how they turned out. I added flower toppers of melted yellow chocolate under a bright purple icing. I shaped the flowers in the same way as in the directions for the Mini Oreo Cheesecakes. I placed the cupcakes in a cardboard cake box, and tied it with a tulle bow. 

All in all, it was a successful gift giving event that I was rather excited about. I have the birthday of another close friend coming up in the next few days, and I look forward to putting something together for that birthday too! I hope you have fun showering gifts on the people in your life. 

beeblissful always