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January 5, 2010

Two Tips Tuesday

Tip #1: Twice the Hostess Gift: Keep the Plate!

When I turned 30 (a number of years ago), my sweet hubby threw a little surprise party for me (love that man). To help him out, a lot of my friends brought a dish of food. One of my friends brought two plates of hors d' oeuvres on these adorable square plates and the plates were the gift!

Is this GENIUS or what?

I love and treasure these plates and practically use them at every party I have. They are so happy and they make me smile. I always thought this was such a great idea as a hostess gift. I have never done it but I used this plate the other day and it reminded me to do it.

I'm a-goin' plate huntin'! (I will let you know what I find!)



#2: New Home Gift: Photo Album of Homes


When my husband and I first married, we rented this adorable 1 bedroom cottage that belonged somewhere in the Carolina mountains. It was so thoughtfully done with these unique niches and shelves, storage galore, skylights, with soaring ceilings and a loft. Our landlady was a widow who lived next door and she is just precious as can be! Spunky too! And one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received was this little photo album from her. It stands up and the front says "Our Homes" on the picture of a front door. She included a picture of our house in the snow which now makes me cry because we don't see snow in sunny old Florida. Plus, that house holds memories of sweet beginnings.

I miss this sweet old house. It was our landlady's first home which her husband built. Her son and family lived in it too before they built a bigger house. I think it is so wonderful to have shared in this heritage with her!


Our little apartment when we moved to Florida.

I have yet to put a pic of our current house. I mean we have only lived in this place 6 years. I'll get around to it!

Anyway, I thought this was a lovely, thoughtful idea for someone who just moved or bought a house to give as a housewarming gift.
I spotted a cute one at IKEA. Check it out here.

Happy Tuesday! :)

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful ideas ... as always! I do the plate thing and love when it's done to me ... for me ... at me. You get the idea.

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  2. you have a new follower!i found your blog in shabby blogs! Such a pretty blog you have! my family and i are moving to the N Carolina to a small small town called saluda :)have you heard of it?? i live in s cali right now so i guess i better get used to that snow i see in that picture!!!

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  3. I always do the plate thing. I look around when I am out shopping for interesting plates! Love your tips!

    Kim
    http://kimberly-kimberlyskorner.blogspot.com

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  4. So why didn't you leave the plate at my house? Haha. Love the ideas as usual.

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  5. Love it. This has me desperately trying to think of someone who I could do this for. But I'm stumped. I hope I can remember this one. The plate idea is genious! How fun. :)

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  6. Hi Jessica,
    New follower here...I'm in MS and have a similar life story. Our family resembles yours in that we have one adopted daughter and one biological. God amazed us with our 2nd girl while in the midst of a 2nd adoption. So glad to have found your blog..will be following closely. And by the way, I've done the plate thing too...so nice!

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  7. I must say that I sheepishly giggle at the fact that the plate tip was clearly only a tip for moi {thanks, Mindy for being on the same page as me & Jen...um, cuz it is MY plate :)} and most of you already knew about this. So either I often arrive empty handed to a party orrrrrrrr I am a plate hoarder. Or hang out with other plate hoarders. Love all your comments! You all are the best!

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  8. I learned the plate thing from a friend years ago who always picked up individual pieces of china at thrift or antique stores for the purpose of hostess gifts when she took a dish.
    xo
    Jenn N

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  9. Love these ideas and the plate thing was new to me, too! How did the "gift-er" let you know the plate was a gift as well?

    And, thanks for the IKEA link--I instantly needed to know where I could fine one of those albums. Love it!

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  10. Well, darn it, that plate idea is cute! Now who wants to invite me to a party so I can use it? ;)

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  11. I love the two tips tuesday and I'm thinking about implementing a similar idea of my blog,

    http://dollard.wordpress.com/

    But I want to give you the proper credit/link back. Do you have a button or something so I can link to you every Tuesday!?

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