My Tip of the Week!: Gift for a one year old

Everyone keeps asking me what they should get my little guy for his upcoming first birthday.  That is a difficult question!  My son just received a ton of toys for Christmas so he already has more than he needs, and the sad part is that he spends more time following me around and playing in the cupboards than with any of his toys.  In upcoming days, I will definitely list a few gifts I think as a one year old he will need and enjoy, but for today I will tell you about the gift I am making for him.  In addition to "the" Pottery Barn Chair, I ordered for him (as posted on Monday) I will be making him a picture book.  He loves flipping through picture books and he loves looking at pictures so I am going to make him photobook of the people and things around him (mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc.).  This will not only make a nice souvenir for later but it will be good for him to start learning people's names, etc.  He is already saying a few words and this will help expand the vocabulary he will need daily.  The photo book will need to be small and pocket sized like the following.

5.5 x 5 - Via Black's

5 x7 - via Tiny Prints



6 x 4 - Mixbook



These are my favourite options.  I prefer the Black's option because it is a square book and the smallest size and it seems simple inside.  I will see which one ships faster.  The best part is that both Black's and Tiny Prints have sales on these items right now!  Hope he likes it.

Update to November 11 post: The Perfect Gift for Grandparents

This weekend I received the last batch of personalized photo gifts, including the calendar I made for my parents-in-law.  As I said in my November 11 post, I decided to use mixbook.com this time to create the calendar.  I was very lucky because just when I was creating the calendar, Mix Book had a buy one get one free deal so I was able to get 4 calendars for the price of 2 and will give the other ones to my husband's siblings.  This way everyone can keep track of the birthdays and anniversaries in the family.

Anyway, all is all, I was super happy with Mix Book.  I found there were many templates to choose from for the calendar. I used this template design:

Via Mix Book

And the most important part is that I was able to add as many photos per page as I needed.  This made making the calendar so much easier and faster - a big bonus.  As I mentioned in my November 11 post, previously I used Costco's calendar template and wasn't able to add more than one or two pictures so I had to create collages in Picasa of multiple pictures then upload them to the calendar - a big hassle.  Unfortunately with Mix Book you have to pay shipping, but I think it is worth it.

Hope my in-laws love it!

Black Friday Deals!

Here are a few deals that I know of and that I think are worth checking out.

For those of you living in the Ottawa/Gatineau area and planning to shop today, check out Place D'Orleans mall.  They are having a tax free event: you can redeem any tax you pay on your purchases today for a gift certificate to use at Place D'Orleans. Click here for the terms and conditions.  So you get more for your money! Especially if you are going to pay those taxes anyway.

Via Place D'Orleans

I LOVE Aerie.  Great lounging clothing!  I have heard that some young people find this store expensive so today through Sunday is really your chance to shop at Aerie.  They are having a 40% off your entire purchase sale, excluding undies. Click here for more details.   This is for online and in store purchases.  I am sure you can find great Gifts for Her!

Via Aerie

As I mentioned in a previous post my favourite photo book, calendar and cards site is Mix Book.  Today until Sunday they are also having some great deals.  My favourite is the buy one get one free calendar sale!  I will certainly take advantage of that to order the calendar I prepared for my in-laws.  This way I can order copies for my sisters-in-laws.

Via Mix Book

Happy Shopping!!!  And good luck with any lines!