As the Garden Grows

What's blooming today?


You are here: Home / Archives for Shopping / Gift ideas

House warming gifts

by

One of my friends bought a new home and she’ll be moving into her new house in two weeks. This is their first new home so it’s a very exciting time for them.

Chris and I will be helping them with the move, and with any luck we’ll have a barbecue and relax once all the work is done that evening.

I already got them a couple of really nice house warming gifts, but while I was shopping I saw some really cute kids bedding. They have two small kids and I was thinking that getting a nice bedroom sheet set for one of the kids rooms might make a nice gift. I still have time to order it and receive the package before they move if I buy the set today.

I remember how expensive our move was, especially since we were moving into a larger space and had to buy furniture and other items.

What do you think? Is kids bedding a weird house warming gift or a nice idea?






Designer Gifts has quality gifts for every budget and occasion

by

designergifts.gif

I’ve taken some time to have a really good look at this website and my overall opinion of the site is that it’s a great place to get some quality gifts in a wide range of prices from under $15 and up.Speaking of prices and selection, you can browse through the site in several different ways – by price, by occasion, by category, by recipient, and even by upcoming holiday. I’ll give them an A+ for that feature because I love visiting sites that you can do a number of things in a number of different ways, preferably all easy and straightforward.

giftbasket.jpgOne section that I really like is the Cheap gifts section. You can find items in that category that are listed as being under $10, $10 to $20 and so on right up to items listed at $100 and up.

Since Fathers Day is the next major special occasion that’s coming up in the near future, those of you who are looking for gifts might want to have a look at the Gift ideas for men category. Once you visit this category page you’ll find male oriented gift baskets, personalized gifts such as a stainless steel Army knife that can be engraved, a Pilsner glass, or a flask among many other items that can be personalized. There are also MP4 players, Picture frames, BBQ and grilling type gifts and a whole lot more gift ideas that would be perfect for a man.

I like that the menu, on the left side of the page has pop out sub categories. You can get to the area that you want to visit very easily in that manner, or you can just simply see what’s in each section by hovering over it with your mouse.

There is nothing in particular that I don’t like about this site. The prices are more than reasonable and the quality of the gift items is outstanding. When looking through the site I found that if you take a look at the gifts by recipient section you can even find gifts for pets and military personnel. I don’t believe that there are many designer gift sites out there that also cater to pets and the military.

One of the sections that I got caught browsing in for some time was the Picture Frames section. Yes, picture frames tend to be a standard gift for all occasions aren’t they? The are of the picture frame category that most interested me was the Digital picture frames area. I don’t have one of these yet, but after checking out a few different brands and styles I really really want one.

With some online stores my complaints tend to fall into the area of purchasing and shipping. I can’t find a fault in this area either. Designer Gifts accepts all major credit cards and even mail order purchases. They also ship to Canada, they do not however ship outside of the USA, US Territories and Canada. I’m personally pleased that they ship to Canada because I often find items online that I’d like to buy but can’t because the stores don’t ship to Canada. This can be really disappointing once you’ve taken the time to find an item and perhaps even started the purchasing process. So Kudo’s to Designer gifts for shipping throughout most of North America. Now if they’ll start doing international deliveries I’m sure many of you reading this would be quite happy.

If you do decide to purchase anything from Designer Gifts you might be happy to know that shipping is free if your purchase total is over $75. Since shipping can really add to the cost of purchasing an item online I think it’s great that they offer free shipping on some purchases.

Do check out this online store. I think you’ll be pleased with both the selection and prices.

Flags and Accessories at the United States Flag Store

by

united-states-flag-store.jpg

I’ve been asked to discuss United States Flag Store, an online store where it appears that you can purchase just about anything to do with flags and their display.I’ll start by saying that as far as selection goes I doubt that you’d find a better online collection of American Flags anywhere on the internet or off-line. Which, I suppose, is why they really are the largest vendor of online flags and flagpoles. You can get everything from small flags, car flags, pins, patches and decals, patriotic decorations, as well as patriotic wear and gifts.

Not only do they sell US Flags, but they also sell custom flags, state flags, World flags, flag display cases, flag accessories and Outdoor Flagpoles. There’s even a section on the site that contains information about flag etiquette and flag care.

Browsing the site is quite easy. Simply use the menu on the left hand site of each page to reach the section that you’d like to look at. Once you are on a page with the type of items that you are interested in purchasing you’ll find thumbnail photos of the products, and if the items come in different types, styles or sizes you’ll be able to travel deeper into the site until you are looking at exactly what you’d like to possibly purchase.

For example, if you are interested in purchasing a flagpole you could click on the flagpoles menu on the left hand side of any page, then once you are in the flagpole section you’ll see thumbnails and short descriptions that will lead you into specific pages for the various types of flagpoles that United-States-Flags.com sells, such as 20FT ground flagpoles, residential flagpoles, commercial flagpoles, Wall mounting US Flag pole kits, and accessories such as Snaps, trucks, brackets, eagles, and recognition rocks that you might need to use when hanging your flag, or that you might need to replace on your current flag display.

What I’d like to see improve on the site, is that when you click on the State Flag area and perhaps choose “Alabama – Kentucky” state flags, it wasn’t clear to me that this was an alphabetical list of state flags from A to K. That could of course be just me. The World flag section is set up that way as well.

Now, this is a site that sells flags, and to my eyes the only thing with a splash of color on the site are the flags themselves. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. When I visit a site whether it be a blog or a website, or an online store, I’m much more concerned with the content and navigation of a site than it’s appearance, but I do know that some people will not delve deeper into a site if they do not like the initial look of the site.

So I’m suggesting that perhaps a header displaying a colorful flag be placed across the top of the page or some kind of design consideration like that be added to the website. Yes they do have a small logo with a flag in the top left hand corner of the page, but it doesn’t add much pizazz to the website.

Prices seem quite reasonable, and the selection really does appear to be unbeatable. I really can’t find any flaws in the design, and I’ve only suggested a few minor improvements that would make the site a little bit more appealing to the eye.

Readers, do you have anything to add regarding the United States Flag Store?

Meta