Interesting Facts about Gifts in time for Valentines!!!

Here are some statistics you might have to try and live up to just in time for Valentine's Day! Things that you could try and store in the back of your mind that could also come in handy for the next table quiz or for that lull in conversation when you are desperately trying to think of something interesting to say. Instead of coming up with the old cliche hasn't the weather been icy you can say did you know that....

The largest gift ever given was the Statue of Liberty. The people of France gave it to the US in 1886. It's 151 feet, 1 inch high and weighs 225 tonnes.

The Bombardier Executive Jet topped the list of Jim Trippon's most expensive Valentines Day Gifts at a mere $48 million.

The world's most expensive Champagne is a bottle of vintage 1907 Heidsieck, at $275,000.

A Stradiavrius Violin given as a gift, made in 1707, was bought for US$3,544,000 on 16 May 2006. But private sales are rumoured to make even more!

For the collector with a sense of humor, a set of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads by Jay Strongwater is the first collectible choice from the Neiman Marcus 2004 catalogue at a snip at $8,000 but it is covered in Swaraovski Crystals!

A 17K White-Gold 3 Carat Diamond Pacifier valued at more than $17,000 was personally gifted to Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie's daughter Baby Shilo!

A Faberge egg that had been in the Rothschild banking family for more than a century, went under the hammer for $18.5million. The Egg was created in 1902 as an engagement gift for Baron Edouard de Rothschild.

The Golden Jubilee is currently the largest faceted diamond in the world. Since 1908, Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, had held the title, which changed following the 1985 discovery of a large brown diamond of 755.5 carats. It's value is estimated at $1.5 billion! Try putting that on an engagement ring!!

Check out great Gifts at http://www.giftsandvouchers.ie/ for Valentines Day! Record breaking delivery prices, handmade chocolate personalised hearts, roses, jewellery, hot air balloon rides, spa treatments! Who needs millions....

Sian xx

Ultimate Scrabble Accessory!!

I don't know about you but I love Scrabble! I have gone through several travel scrabble kits. One of the best gifts my Sister ever got me was the deluxe scrabble set with the wooden table that spins around! When we got married in Antigua we had a big gang with us. And some evenings we would sit on the sun loungers watching the sun going down drinking rum punches having very competitive and very drunken scrabble matches! Don't get me wrong, we aren't nerds. I amn't painting a very exciting picture here. The other picture would include the local boatman christening my Dad Puff Daddy!!

The only problem is that most people won't play with me! It is like monopoly. My family refuse to play with me. I can't understand why... buy buy buy... But this is the ultimate keyboard if you could get it for the scrabble fanatic! How cool!!

Sian x

Fairyhouse Cookery School a Sure Bet!!

Fairyhouse Cookery School are located just 30 minutes from Dublin and in the heart of the south Co. Meath countryside near the famous Fairyhouse Racecourse. Men, women and children can learn to cook in their modern, purpose built teaching kitchen, enjoy their results in the bistro style dining room and adjacent deck to the garden which makes a perfect setting for relaxed instruction indoors or out (if we get the weather!) The friendly atmosphere is a great place to cook, eat and discuss food, and courses are designed to offer a wide choice of themes, recipes and class schedules, which will suit you, whatever your cooking skills or experience.

Their talented cooking instructors and chef tutors use only the freshest and finest ingredients because everything they do is underpinned by a desire to promote local produce and seasonal ingredients which together with easy techniques put truly good food on the table. They run courses designed specially for Men in the kitchen, kids and teens, 1 day courses, demonstrations and corporates.

Billie and Lisa have menus that will make you salivate just by reading them. Your families and friends will be banging on your door once you have mastered them!! These courses make great gifts and are extremely popular. Billie can be seen making her big screen debut on Nationwide when Geraldine Harney visited the school. They were also winners in the Meath Marketing Awards in 2008. We are delighted to have them as partners in http://www.giftsandvouchers.ie/. They are definitely a winner we would back in Fairyhouse!! A great gift for Valentine's Day.

Sian xx

Nappy Cakes and Keepsake Boxes!

If they are good enough for the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Tori Spelling, Marcia Cross, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, they are certainly good enough for us! The most fashionable gift to give at the moment is Nappy Cakes. And we are delighted to welcome to Gifts and Vouchers our new Partner Business Gillean and Simply Baby who have a wonderful selection of Nappy Cakes along with many other wonderful Baby Gifts. You can choose from 1 Tier, 2 Tier, 3 Tier, and even one for those precious Premature Babies. And as the Mum of a Baby who was born at 28 weeks and only 1.25kg I can tell you how hard it is to find these, so it is great to see. And they even have the option of choosing between standard or eco friendly nappies!

And I think these Keepsake Boxes are just adorable. They would actually make a lovely Valentines gift from the little ones to their Mum or Dad on Valentine's Day! They come in ivory, blue or pink, and you can put in a photo of your loved ones. They also come with a kit so you can take an imprint of their hand or foot! My list for Valentines just keeps getting longer!!

Sian xx

I have become a Twitter!

People have been telling me all my life and now I have made it official. I am a Twitter! I haven't a clue what I am doing. But like blogging I am sure I will learn as I go along. It is fascinating that you can follow the lives of the famous, as some of them seem to be great fans of it and keep their daily routine updated on it. Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross are great fans of it. They are going to give official kudos to it!

At the moment it has over 3 million accounts with over 5 million visitors last September. It employees 31 people and is based in San Francisco, California. It is now being used as the latest marketing tool. I don't know, you nearly need to have somebody hired full time now, just to sit in front of the screen to keep up to date with blogging, twitting, tweeting.....

I am still a bird at heart xx

http://twitter.com/giftsandvoucher

Celebrity Big Brother Gifts!!

I don't know about you but I have found myself both fascinated and repulsed by some of the people in the Celebrity Big Brother House. I don't watch the usual Big Brother anymore after the first few series when it turned into a mental asylum. Don't get me wrong I am a sucker for reality shows. I love Strictly Come Dancing, I am a Celebrity Get me out of here, X Factor (once they get past the auditions). And I found myself wondering the other night what would be the perfect gifts to get the current inmates!

My favourites are Latoya, Verne and Terry. I thought originally I would buy Verne a megaphone as nobody ever seems to hear or listen to the poor fella. But then after seeing his attempt to crash through the diary door I think it would have to be a set of driving lessons! I think poor ole Latoya is so adorable she is so naive, did you see when she asked Coolio what spooning was. I would buy her some books on real life as I don't think she will venture out to live bless her. I would give Terry a voucher to the fantastic Fastlane Studios where he could show of his music prowess and record his own Rock Song!

I don't know about you but the sight of Tommy the other evening pumping iron bare chested was enough to make me run out of the room. A definite all over body wax would be on the cards for him! And as for the sight of Tina dragging what must be rubber legs up to her Grand Canyon orifice to feast on her nails she would definitely need a pedicure. Michelle I think needs to eat something and pig out. I would love to see her suddenly lose control and dive into a load of food and binge on chocolate!! Coolio seems to have a split personality, so we may need to look at two gifts for him. One for his bullying side and one for his calmer more entertaining side. I think for his bullying side we will just send him to Brat Camp! And for when he is a little nicer I think he could still do with calming down and he could do with an onsite Massage! I don't think he would let the others near it.

The only gift I can think of for poor ole Ben is a pair of tweezers for taking out all of the splinters from his posterior from all of the time he spends sitting on the fence! Mutya I think needs something to cheer her up as she spends all of her time frowning. And in her words she wants plastic surgery. What gift would you give Ulrika? How about a hint to one of the Daddies (so cruel!) to get somebody in and take the house over for a day and let her put her feet up! Bliss..

Hope they never read this!!! I didn't mean a thing

xx

Ideas for Valentines....

Are you looking for ideas for your loved one this Valentines. I am going to put this picture in and leave it lying around for my other half to see, Chocolate. I have sampled this handmade chocolate by master chocolatier Anne Rudden in Cavan. And believe me it is to die for! I only wish I was famous and on television and that now I could expect a box load of it to appear on my doorstep for mentioning it! Maybe one of these days...a girl can dream...

These dishes are also something a little bit different and would look fabulous if you are planning a romantic meal at home! They are available from the fabulous Garrendenny Lane Living Interiors who have some of the most wonderful furnishings. Heart Dishes

For the man in your life how about a pair of cufflinks from Newbridge Silver, Cufflinks Newbridge. One of our Partners we are delighted to have on board is Wine Buff in Drogheda, Magnum of Wine. They bring a great selection to the wine connoisseur. They specialise in wines of real character and authenticity from small family owned vineyards too small-scale (or too interesting!) for the supermarkets and big brand buyers. Their champagne is fabulous, Champagne. I can vouch for it from personal experience and probably it a bit too much of it on one particular night!

I hope these give you a few ideas! Most importantly spend time with those that are important to you.

xx

Baby Clothes & Accessories Sale!

One of our Partner Businesses, Hip Baby has a fantastic sale on at the moment of up to 50% sale on all of her items. The idea for HipBaby came about after their baby daughter developed mild eczema. So they went looking for alternatives the choice was very limited and not very exciting, so the idea for HipBaby was born! Stylish clothing made from organic cotton is a significant help in preventing and relieving common children’s skin complaints. HipBaby is also committed to donating 5% of all profit to the Alaistar Ramsay Charitable fund which provides funding and expertise to replicate effective services that promote children’s wellbeing in developing countries. They have the popular brands NooNoo, Green Baby and La Queue Du Chat to name a few.



Baby Moments is another new Partner Business. They have a fabulous selection of cuddly toys, accessories and gifts. They have well known brands such as BabyNat, Cuddledry, GAIA, Totseat and Baby Cubes. One of their best sellers is their baby Cubes as pictured above which is a must have for any parent. They can store babyfood in the freezer and are microwave safe. These are the bestselling product in North and South America!

These two shops would almost make me clucky again!

x

Gift Wrapping Ideas

Hi,

Found this cool blog that gives you great deas for wrapping gifts. Don't know about you but I find it hard to come up with different ideas and ways of wrapping pressies. She has some great tricks and novel ways and it doesn't cost a fortune. Oh to be artistic! http://www.pepperspollywogs.com/blog/index.php/gift-wrapping-tips

My Sister was telling me about how one of her extended family wrapped her Christmas presents in brown wrapping paper and then had actual holly on them and twisted in them sugar cane sticks. How fabulous is that! People are lucky if I manage to stick labels on mine. My New Years Resolution this year is to give the best looking gifts around! I won't vouch for what is inside them though, but they will look pretty darn smart! My Husband will be delighted with his Valentine's Day Gift!

Irish Open back in Baltray

Good news for all golf enthusiasts in the North East. The Irish Open is returning to Baltray Golf Course. We are delighted with this news not only because of the projected €7m boost to the economy that it brings with but also because County Louth Golf Course is one of Gifts and Vouchers Partner Businesses, . It has always been rated as one of Irelands best links courses. I have played it myself and it tests every part of your game. And the views from the course are breathtaking.

We can't wait to welcome the Open back to the area and all the fine golfers that come with it. Congratulations Michael Delany and your team. Don't forget you can purchase Gift Vouchers for Green Fees on this magnificent course at http://www.giftsandvouchers.ie/index/store-product?id=37 .

The last time the Irish Open was held in County Louth Golf Course in 2004 was when Australia's Brett Rumford held off a strong challenge from Pádraig Harrington to win. Network 3 have been announced as the tournament sponsors. Paul McGinley is thrilled with the news and he was actually a member in Baltray as a junior.
So great news for the North East and for Gifts and Vouchers.

First Blog!

This is my first attempt at a blog so please bear with me! I promise to try not to bore you to tears and try and come up with great ideas for gifts for all of those special occassions. I will post tips from different businesses ranging from Bridal to Interior and I will have a Help section where you will be able to email me if you need help finding that perfect gift and I will do my best to help you and reply to all of the queries. And I will not be confining my answers to my own website.

I can't believe we are into 2009 and are over Christmas and starting to look forward to Valentines Day already! We had great fun with Santa in our house. He delivered a Nintendo Wii to our 6 year old son. I am surprised our neighbours haven't called the gardai at the sight of myself and my hubbie boxing late into the night through the blinds!

This was our first Christmas in Gifts and Vouchers as we only launched in the middle of November. Thank you to all of our new customers and we look forward to welcoming you all back during the rest of the year. Some of our most popular gifts were:

• Newbridge Jewellery & Accessories


• Personalised Items


• Chocolate Hampers


• Beauty Vouchers


• Men's Fashion Vouchers


• Shooting Vouchers

I am starting to get the site ready for Valentines day now! Will let you know all about that in the next post. Thanks for listening.

xx