Thank You Mother Nature

I was born here so I may be a bit prejudice but I believe there is nothing as beautiful as Autumn in New England.  Autumn heralds the beginning of an amazing number of celebrations.  

The County Fair season is in full swing and as Farmers’ Markets are winding down, Craft Fairs are gearing up.

Halloween is followed by Thanksgiving and Chanukah, Christmas and New Years Eve are right around the corner. Of course there are many more holidays that we celebrate at Laurel Mountain Basket Co. Holidays like Bosses’ Day, Mothers – In – Law Day and Cabbage Night.

Cabbage Night, also known as Gate Night, Trick Night, Mischief Night Goose, Night, Devil’s Night or Devil’s Eve depending on where you live, is celebrated on October 30^th.  On this night, mischief makers patrol their neighborhoods looking for gardens that have not been cleaned up.  They collect the over ripe vegetables and bombard the offending gardener’s house with the collected crop.

The trick is not to get caught or fall down while carrying an arm load of the over ripe ammo.

For the record, our vegetable garden is cleared and ready for Spring planting so we’re going to skip celebrating Cabbage Night again this year and go straight to Halloween.

We only have a couple of kids in our neighborhood so we don’t go big on the Trick or Treat thing or spooky decorations but this weekend we’ll be buying pumpkins, flowers and cabbage kale to decorate our front steps.

I also love to bring the colors of Autumn into our gift basket designs. The reds and rusts, yellow and oranges are so bright yet bring a certain warmth.  It may be the many holidays that come along during the season give us a feeling of hearth and home.

Whatever the reason, Autumn and the colors of Autumn are also loved by our clients.

Have an event or occasion coming up soon?  Let us design a gift basket with the colors of Autumn and you too will come to believe that there is nothing as beautiful as Autumn in New England.

Marie

P.S.  To see samples of designs we have created for our clients, check out laurelmtbasket.com and let us design one just for you.

Tick, Tock

Time.  Time is one of the most valuable commodities we have.  We all have 24 hours in our days; that’s 1,440 minutes.  If you are like me, you find that some days those minutes seem to fly by. 

As much as I love certain activities, I have to delegate them or they don’t get done.

You may love shopping for gifts but driving to the mall or even shopping on line can be very time consuming. It’s even worse when you don’t know what you want to buy.

That’s where we come in.  We can be your personal shopper. We design every one of our gifts baskets to fit every occasion and every budget. A simple five minute phone call and you’re done.

Our corporate clients love shopping with us.  When they need a get well or sympathy basket for an employee they just let us know when and where to ship and how much they want to spend and done.  Some of our clients prefer email.  It really can be that simple.

Don’t really know what to get?   We’ll talk about choices and help you put together a gift basket that will be as delightful to give as it is to receive.

Because every gift basket is created to order, you know it is fresh and has not been sitting on a shelf, collecting dust for months.

We will also deliver your gift basket locally or ship it anywhere in the continental United States.  We take extra care to make sure your gift arrives in a timely manner in as beautiful condition as when it left our studio.

The next time you find that you need a gift and are running out of time, give us a call and let us create a stunning gift basket just for you.

Marie

Create A Stress-Free Zone In Your Business

It’s confirmed.  I took one of those on line stress tests the other day and my score indicated I have many signs of burnout like lack of energy, feeling overwhelmed, unable to relax and inability to focus.  Wow, I don’t think I know anyone in business today who isn’t suffering from “burnout”.

All of us are affected by work related stress at one time or another.  Of course, some jobs are more stressful than others.  Air traffic controllers, police and fire personnel come to mind, but would you have guessed that the job of bus driver is highly stressful?  Bus drivers sit for long periods of time, are responsible for the safe operation of the bus in dense traffic while maintaining tight schedules.  They deal with all types of passengers, some of whom may be threatening or violent.

Stress is pretty serious.  It causes everything from headaches to heart attacks.  75 to 90 percent of doctor visits are fro stress related complaints.

But, there is hope.  There are many ways to reduce stress in your life.  Exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, join family and friends in fun activities.  I’ve met with my Board of Directors and we’ve come up with some ways to relieve stress on the job at Laurel Mountain Company.

Stretch, play, nap, yawn (lowers BP), run for no reason, drink lots of water, love unconditionally, and live simply.  Did I mention that my Board of Directors is made up of my dogs, Zeva and DixieLee?

Now that Laurel Mountain Basket Company is a stress-free company, we are prepared to help you become stress-free, at least as far as helping you manage your gift giving needs.  Just give us a call and we’ll do the rest.

Stay Calm,

Marie

Colors of Autumn

So it begins.  The days are still warm but the nights are cool.  I love New England in autumn.  Every year Mother Nature surprises us with a unique pallet of colors and following her lead, we fill our gift baskets with New England treats and wrap them in New England autumn colors.

All of our gift baskets are individually designed specifically to our clients’ needs and budget.  We create gift baskets for any occasion from anniversaries, to birthdays, weddings, housewarmings, new baby, get well, thank you, condolences, or just because.

A sample of our design styles can be seen on our website at laurelmtbasket.com

So when you need a unique gift from the heart, we are just a phone call away.  It's that easy. Just dial (413-527-1243) and your gift giving problem is solved.  In just a few minutes we will help you choose the gift that is just perfect for you.

Remember, “Laurel Mountain Basket Company where gift giving won’t make you a basket case”.

Happy autumn

Marie

Fouls and Felons

What do a baby horse and a home invasion have in common?

Answer:  They are just two of the reasons we make gift baskets

As I was going over the accounts to send to the accountant, I was reminded of the variety of projects we worked on over the years.  Most were for occasions you’d expect like the birth of a child, death in the family, birthday, get well and of course Christmas.  We’ve designed gift baskets for corporate events like annual board of directors’ meetings and regional sales meetings and with schools providing “final exam survival kits” for their students.

We’ve designed some very interesting gift baskets too.  There was the $600 gift basket that included gift certificates to several restaurants, movie houses and golf courses as well as some sexy lingerie.  I was given a list and a budget and went on a shopping spree.

We have a line of pet gift baskets and make a lot of baskets for dogs and cats.  We have even made some for small animals like ferrets and bunnies but the most unusual one was the welcome baby gift basket for a horse.  Not for the owner but for the horse herself.  Our inventory was low on “horse” gifts so this also required a fun shopping trip.  A straw cowboy hat became the “basket” and we filled it with things like a curry brush, shampoo and mane tamer and a package of carrot and apple cookies.  I don’t know what the horse thought but the owner loved it.

Not all baskets are for happy occasions.  In fact, sympathy baskets are a big part of our business.  The most emotionally difficult delivery I’ve made was to an elderly man who had just lost his youngest son.  When I arrived at his home he was sitting alone under an apple tree in his yard.  His wife and daughter-in-law were out taking care of one of the many things that need to be taken care of when planning a funeral.

I handed him the gift basket and offered my own condolences.  He placed the gift basket on a table and did something that made my heart break.  He hugged me and began to cry.  When he was finally able to compose himself I asked if he would like me to sit with him until his wife got home.  He said he was fine and I left.  I cried all the way home.

Oh, the home invasion.  An employee of one of our clients was the victim of a home invasion.  It was horrible!  Not only was their home broken into the occupants were beaten.  Our client wanted to show support and sympathy for what the employee and his family were going through.

As you can see, there are lots of reasons why people send gift baskets and at Laurel Mountain Basket Company we take each one seriously.  We go the extra mile to make sure your gift says just what you want it to say.

Marie