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Your good friend is getting married and with the cost of airfare, new threads and travel expenses, you have minimal cash left over for a gift. Why not surprise the couple with a sweet and sentimental (read: inexpensive!) gift? Check out three of our favorite options.



A set of placemats for them to plan their next getaway to Europe -- all from the comfort of their dinner table!
$14 via Velocity Art & Design.


A parking meter timer may seem like a lame gift, but for the city-bound couple, this could be the savior of their relationship.
$6.50 via Amazon.



Oh, look. Their first gig poster, dedicated to... themselves! Sweet.
$25 via Roll & Tumble Press.

Happy shopping!

March 17th is right around the corner; what are you gifting your Irish friends and family? Try these three great finds that are sure to turn your luck around (and make you the new favored one!)

Green hot chocolate that won't cost a ton of green moolah.

Available for $16 (pack of 4) at Amazon.

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Headed to a dinner party this weekend? Never enter a home empty-handed -- especially when hostess gifts can be this good-looking! Check out a few of our favorites:

For the culinary hostess who is constantly tweaking the recipes: Gift the pencil that is a spoon, and the porcelain spoon holder to keep it all neat. Your recipe process will never be the same. C'est magnifique!

Available for $34 at A+R.

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While most women enjoy a goody-filled Easter basket as much as any kid, we generally prefer ours with a tad less sugar. It's not that we don't like jelly beans and marshmallow chicks, but we'd also appreciate not having to spend the month of April working off our Easter indulgences at the gym.

If you are filling Easter baskets for grown-up girls this year, consider skipping the tempting treats and opting instead for some non-edible gifts. Here are some ideas for themed Easter baskets that she's sure to love.

Gardening: With spring right around the corner, a garden-themed basket is a perfect choice for someone with a green thumb. Instead of a wicker basket, consider using a lightweight hanging planter instead. Fill the basket with a variety of seed packets, gardening gloves, garden markers and ergonomic hand tools. For a playful finishing touch, include a pair of adorable garden bunny statues.

Pampering: Fill a pink pedicure tub with a cooling foot scrub, exfoliating gloves, aromatic bubble bath and scented body lotion. Add some bunny and egg shaped soaps, candles and a relaxation CD and you've got a pampering Easter basket fit for a queen.

Romance: Valentine's Day may be long gone, but there's no reason the romance should be. Start with a heart-shaped Easter basket and surprise her with small tokens of your love. A sterling silver bunny heart necklace or this adorable bunny holding a pewter heart charm is sure to make her smile. Instead of candy, fill plastic eggs with love notes. Finish it off with a Some Bunny Loves You teddy bear.

Beauty: Have a peek inside her cosmetics bag and stock up on some of her favorite brands of makeup. Don't forget some nice new makeup brushes and applicators along with a beautiful hand mirror. To make it really special, include a bottle of her favorite perfume.

Second Childhood: Indulge her inner child with an Easter basket full of small toys, games and other forgotten fun from days gone by. Load up her basket with a jump rope, a yoyo and some sidewalk chalk. Add some bubbles, a few squirt guns, a paddleball and set of jacks and you've got a fun Easter basket that's sure to make her smile.

This is the perfect gift for brothers and sisters who like to snoop on older siblings. An extension of the successful Spy Gear line from Wild Planet, the Spy Video TRAKR lets little sleuths monitor video and audio from a distance. With features like night vision and motion alarms, nothing is off limits with this toy.

The remote controlled vehicle is both app-enabled and programmable, so kids can customize the footage they capture and upload it to their computer for editing. Kids can even design and download their own apps (with free tools they can find online), including one that can snap a picture of anyone who enters their room!

Destined to be on hundreds of wish lists, the Spy Video TRAKR will hit stores in October with a $120 price tag.

Goodie bags can be fun for little party guests, but more often, they're the stuff that can turn the calm at the end of the party into a chaotic tussle for the "best" swag. But despite the potential for tears, the goodie bag is a must.

Or is it?

Holidash knows parents prefer favors with substance over the 99 cent junk, but we wondered if it's ever acceptable to just say no to the party favors. So we polled some parents about the favors in goodie bags, and suddenly we're feeling a lot better about saving our money (and our time):

Just say no: "It's OK not to give party favors," says mom of one Shannon Norton. "They either get broken or taken away!"

Send a thank you: "I think some parents use them as a way of thanking the child for coming to the party and bringing a present," says Madeline Holler, mom of three. "But thank you notes work just as well, if not better."

The party is enough: "You cleaned house and fed them cake," says mother of one Miriam Axel-Lute. "What more do they want?"

Find another way to give: "Kind of a different realm, but at our wedding we didn't do favors," says mother of two Karen Reilly. "Rather, we had a small framed sign for all to see, stating instead of giving favors we sent care packages to troops overseas."

Still think you need to hand something to the kids as they walk out the door but just can't stand the thought of filling 21 goodie bags and making them look pretty? Try one of these:

1. Hold the party out of your house and pony up for every kid's entry to the destination.
2. Head to the arcade and buy everyone's tokens. The goodies they receive in exchange for their game tickets will be their take-home.
3. Go pre-made. No one has to know.

How would you feel if your kids didn't come home with a goodie bag?

With "snOMGosh" and "The Snowpocalyse" dumping several feet of snow on roads across the country, people everywhere are suddenly enjoying surprise "holidays" from school and work. Although these "holidays" haven't felt all that festive for most folks.

Don't let the cold weather keep you inside, just bundle up with a pretty scarf, like this week's prize from Maggie's Organics:

The festive rose-colored Fire Lily scarf is 100% Certified Organic Cotton, and extra long, for extra fashion. Plus the cheery color makes for a fun pop of color on those afternoons filled with snowshoes, snowmen, and snowdrifts!

Enter Now!
Ready to be warm, stylish and eco-friendly? Here's how two of you can be winners:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below telling us about your favorite snow day activity!
• The comment must be left before 5pm ET on Sunday, February 21st.
• You may enter only once on this post.
• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Two winners will receive: one organic cotton scarf (value: $13)
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• Click here for complete Official Rules.

We'll notify the winner by email, and you'll have 24 hours to respond. If we don't hear back, we'll pick a new winner, so remember to check your email.

When you say "birthday party," the first thing kids think of is presents. So does that mean you're raising a little Greedy Gus?

Not necessarily. We checked with the experts to find out how your kids can have their birthday cake -- and their presents, too.

"The practice of giving to others is something in which everyone should find pleasure," says Kathie Martin, who teaches kids to be good citizens at the Etiquette School of Birmingham in Alabama. "Young children love getting gifts, but gaining an appreciation of giving as well as receiving may take encouragement."

We know birthday gift giving is an art, but we had to know how to make receiving an art form too. Martin filled us in:

Holidash: Is there a "best time" during a party to open the presents?

When it comes to buying birthday gifts for men, one of the common misconceptions about guys is that we're only interested in beer, sports, gambling, and sex. Sorry to let you down here, but most guys don't like to gamble. This is complete and utter nonsense. Guys like to win when they gamble!

The most important thing to understand about guys when buying birthday gifts is that we're not complicated. That's not to say that we aren't sensitive, caring and emotional. As modern males, we take pride in these traits. If you have a guy in your life and you have any doubts about this, just put a five inch scratch on the hood of his new car. You will soon discover that we are very sensitive; we really care; and we can become extremely emotional.

Now that you understand us better, it won't be hard to find great birthday gifts for modern sensitive, caring, emotional men. Just stick to the basics!

Beer Drinking Birthday Gift
Not only do guys like to drink beer but we like to impress other guys with our arcane knowledge and our deep appreciation of beer. We will argue about what beers are best (and whether we've ever tasted any of these beers is beside the point). We will discuss the merits of bottled beer vs. canned beer, draft beer vs. bottled beer, canned beer vs. draft beer, etc. We care about beer and many of us, even if we won't admit it, are sensitive and emotional about beer.

For a beer-drinking boyfriend's birthday gift, take a look at the Mr. Beer Deluxe Home Microbrewery Kit for $55.75. What guy can resist the "most advanced and widely acclaimed home brewing product on the market" or the opportunity to brew and bottle his own beer in as little as 7 days? The kit contains all accessories and makes about two gallons of brew. Your boyfriend can even put his own label on each bottle. Talk about oneupman-ship and impressing your friends!

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