Grenville Station Gift Baskets Blog

Baby Gift Baskets - Creativity Unleashed!

Often times, the most interesting designs to create are our baby gift baskets.  The vibrant colours, soft textures and gentle aromas allow for maximum creativity from our designers.  You always remember the reason for the design…new life!   Regardless of the price, the importance of the event weighs heavy on our minds and always ensuring the design excites the senses or stirs the soul are the primary motivators.  Sometimes an expensive gift basket for baby is required due to the important relationship with the recipient’s parents while a simple and inexpensive precious baby gift is sufficient to express your sincere affection and joy for their most precious day.  Remembering this is key to happy gifting…

James…

April 29th, 2008 | Posted in » Baby Gift Baskets by James

Mother’s Day - The Annual Gift Giving Dilemma

“My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being.  I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune.”  ~Graycie Harmon

Here we go again. Mother’s Day is fast approaching and I have to do the impossible: buy my Mother a gift. Seriously, someone page Tom Cruise because it truly is Mission: Impossible - Mother’s Day style!

Making matters worse is the fact that I work in a seasonal retail type of business. What happens is that I get so busy making gifts for other people’s mothers that I forget to brainstorm about my own mother. That makes for a last minute decision. Smooth, right?

So I go through the list of typical presents…do I get her another unicorn knick-knack? No, her curio cabinet is absolutely full. What about another plant? No, her living room already looks like a jungle! Clothes? No, she’s extremely picky…gee I wonder which of her children got that gene?! Spa gift certificates? No, they’ll just go unused. See what I mean? This woman is impossible to buy for!

Finally I remember the way into her heart: chocolate! So simple.

So I’ll wrap up my favourite Mother’s Day gift basket, full of chocolates and other goodies, and tie on a beautiful bow. I will be sure to put some scratch tickets into the envelope as well – they are almost as important as the chocolate!

On May 11th, when I present the gift basket to my Mother, along with a hug, I’ll say to myself those two precious words: Mission Accomplished!

April 28th, 2008 | Posted in » Gift Giving, Observances & Events by Tanya

Birthday Blues…

We all have at least one - you know, the person who is hard to buy for…  Personally, I have two of those people in my life and today just happens to be the 35th birthday of one of those individuals - my husband (and Grenville Station Inc. co-owner), James.  Why is James so difficult to buy for?  Well, for starters he doesn’t have any hobbies, participate in any clubs or play sports.  Not to say that he’s a couch potato by any means, he simply doesn’t have time for these activities.  We are the proud parents of a beautiful six year old girl and we own and operate our own business.  When you’re a small business owner and father of a young child you tend to wear a lot of hats and this keeps him quite busy.

“So, what about his interests?”, you might be thinking.  Well, his main interests involve technical IT kind of stuff that I know nothing about, and improving and growing our business.  So he’s constantly educating himself by reading, researching, networking and “tinkering” on the computer.  Buying him anything electronic or related to technology of any kind is out of the question - I simply wouldn’t know where to begin!  Music is out - he listens to talk radio in the van and seminars, lectures or other educational type of things on his ipod while exercising.  Books or other resource media are out too for obvious reasons.

So what does that leave me with?  You would think that someone whose business is ”gifting” wouldn’t have a problem coming up with a gift for their own spouse, but I do.  I certainly can’t give him a gift basket after being in the basket business together for eight years!  I have access to a wide range of gourmet & specialty foods and giftware but it just doesn’t feel like a genuine gift when you handle these products on a daily basis.  He’s not a plant or flower type of guy and gift cards seem impersonal to me.  I could make him a nice meal but let’s face it, I’m not much of a cook!  What is a girl to do?

James, if you’re reading this, our daughter and I will have a lovely store bought cake and a heartfelt birthday card or two waiting for you when you get home.  The rest of it will be a surprise because I obviously haven’t a clue what to give you for a present!

April 24th, 2008 | Posted in » Gift Giving, Observances & Events by Laurie

Today is Secretary’s Day…

Today is Secretary’s Day and as I was reviewing our Secretary’s Day Gift Basket baskets, I just wanted to say, “Job well done folks”, to all those Administrative Professionals out there whose bosses are working them to the bone. 

As I was researching this fine non-holiday, I stumbled upon a website that made reference to other non-holiday celebrations.  In fact, today is also Cherry Cheesecake Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, St. George’s Day and World Book & Copyright Day.  It’s amazing that I never heard of any of these before.  Rounding out the week, tomorrow we have Ambivalence Day, Pigs in a Blanket Day and Plumbers Day and on Friday, just to name a few more, it’s Anzac Day in Australia & New Zealand, Zucchini Bread Day, Orthodox Holy Friday and my all time favourite, Don’t step in the Dog Poop Day.

As you can see, there are many reasons to celebrate daily and many reasons to send someone a gift.  I think I’ll send my brother our Koffee Kafe gift basket for Don’t step in the Dog Poop day…just for fun.  Have a great day!

Rich

April 23rd, 2008 | Posted in » Observances & Events by Rich

Administrative Professionals Week in Canada

Administrative Professionals Week 2008 (APW) is now upon us, with Wednesday, April 23^rd being designated as Administrative Professionals Day. It’s time to show your gratitude to your Admin Staff!

Established in 1952 as “National Secretaries Week,” it was created in order to acknowledge the effort and dedication such staff put forth, as well as to promote the Administrative industry in general. Here we are 56 years later and the occasion has evolved into an annual event celebrated in workplaces worldwide The official web site of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) has a wealth of information regarding the history of Administrative Professionals Week as well as recommendations for how employers can acknowledge their administrative staff, a listing of APW events and resources for administrative professionals.  It’s well worth the visit for employers and administrative staff alike!

Many companies hold seminars, set up educational events or fun activities. It is also a wonderful opportunity to present your staff with some treats, such as individual gift baskets containing their favourite treats or larger gift hampers to be shared amongst the entire administrative staff.

Don’t forget that Wednesday is Administrative Professionals Day. How will you show your administrative staff how much they are valued?

April 23rd, 2008 | Posted in » Observances & Events by Tanya

Every day is Earth Day at Grenville Station!

At Grenville Station there are a number of environmental measures that we take in our workplace to help protect the environment.  To reduce paper waste, we put an emphasis on internet marketing (our website is our catalogue!).  All of our photography takes place in-house, using digital cameras and rechargeable lithium batteries.  We use real towels in our washrooms & lunch room instead of paper towels and we also use ceramic mugs instead of disposable cups for our many cups of coffee (tea in Laurie’s case) – which we can’t live without!

We make it a point to use as many products made from post-consumer recycled content as possible (i.e. toilet paper, printer paper).  We print the vast majority of our documents in draft mode (double sided, of course!) and we recycle and purchase recycled printer cartridges.  We also turn off our computers and monitors when not in use.

Our staff regularly eats lunch on site, using ceramic dishes and real cutlery.  We use unbleached brown coffee filters and make use of thermos pump pots for hot beverages rather than constantly turning to the kettle and coffee maker.  We even try to bring liter-less lunches to work with us, using reusable cloth lunch bags and containers!

Compact fluorescent bulbs are used throughout the facility and when it comes to cleaning supplies we use eco-friendly products such as those made by Method, Seventh Generation and Biolife.

Now that you know how environmentally conscious we are at Grenville Station we challenge you to join us.  Even small changes can make a big difference if we all pitch in!  Click here for some ideas on how you can make your office more green.  Let us know what your workplace is doing to protect the environment – we’d love to hear from you!

April 22nd, 2008 | Posted in » Gre(e)nville Station by Laurie

Doing our Part for the Environment… Part 2

Another high priority for us is to use Canadian suppliers as often as possible. This significantly decreases transportation time, fuel consumption, harmful emissions and other destructive effects to our environment. Not to mention the amount of paperwork that is prevented by not having to deal with Customs!

We try to use suppliers and manufacturing companies that are as local as possible.  Some of our favourite Canadian products/suppliers include the entire range of Gourmet du Village products from Morin Heights, QC; several products from Epicurean Foods line out of Kitchener, ON; anDea Chocolate located in Ancaster, ON; Niagara Presents wine jellies & preserves located in Beamsville, ON; Sable & Rosenfeld condiments from Toronto, ON; Canada True teas from Markham, ON; Cherrington Farms pancake mix, syrups, cookies and crackers from Mississagua, ON; Brockmann’s truffles from Richmond, BC; Uncle George’s pita chips from Weston, ON and many more too numerous to mention!

April 21st, 2008 | Posted in » Gre(e)nville Station by Tanya

Doing Our Part for the Environment

Earth Day is right around the corner (April 22) and that got us to thinking about how all of us here at Grenville Station are doing our part in conserving the environment.

Recycling is a huge priority for us. We do not let any scraps go to waste, whether it is pieces of ribbon, bits of fabric, plastic and cardboard ribbon rolls or other by-products. We collect them and donate it all a local elementary school so that the children have materials to do various crafts and projects. We’re sure there have been some inventive creations!

We make it a point to use distributors that use recyclable shipping materials. We then reuse appropriate materials as padding in our own outgoing shipments. Also noteworthy is the fact that we don’t use styrofoam peanuts in our packages - only kraft and unprinted newspaper.

April 18th, 2008 | Posted in » Gre(e)nville Station by Tanya