Posts by:

Establishing Healthy Eating Habits – Kids Cooking Gift Set

- - Birthday, Christmas, Kids

When it comes to being healthy, it really boils down to your habits. What are your habits when it comes to what you eat, your portion sizes, and your amount of physical activity?

Habits can be formed at a very early age. Kids are like sponges and putty like that.

Establishing Healthy Eating Habits - Kids Cooking Gift Set

Make cooking and healthy eating fun by getting a child his or her own chef’s hat and jacket. Include with it toy fruits and vegetables he or she can practice slicing with a wooden knife.

As parents and caregivers, we have an opportunity to help shape children’s habits when it comes to healthy eating. It begins with getting them in the kitchen to help with the cooking and introducing them to the wide variety of delicious fruits and veggies that exist.

Nothing gets children more interested in joining their parents in the kitchen than having their own chef’s hat and apron or jacket. When you’re dressed the part, you feel like the real deal!

Continue Reading

Welcome Home! | Yard Decorations

When my co-worker’s husband, Mark, returned home from deployment in the Middle East, she breathed such a sigh of relief. Sandra and her son, Kyle, had been praying for his safe return every night. As an Air Force pilot, Mark encountered some intense moments.

welcome-back-home-yard-lawn-sign-decorations

Say “Welcome Home!” in a visual way with yard decorations.

To express their overwhelming joy to see him home, Sandra and Kyle welcomed back Mark in patriotic style!

They surprised him by decorating their front yard with red, white and blue balloons and a custom yard sign that said, “Welcome Home Mark.”

Several of their neighbors also joined in by displaying their American flag in honor of his return.

Sometimes words aren’t enough to express how we feel. Sandra and Kyle used yard decorations to say “Welcome Home!” in a very VISUAL way that made a big impression on Mark and the entire neighborhood.

Continue Reading

The Giving Plate | A Heartwarming Tradition

No one likes to show up to a social gathering empty handed. After all, the more food the merrier!

Make a lasting impression by giving the host or hostess a gift called “The Giving Plate.”

The heartwarming tradition of The Giving Plate is that you bake a treat and present it to someone on the plate. The recipient could be a friend, family member, church member, neighbor, teacher or co-worker. Once the treat is gone, it’s time for the gift recipient to pay it forward by passing The Giving Plate to someone new.

giving-plate-gift-pay-it-forward-tradition

The Giving Plate makes for an especially touching gift during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

You can find a variety of styles of The Giving Plate on Amazon.com or you can find other designs on Etsy.com. If you’re artsy, you can make your own using food-safe porcelain markers or paint pens on a blank plate or platter.

The Giving Plate I like contains this special message that explains the tradition in a beautiful poem.

The Giving Plate

This plate belongs to everyone
wherever it may go… with each new sharing
of its gift, the love and blessings grow,
So fill it up and pass it on to
family and to friends… to start
the circle one more time,
love’s journey never ends.

Continue Reading

Beer Money Koozie Gift

Sometimes, the best way to celebrate is to buy someone a drink… or two or three.

beer-money-koozie-gift-cashIf you can’t be there in person to do it, the second best thing is to give them a Beer Money Koozie Gift.

Pick out a koozie (or coozy) for the lucky gift recipient, and place some cash inside. Then write a note with one of the following messages or one of your choosing.

  • Thought you could use some beer money!
  • Let me buy you some drinks for your 21st birthday!
  • A round of drinks on me!
  • Beer is happiness. This will buy you a lot of happiness!
  • Use this money to make happy hour last well into the night!

Continue Reading

Buy Their Single Favorite Flavor of Candy

What’s your favorite color of Starburst candy? Pink? Red? Yellow? Orange?

single-favorite-flavor-candy-thoughtful-giftPink for me! We all have our favorites.

The color or flavor we don’t like… yellow Starbursts for me… those usually stay uneaten in the bag or we give them away. Thankfully, my husband likes yellow Starbursts.

While my husband likes all of the flavors of Starburst candy, he doesn’t treat the different flavors of Airheads so equally.

The other day he mentioned how he wished the entire bag of Airheads candy he bought only contained the watermelon flavor. That’s his favorite!

My thoughtful gift idea light bulb immediately turned on in my head!

I searched the Internet, and there it was…. (cue heavenly angel sound effect)… a one pound bag of Airheads watermelon candy bars.

I’ve never seen single flavors of Airheads sold in any stores I’ve been inside. It’s always the assorted or variety pack. You gotta love the Internet and bulk candy options!

Did you know you can also buy single flavors of Starburst candy? Yep. I can buy a whole pound of pink strawberry Starbursts. Oh yeah, don’t mind if I do.

Continue Reading

34+ Fun Alternatives to Passing Out Halloween Candy

- - $20 or Less, Kids

There may be many reasons people want to pass out something besides candy on Halloween night.

fun-treat-alternatives-halloween-candyMaybe they want to be different from everyone else in their neighborhood passing out candy and chocolates to trick-or-treaters. Maybe they’re health conscious and don’t want to contribute to kids developing allergic reactions, sugar buzzes or cavities.

The Teal Pumpkin Project encourages households to provide non-food treats to create a safer, happier Halloween for trick-or-treaters with food allergies. Participating households are asked to place a teal pumpkin in front of their home.

Some people like to give kids a choice in their Halloween treats!

Please let me be clear though. Unless you’re a dentist, don’t pass out toothbrushes or floss. That’s just being a party pooper, and you may risk retaliation from the neighborhood kids and end up getting your house egged or toiled papered. Just saying.

Let me give you 34+ fun alternatives to passing out Halloween candy. Some of them are actually cheaper than candy!

Continue Reading

Pop-Up Cash | Gas Money Surprise

- - Birthday, Christmas, Money

Getting to drive is what makes turning 16 so sweet! A driver’s license equals freedom and independence… if you happen to have both a car and gas money.

pop-up-cash-gas-money-surpriseThanks to my parents, I had a car to drive. But until I found a part-time job, I was strapped for gas money and could only fill my gas tank $5 at a time.

Many teenage drivers feel the same pinch when it comes to gas money and probably even more so with today’s higher fuel prices. That’s why gas money and gas cards will always be a thoughtful gift for high school and college students.

But let’s not be boring by giving cash in an envelope. Presentation and the element of surprise go a long way when giving cash.

Continue Reading

Give Your Boss a Thumbs Up On Bosses Day

- - $20 or Less, Business

We have a fun way to get your entire office involved in Bosses Day, which takes place each year on October 16 or the nearest working day.

give-boss-thumbs-up-bosses-day-gift2

Get your entire department to give your boss a thumbs up!

Queen Darlene and I did this at our office last year, and it was a big hit! This method of celebrating Bosses Day gives everyone an opportunity to show their appreciation to their boss and to any other supervisor in their office.

Print out sheets of paper with a thumbs up graphic to use as a sign. I used the Facebook Like button since it has a thumbs up and the word “Like.”

Continue Reading

How to Make a Money Crown

- - Birthday, Graduation, Money

Wearable money gifts. It’s a thing!

money-crown-creative-cash-giftThere are Money Leis, Money Chains, and now Money Crowns for the prince, princess, king or queen in your life.

Folding cash into the shape of a crown makes it the coolest way to give money as a gift! Okay, I’m a Princess so maybe I’m biased…

Money Crowns look striking, and it’s something the birthday girl, birthday boy or graduate can wear on their head during their party!

HOW TO MAKE A MONEY CROWN

Continue Reading

We’re Celebrating a Milestone!

- - Catch All

sunburst-gifts-milestone

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve published our 250th blog post!

Since several of our articles contain multiple thoughtful gift ideas means www.SunburstGifts.org now offers 250+ thoughtful gift ideas for anyone to use. It’s all in one place and easily searchable by gift category and keyword.

Now that we’re gearing up for the holidays, we hope you’ll share our website with your friends and family to help them come up with the perfect gifts for their loved ones.

pinterest-icon                                                               facebook-icon

If you’re not aware, Sunburst Gifts has a Pinterest page where you can pin your favorite gift ideas. We also have a Facebook page where you can easily share and comment on the gifts we post.

Queen Darlene and Princess Diana wish you the least stressful holiday season you’ve ever experienced, and we hope our gift ideas can get you to your happy place! Cheers!

sunburst-gifts-founders