Ever got stuck trying to come up with the “ultimate” wedding gift? Well, you are not alone. Each day thousands of people rack their brains trying to come up with unique wedding gift ideas, only to throw their hands up in frustration and buy any of the common wedding gifts being sold out there.
Below are some wonderful wedding gift ideas most people don’t think of that you can use:
1. Gold-Plated Picture Frames - the perfect way to display favorite photos of their special day. Have them engraved with the couple’s names and the wedding date for a treasured memory.
2. Etched Wine Glass - Have their wedding invitation, or other special verse engraved on a glass sculpture. This will be treasured for years to come, and definitely unique. Or, for a little variation, get the actual invitation, and mount it on a glass plate and finish it with matching colored paint.
3. Honeymoon Photo Album - this could be made out of wood, with something like “A Honeymoon to Remember” engraved on the cover a perfect place to capture those wonderful honeymoon memories.
4. Gift Certificates to a spa for the bride and groom are great before or after the wedding. The wedding day is often stressful, so you could offer a day at the spa to prepare them for the wedding day. Or, they could use it just after their honeymoon, as they prepare to resume their regular activities.
5. Keepsake Box - As time goes by, memories begin to fade, and what better and more unique gift than a special box where they can safely store all those precious mementos that become more cherished as the years go by This box is perfect for things like marriage license, special photos, place cards, vows, and all those other special keepsakes that often get lost as time passes.
6. Couples’ Home Spa Kit - As an alternative for the day at the spa, you could give them a spa in a basket, including monogrammed robes, towels, and a few other relaxing items, like candles, bath and body lotions, some romantic music, and even engraved wine glasses accompanied by a bottle of wine for a special evening at home.
Now, who says coming up with the perfect wedding gift idea is hard? The next time you go to a wedding, try picking up any of the above wonderful wedding gift ideas and you would be surprised at how well it works!
Mark Anthony is a wine gift enthusiast. He owns many wine-related sites, including Red Wine Secrets, Wine Cellar Secrets and Great Wine Clubs.
Now that the biggest shopping season of the year is in full
swing it might be a good time to create a holiday budget. I’m
sure there are lots of names on your list, but hopefully you can
find gifts that won’t put a big dent in your pocketbook. I’ve
come up with a few good ideas that might help.
Make your Own. Everybody loves a homemade gift. It means that
you really put some time and thought into it. You can make your
own bath salts, bubble bath, brownie mixes and more! Choose an
inexpensive jar, add a ribbon and you’ve got a really cool gift
that didn’t cost a fortune. You can find the recipes to these
homemade gifts here: Pioneerthinking.com
And I’ve got some homemade stocking stuffer ideas here: money-saving-tips.b
logspot.com
It’s probably too late to start this idea for this holiday
season but you can plan ahead for the next. After Christmas is
one of the best times to buy gifts. Almost everything is marked
down-sometimes as much as 50%. So create a list for next year
and hit the shops after Christmas!
If you have a talent share it with others. You could give “gift
certificates to those on your list. Do you play the piano? Offer
free piano lessons. Are you good with kids? Offer free
babysitting for a day. Are you well organized? Offer to clean
someones house. Do you work on cars? Offer a free oil change.
These gifts cost no money to give but could be some of the most
well received gifts!
You could take the above option a step further buy using your
services to barter for a gift. If your neighbor sells candles
and you would love to get two or three for your sister-in-law
maybe you could barter your services. Offer her a free night of
babysitting. Or maybe there’s a gift in your closet that you
recieved last year that you got one too many of. Offer that to
her in exchange for a candle.
Remember the holidays aren’t about buying the most expensive
gifts. They are about sharing traditions and making memories
with those you love.
The most common response to a new diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is, “What exactly does this mean? What is IBS?”
Once you’ve seen a gastroenterologist, been through diagnostic tests, and found out your symptoms match the Rome Criteria for IBS, you should finally have a diagnosis you feel is accurate. You’ve got Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Now what? Well, one of the most important weapons in your battle against IBS is information. You need to know the enemy. Fortunately, over the past several years a great deal of new information regarding the brain-gut interaction that results in IBS has evolved, and more discoveries are being made all the time.
First of all, it helps to realize that you are not alone. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is estimated to affect 15-20% of all Americans, primarily (but certainly not exclusively) women. This is at least 35 million Americans, and half of them have never even seen a physician for their symptoms. Despite this, IBS is still the most-frequently seen illness by gastroenterologists, and is one the top ten diagnoses among all US physicians. It is also, incredibly, the second leading cause of worker absenteeism (behind only the common cold). These are pretty amazing statistics for a disorder that many people have never even heard of.
Interestingly, because Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a “functional” disorder, you can’t actually be tested for it. Rather, it is determined by a diagnosis of exclusion. This is because there are no structural, inflammatory, biochemical, or infectious abnormalities present in IBS. In other words, when IBS patients are examined by doctors, there is no physical problem to be found. So, are you just imagining your symptoms? No - you absolutely are not. A functional disorder simply means that the problem is an altered physiological function (that is, the way your body works), rather than something that has an identifiable origin behind it. In other words, while an IBS attack and its resulting symptoms are clearly visible as physical manifestations, the underlying cause behind these symptoms is not. The root of the problem in IBS sufferers cannot yet be identified by yielding a positive result from any existing medical tests. What then, precisely, is wrong with the way your body works if you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
IBS is indisputably a physical problem. Simply put, the brain-gut interaction of people with IBS influences their bowel pain perception and motility. In a nutshell, the processing of pain information within the central nervous system varies between normal individuals and those of us with IBS, with the result that we can experience even normal GI contractions as painful. The interactions between our brains, central nervous systems, and GI systems are just not functioning properly. We have colons that react to stimuli that do not affect normal colons, and our reactions are much more severe. The end result is heightened pain sensitivity and abnormal gut motility, in the form of irregular or increased GI muscle contractions. It is this gut overreaction and altered pain perception that cause the lower abdominal cramping and accompanying diarrhea and/or constipation that characterize Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Interestingly, the origins of IBS may really be in our brains, and not in our bowels. Given that for many years people with IBS were dismissively told their problem was “all in their heads”, it’s ironic that, in the end, this may be factually true. The underlying problem might well be in our brains - but it’s absolutely not in our imaginations.
No one really yet knows exactly why some people develop IBS and others don’t. There is mounting evidence that for some IBS sufferers the condition is precipitated by some type of grievous insult to the gut - dysentery, food poisoning, intestinal flu, abdominal surgery, even pregnancy. The theory goes that even after full physical recovery from these traumatic events, the nerves within the gut retain a “memory” of the insult and remain hyper-sensitive to further stimulation, as well as prone to subsequent over-reaction. You likely know if you experienced any abdominal trauma immediately prior to the onset of your Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms, and if you did it’s probably nice to have a logical explanation for what has happened to your GI tract and why. There are those (and I’m one of them) who are exceptions to this theory, however, who suffered no gut insult prior to the onset of Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms, and we’re still patiently waiting for our explanation.
Now that you know exactly what Irritable Bowel Syndrome is, check http://www.HelpForIBS.com/ (HelpForIBS.com) for an overview of treatments for IBS, so you can begin to successfully manage the disorder.
Heather Van Vorous is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, the two best-selling and best-reviewed IBS books in America. She is the founder of http://www.helpforibs.com/ (Help For IBS.com), the internet’s largest IBS community, dedicated to offering education, support, and products that allow people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome to successfully manage their symptoms through lifestyle modifications. Her groundbreaking IBS dietary work has led to clinical research studies of diet and IBS, a nomination for a “Julia Child Cookbook” award, and her inclusion in the 4th edition of Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare. Her Irritable Bowel Syndrome recipes have been licensed by Novartis pharmaceuticals and her products are recommended by physicians and dietitians across the world. Heather has had IBS since age 9, and is now considered the foremost “patient-expert” on Irritable Bowel Syndrome in America.
