Today over at Shannon’s WFMW is backwards day. Instead of posting your genius ideas, we get to ask a question that has been pondering us…..
I have to cheat ~ I have tw0 crisis going on….
First, I need some creative cute, inexpensive(no more than 15.00) gift basket ideas. I need to put together a 2 family baskets and 1 basket for a woman. I want to do something other than the usual lotion type thing.
Second, having 5 boys ~ only 3 are using the potty ~ my bathroom smells like a gas station urinal. I scrub the toilet and tile with vinegar, bleach, you name it…. I want to know how to get rid of the nasty gas station smell. I don’t want to cover it up with air freshener but really get rid of the smell. Please HELP ME!!!!!! I am very sensitive to this issue. By the way, if you have been to my house ~ YES, the bathroom is cleaned everyday, despite what it might smell or look like!
So, if you have a suggestion to one of my dilemmas, I would be so very thankful. HELP ME PLEASE!!!!
I just left a big comment over at Hearth and Homemaker about the pee smell in the bathroom.
http://hearthandhomemaker.typepad.com/hearth_and_homemaker/2007/11/wfmw-backwards-.html
Pretty much, try cleaning out the hinges of your toilet seat.. and if that doesn’t work, maybe the seal under the toilet needs replacing. Pull the toilet up and replace the wax seal. Dh did this in our new home and discovered the seals were missing. the pee was pooling under the toilet! ick! the guys at lowes told him that is why you should NOT caulk the toilet to the floor, so you can see the leaks when there are problems. since replacing the seal and cleaning the hinges, pee smell is now gone.
Good luck
PS. don’t know about the gift baskets. sorry!
You could do a family gift basket set for some type of family night. Some examples are:
Movie night- Blockbuster gift card with popcorn, movie candy, etc.
Game night- games (card games like Uno, Phase 10, Skipbo etc. are very cheap) with game night snacks (chips, pretzels, etc.)
Cookie Night- Basket with ingredients to make some type of cookie/brownie etc. Include recipe so that family can make and enjoy treats together.
Ice Cream Sundae night- include a gift card to a local grocery store (explain it’s to buy ice cream) and then buy cones, toppings, etc. to put in the basket.
Outdoor Activities- include things like a frisbee, wiffle ball and bat, etc.
Hope any of these ideas helped. For more ideas check out either http://momworksathome.blogspot.com/2007/09/tt4-13-different-gift-basket-ideas.html or http://www.mormonchic.com/recipe/recipebox/pages/gift_basket.asp
Hope these ideas helped!
I’ve done several family gift baskets with a food theme. Here are a few that I’ve done, and all were well received:
CHINESE: An inexpensive wok, filled with Chinese sauces, chopsticks, and food mixes.
MEXICAN: a basket filled with bottled salsa, enchilada sauce, flour tortillas, etc.
ITALIAN: a big plastic colander filled with unusual pastas and sauces.
And a few years ago, I did a “food mixes” basket for two single female friends. I made up a bunch of individual-portioned food mixes (potato soup, rice mix, etc) and put those together with a nice mug. The idea was that those would make single meals for them. If you want recipes, let me know!
Idea for families- Movie Night basket using serving bowl for popcorn (if you can find one for a good price), microwave popcorn, treats to snack on and a Blockbuster rental card.
Recipe basket- Ingredients for a recipe you have that they like, or one that is just easy to make, like spaghetti. All you would need is the pasta, jar of sauce, non-ref. Parmesan cheese, and maybe put it in an inexpensive collander for the basket. Tie on the recipe.
Try to think of a theme for the baskets. For example chocolate – you could put some different types of chocolate in there, some stuff to make hot chocolate, a chocolate coloured mug and a tea towelcloth that’s the same colour too.
Or maybe think of something they could do as a family. Like a games box – you could have a pack of cards or two, some dice, some counters, a book with different games (like word games or paper and pencil games), a score chart, and a mini prize or two.
Or, if the lady has a favourite colour (activitystyle of things in her house etc) you could find all sorts of different things in that colourthemestyle.
Or for example a book lovers kit might include a bar of chocolate (cos who desn’t like chocolate), a book mark, and either a book that they might like, or a gift cardtoken to buy a book.
Think about what you’re putting it all in. Can the container be used again? What could it be used for, or how could you get creative with what you’ve got already – cover an icecream box with pretty paper and a bit of ribbon, use an old shoebox, find a basket or box at the dollar store.
I hope some of those ideas are helpful – I was typing them off the top of my head, so I can’t guarantee that all the wordsletters are in the right places as I think faster than I type!
Family gift baskets? Hm. What about arts & craft supplies (crayons, paint, paper, some sponges for painting, perhaps a smock? ) – more for kids, I think.
Food is good. Even homemade food, if you know them well.
Oven mitts, ingredients for a nice pasta dish (include your favourite recipe)
Necessities – laundry soap, new pillowcases?
Here’s a list with over 100 ideas!
http://organizedchristmas.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1529
These are all great ideas. Sometimes the basket ends up costing more than the gift inside. Try using a metal pail, or a apple picking basket. Both can usually be found at an arts/crafts store quite cheap. Or, use something that is part of the gift (as I saw in a lot of the comments) as the container.
Jennifer
I love doing gift baskets! Here are some things I put in:
1. Buy small organza bags from the craft section at Wal-Mar and fill them with pot-pourri
2. Buy boxes of hot chocolate or cider and put individual packets in each basket
3. Coffee cups, soup bowls or ramekins
4. A bundle of peppermint sticks tied together with a pretty ribbon
5. Votive candles or tea lights in holders
6. Cookie cutters
7. boxed notecards (VERY cheap at Michael’s)
8. Small packets of cookie dough mix or brownie mix (about a dollar in the bakery section of the grocery stors)
9. Trial sized ground coffee or tea bags
10. Picture frames
11. Small bottles of wine (a pack of 4 mini bottles is $5-$10)
12. Coffee syrups
Always check Target’s $1 section for great gift baskety stuff. Have fun!
I just posted a similar question at my blog, you might want to check out the answers I got. In my case, I think the urine got under the baseboards and into the drywall and sub-floor,due to shoddy construction in the house we rent. (Sheesh, and it’s a new home!)
But prior to realizing that, I had also found that one major contributor to the smell was my children’s potty seat–the padded kind that fits into the seat of an adult toilet. I found out the plastic cover of the padded part had cracked in a hidden spot, and urine had collected in the foam of the padded seat. When the children sat on it, nasty old pee came out. (I know, yuck.) I couldn’t figure out why dark yellow pee was all over the toilet seat after they went. Eeww. Needless to say, it got tossed. So if you have potty seats like that, check them. Also, some of those potty seats get urine collecting in crevices of it. Either soak it in the tub with some bleach or other cleaner, or take a steam cleaner with a narrow nozzle on it and steam away the crud. They can be saved as long as the plastic over the padded part isn’t cracked. Good luck…I know you’ll need it! 😉
Pee smell – found that the “yellow” colored sticker on the bottom of the padded potty seat was originally white! Once I removed the sticker the smell vanished.