Top 10 Romantic, One-of-a-Kind, Valentine’s Day Gifts

The day of love and romance is fast approaching. Do you want to settle for flowers and chocolates this Valentine's Day as the gift to show your special someone how wonderful and loved and important they are to you? Sorry, but in my expert opinion, while flowers are beautiful and chocolates are sweet, they really show no imagination. You gotta do something at least bit different to show someone they are really special to you. The idea is to show your valentine, that of all of the people on planet earth, they are the only one you are interested in. A one-of-a-kind gift is the perfect way to tell your sweetheart that they are unique, matchless, and one-of-a kind in your heart and life.

I’ve scoured the web, consulted the most gifted minds, and even done some brainstorming all on my own, and here are - my Top 10 Romantic One-of-a-Kind Valentine’s Day Gifts. Any one of these will show your heartthrob just how much you really care and how lucky you are to have them in your life. Just a note: I’ve left out all the “gifts” that are more experience-oriented. I’ll cover these on the Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day.

1. A Bottle of Memories. Memories on a Bottle will etch a personal message on a bottle of wine for you. Even better, for couples who have some history together, take an elegant bottle (perhaps the champagne or wine bottle from a special night out) and fill it with slips of parchment on which you have written individual memories of your time together.

2. A Romantic Bouquet of Cookies. You can buy custom cookie bouquets of heart-shaped cookies that are brightly iced with fun or romantic messages that you can personalize. This makes a thoughtful (and yummy!) gift.

3. Jewelry Done Right. If you are going to do jewelry (a long time favorite and an old stand by), make yours extra special by making it very personal. Choose a style or design that really fits your sweetheart. Or have it custom made with two interlocking hearts, or other symbols that are particular to the two of you. The best way to make a gift of jewelry really romantic is with a special inscription – and not “Valentine’s Day 2009.”

4. Framed Photo of You. Oh, but you can’t stop there. It has to be one of a kind. It has to be romantic and special. So add a lipstick kiss on the photo, a message, a favorite line from a song or poem, or a saying or quote that means something special to your valentine. The saying could be something that just the both of you get the true meaning of.

5. Framed Photo of You Two. Choose a photo from a special moment, place, date, or trip. Put the photo on one side and a piece of parchment on the other. Use your computer or have someone handwrite out a poem, saying, lines from song or poem, something about special a moment or milestone, or a special message.

6. Love Note in a Bottle. Pour your heart out on paper (a nice piece of

parchment), roll it up and place it in a decorative bottle. You can really go all out with this idea, by offering to draw a bath for your sweetheart then floating the bottle in a bathtub you’ve prepared. Picture this - a tub filled with nice warm water, bubble bath, candlelight, a glass of wine, soft romantic music playing, and a flower arrangement or petals surrounding the bath Now you can complete the moment by having a super-soft brand new towel, and some lingerie to slip into afterward. You can also go to Love Notes Messages and choose a really great bottle and have your words put inside.

7. Love Reminders. Engrave small stones or pewter shapes with words or a short phrase. You can give a single stone that will fit in the pocket or purse – “pocket rocks”. Or make bigger ones to be displayed around the house. Beach rocks are great for this. Or create a collection of engraved river rocks, each one listing a trait or feature you love about your sweetheart. Place them in a very cool glass dish or bowl and, presto, you’ve got an amazingly cool gift that tells him/her what you think about them.

8. Journey Journal – Put together a small journal that holds pictures of events from your relationship. Include things you love about him/her, favorite memories, milestone events, trips, concert, airplane or movie tickets from places you’ve gone together. Include your words, thoughts, and feeling along with inspirational or romantic sayings, song lyrics or lines from a poem.

9. Photo Book – With just a few clicks, you can create a high quality, totally professional photo book. Upload photos of the two of you at different stages of your relationship, maybe even include some photos of places you want to go together. Check out Kodak or Shutterfly.

10. Compose It. If you have a particular talent – let’s say in music, singing, writing, drawing, painting, sculpture, etc – use it to create at totally unique gift for the love of your life. Write and record a song just for him/her, write a story or poem, draw, paint or sculpt something just for her/him.

Yep, creating a personalized, unique gift takes more time. Your words and thoughts are the best presents. These are ways to capture them and preserve them. The time and effort you take to put them together will speak volumes about the way you feel about your valentine.

Jack-O-Licious

Love it or hate it, I bet you watched at least some of it. The Rose Parade takes over television sets across America on the first day of every year. It wouldn't be a new year without it. There's always something in the parade for everyone. Personally, I take the marching bands and equestrian processions as my time to visit the bathroom. There are two things that I really like - really creative floats and totally cool costumes.




The Jack-O-licious float got my attention. It had the big (headed) man himself, Jack, in the middle of a floating Disco Party. Perfect for the New Year since disco parties are such a popular theme for New Year's Eve parties. You had to just love Jack's band, looking all Saturday Night Live-ish! This is the ultimate disco suit - it says shake your groove-thang like no other. Next time you are heading for a disco theme party, keep the Jack-O-Licious float in mind. Dress yourself up in a disco suit, in a glitter shirt, or a wild disco dress and you'll be ready to go.

Holidays from Your Pets Point of View

The holidays? Oh, yeah, I love the holidays. My person brings a tree in the house, which is weird because when I bring stuff in from outside, I get in trouble. Anyway, I love the tree. I sniff it and, when she’s not looking, I pee on it – don’t tell her that part. I don’t understand all of the traditions of Christmas, but I like the one where she puts a water bowl under the tree for me. Very tasty. I like all the extra yummy foods too. I sort of help out with the cooking. It’s my job to look for falling crumbs or drops. But my favorite part of the holidays are the fun outfits I get to wear. I’m sort of a skinny girl, and I get a bit chilly in the winter. I just love my warm and, in case you didn’t notice, very sexy, Santa Paws outfit. It keeps me all cozy. And I am the best dressed dog on the block, if I don’t say so myself.

The holidays? You must be kidding. Bah-humbug, the whole thing is a waste of time, if you ask me. That freaky little dog gets all excited and bounces around non-stop. Why can’t she just settle down and act mature like me? Okay, I’ll admit it, there are two things I like about Christmas. I always get a special can of cat food. That is something I look forward to all year. And I get to look all intimidating in this hat. I pretend not to like it, but I do. I look pretty good huh?

Add this to your Jersey

We’re getting to the best part of football season, folks. You’re either a die-hard fan, know someone who is, or you may be of the more mild variety (a fan, but not a fanatic). I know this next statement will sound utterly crazy to those of you who fell proudly into category one, but bear with me here. There are even some who, and it pains me to say this, are not football fans at all.

For those of you who aren’t into throwing around the pigskin, there are other sports you may be more excited by. It happens to be basketball season as well. Even if you aren’t a particularly huge sports fan, you can bring a big old thrill to your sports-lovin’ partner, spouse, family member or friend by heeding, and putting into practice the following tips.

Here’s a fun simple way to show some spirit, to support your local team, to cheer on your fave. Throw on your team’s jersey, or t-shirt, then add that little extra touch that goes soooooo far.
Wear something that relates to that team’s mascot or area. Let’s think about a few of the football teams looking play-off bound.

For example, how about them Panthers? (Stick with me, Panther rivals). Throw on your Carolina jersey, some black panther ears, tail, and “claws” and you are one fun, sexy Panther fan.


Jets fans, wear a jet on your head. Can’t find a hat that looks like a jet? Make your own. Glue some little plastic jets to a baseball cap. Or wear a pilot hat. This one is stretching it a little, but the sharp folks will get it. Pilots fly jets.

Those Giants are making a run at the Super Bowl again, but, alas, they don’t actually have a mascot. How do you spice up that jersey? Wear an oversized head mask?



Tennessee Titans have a raccoon as their mascot so you could paint a raccoon mask on your face, wear a raccoon mask, or at least wear some raccoon ears and a tail.



Just for pure simplicity, you might want to consider being a Viking fan. How easy and how cool is theirs? Just wear your jersey and a Viking helmet.

I suppose the Cowboys are just as simple. And there are a whole lot more cowboy hat choices than there are Viking helmets. If you want to be a sexy Cowboys fan, try pairing a cowboy hat with this outfit.

Personally, I wish those Buccaneers would do a bit better and get into the playoffs. I’d love to cheer them on, even though they aren’t really my favorite team of all. I could be easily persuaded to cheer them on like a nut, with the idea of wearing a Buc’s jersey and a pirate hat.

Whether it be at home, or at your local sports bar; whether you a are true-blue, died-in-the-wool fan, or a part-time, just-for-this game enthusiast, have some fun with the NFL. Even if you choose your teams solely based on the colors they wear, or if you don’t even know the rules (you might want to keep this last one to yourself) dress it up, yell and scream.

Don’t know a thing about football – not the teams, not the colors, nothing? You don’t have to be left out. Use this sexy football player outfit when he’s sitting down to watch the game and he may call time out.



And if you can’t come up with what to wear with your jersey, there’s always a crazy wig out there for you or face/body paint! These work for any sport, any team, any event.

'Tis the Season

It’s Santa time, everyone! Back in the old days, there was only one Santa and he was only seen on Christmas Eve. And that was only if you were supremely lucky enough to spot him coming down your chimney or eating the cookies left out for him. Then he got so popular he had to branch out. Through some magical winter phenomenon, or possibly exposure to secret toxic chemicals, Santa began to multiply.

Santas appeared in shopping malls, in front of businesses waving bells and collecting donations, at schools and hospitals. Then he broke into the big time and appeared on the big screen and television.

Every year, there are increasingly larger numbers of Santa sightings. How about joining the fun? Join a Santa event or, even better, start your own.

Santa Run or Walk. Join a bunch of fit Santas out for a 5 or 10K run/walk or a get a group of Santas together for a bar-hopping walk.

Santa Ride. Hook up with your local bike club and peddle through the streets of town or out on the trails. Decorate your bikes with lights and ornaments or make them up to look like reindeer and go for it. Or do the Santa Ride on a motorcycle. Nothing says Christmas time better than a group Biker-Santa’s cruising the highways.



Santa Theme Party. Invite a bunch of your favorite Santas for some dance floor fun or rocking-out Kris Kringle style. Whether it be at a club, bar, or house you’ll have a blast with all the sexy and fun Santa variations that show up. No better way to heat up the holiday nights.



Santa Paddle Out. All you water-loving Santa’s out there, grab your wetsuits and Santa hats and hit the water, whether it be to surf, stand up paddle, or kayak. The sleigh isn’t only ride Santa enjoys.

Santa Date. Take your favorite mistletoe partner our for a jolly good time. Whether it’s dinner and a movie or a more creative date, you’re fun-meter will be at the top dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus for the night.

Tree tossing Santa at Santacon Santa Barbara.

If you've got your Chistmas spirit all stirred up, ready to go, and you're just looking for a Santa event to join, then hop on over to the Santarchy and Santacon site. Here you will find all sorts of events, all over the world, where a bunch of Santas get together for a good time, be it a pub crawl, and city invasion, a very merry party, or a tree toss.

Time to get Christmassy

It’s now one month until Christmas. I remember the days when the Christmas season began the day after Thanksgiving. My mom always hit the big After-Thanksgiving sales. She was up before dawn and off to the Del Amo Fashion Mall in Torrance, California, along with her partner-in-crime, my aunt. At about this same time Christmas tree lots opened up and Christmas lights were hung. It was tradition. These were the things that kicked off the Christmas season.

Nowadays I’ve noticed a change. Christmas things appear in stores on Halloween day. They can’t even wait for November 1st. I was in a store on Halloween day, and they had all their Halloween things on clearance and in their places were Christmas displays of all sorts.

At our retail costume store, we actually keep Christmas costumes out all year long. You wouldn’t believe how many people buy a Christmas costume to use as their Halloween costume. I don’t blame them either. The Christmas costumes are very cute and fun.

Even our mannequins have been eyeballing the Christmas costumes for the last week. So we dressed them up for the Christmas season. They are at the front of the store, ready to greet all who enter.


Now the BIG question:
What are you wearing to celebrate the Christmas season?? There are so many choices – a huge variety of Santa hats, super-sexy costumes for private parties, fun Christmas costumes for parties, Santa and Elf costumes for more traditional events. I always pull out my loooooong Santa Hat during this season. I had a necklace that was mini-Christmas lights that flashed. I loved that necklace, but alas, it bit the dust, and I never replaced it. Santa hats from a favorite sports team is always a good way to go. Or maybe just some nice Christmassy accessory.

Don’t be all bah-humbuggy this Christmas season. Find a costume or hat or something that works for you and have add a little merriness to your mon

That 70’s Party

There are birthday parties and there are BIRTHDAY PARTIES. Yeah sure you could just put together a list of friends of the Birthday Guy or Girl, have them all show up and serve food, drinks and cake. Throw on some music and maybe folks will get down a bit. I’m sure it will be a fine time. People will dance, talk, drink and laugh. What could be better??

I’m glad you asked. Make that party a theme party and that “fine” party goes way past being just fine. Just add a theme and your birthday party can be off the charts. Friends of mine just had the best time at a birthday party – with an 70’s theme. She sent me some pictures and they are all the evidence I need to prove my point.

Let’s hear it for big hair, long moustaches, silky, sparkly, polyester shirts with loud patterns. You just have to love the way the shirts are unbuttoned to show that manly chest hair. And who can forget those bitchin’ bellbottom pants! And if you are going to do the 70s right, you just have to have some cool platform shoes so you can strut your stuff under the disco ball. Blast some Bee-Gees or Donna Summer over the stereo and you’ll have a birthday party everyone will remember for ages.

Want that kind of fun? Plan your own 70's theme party!