When Is the Best Time to Send a Corporate Gift?

The timing of a gift can be just as important as what you send. This is as true in corporate gifting as it is personal gifting. Here’s how to time it just right.

Make an Impact During the Holiday Season

While the prime time for gifting is still several months away, it’s never too early to begin planning your holiday gifting strategy. It’s no secret that November and December are popular months to send corporate gifts. However, it requires some thought if you don’t want to get lost in the onslaught of gifts. Or lost, period, since some offices are practically empty during that time.

Continue reading When Is the Best Time to Send a Corporate Gift?

Southern Mindfulness – Gifting as a Part of Southern Culture

Everything’s a little slower in the South, but it isn’t due to the heat, and it isn’t laziness, either. What it is is a kind of mindfulness, an awareness of the proper Southern way things should be done and the importance of the manners instilled by family and community. It isn’t something reserved for special occasions. Southern Mindfulness is a daily ritual equally intrinsic to family, community and business. It’s a way of being.

Those ma’ams and sirs are genuine — as essential to a Southerner as sunshine and sweet tea. Hospitality and grace under fire are keynotes of the Southern experience, and the expression of respect even a simple gift conveys speaks volumes about the giver. In the South, the gift is often food, and food is far more than sustenance: It’s the language of the South.

Foundations of Tradition, Family and Community

Forget today’s bustling, high-rise metropolitan cities, like banking giant Charlotte, N.C., jazz capital New Orleans, La., or capital city and industrial-technological hub Baton Rouge. At the turn of the twentieth century, life in the South was a rural existence of long months of unrelenting heat, roving sickness and fever, endless agricultural labor and often loneliness and isolation. Harsh conditions meant large tracts of land were necessary to support farms and plantations. Those acreages to the horizon, however, also made visiting family and friends a social event anticipated for weeks – sometimes, all year. Family meant community, and community was family. Continue reading Southern Mindfulness – Gifting as a Part of Southern Culture

How to Store Pecans without Ruining Them

00010020_1There’s nothing worse than opening a container of pecans you stored months earlier to find them rotten or rancid. If you picked all those pecans, all of your hard work would seem pointless. Fortunately, there are a few principles to storing pecans that will ensure your hard work or money spent was not wasted.

Do Not Store in Moist Places

Regardless if the pecans are shelled or unshelled, storing them in a moist room will promote mold growth and may cause the pecans to decrease in quality. Make sure the pecans have an opportunity to dry out after the harvest to remove moisture. Do this by placing the pecans on a screen or hanging them in small ventilated bags for approximately two weeks. Also, keep the pecans in dry, dark places.

Store in Vacuum-Sealed Containers/Bags

Always store pecans in airtight containers or bags. If you do not have a vacuum-sealer, Ziploc bags work perfectly fine. Make sure all air is removed from the bag and that it is completely sealed so moisture does not form. The method of storage does not matter nearly as much as ensuring they are properly sealed. Continue reading How to Store Pecans without Ruining Them

Stock Up! Why You Should Buy Pecans in Bulk

043crp2Pecans should not appear just around the holidays as a treat or in a warm pecan pie. They should appear all year, in all kinds of food, because they are incredibly nutritious and can add just the right amount of flavor and crunch to a dish. How do you make sure you have pecans to last all year? Stock up! Here are the reasons why:

Excellent Snack

Sometimes, we forget about snacking on nuts because it can be easier to grab that bag of chips. However, pecans are a great alternative to less-healthy options. They are filled with essential vitamins, fiber, and protein (nutritional content here).

Delicious Garnish

Pecans act as an excellent garnish and can accompany many dishes, such as salads, fish or desserts. If you have pecans stocked up, then you never have to worry whether or not your dish could be improved by their presence. Be adventurous with your cooking! Continue reading Stock Up! Why You Should Buy Pecans in Bulk

How to Keep Your New Year Resolutions in 2015

feet-on-scaleWe are all familiar with the desire to make proactive changes to our lives and relationships. We make grand promises with ourselves about how we are going to change and get that body we always wanted. But truth is, we are also oh-so-familiar with the feeling of failure from not achieving what we were so pumped about at the end of the previous year. What are the solutions to this perpetual problem?

Create a Plan

Create a map or outline of how you plan to achieve your resolution. While creating this outline, think about how you are going to handle temptation. Once you start to deviate from your goal, remind yourself what you intended to do with your goal. This moment of intentional reflection could be the difference between falling off the wagon or sticking to your resolution.

Be Realistic

It is unrealistic to attempt to completely change a behavior that has been a part of your identity for the larger part of your life in a matter of a few months or a year. Take small steps first. Continue reading How to Keep Your New Year Resolutions in 2015

Can’t Keep Up? 7 Ways to Simplify Your Holiday Gift Buying

crowded mallGift buying can certainly be a time of over complication. Lists, budgets and people’s wishes all factor in when making decisions about what to buy. Here are seven ways to make the holiday gift buying experience a little less complicated:

1. Start Early

Don’t wait until the week before the holiday to think about what to get. This may cause you to spend too much money and choose something that person may not want.

2. Create a Master List Way Ahead of Time

Take the time to create a list of every person and animal you are planning to buy a gift for so you won’t forget anyone.

3. Year Around Amazon

Create a wish list on Amazon to stash potential gifts for people throughout the year when they mention a desired product. When the time comes for purchasing, you have it all organized and ready with thoughtful, wanted gifts.

Continue reading Can’t Keep Up? 7 Ways to Simplify Your Holiday Gift Buying

Five Dinner Party Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making

There is quite a lot of pressure when hosting a dinner party. What you anticipate to be a fun and festive evening can turn into a “what was I thinking?!” personal meltdown in the kitchen. Consider not doing the following when thinking about hosting a dinner party:

Complicated Recipes

A complicated and untested recipe can lead to high costs and a not so good end result. Unfamiliarity with the recipe can cause you to forget a step or ingredient, consequently, making your much looked forward to entree to become the most avoided dish at the table.

Not Having Food Ready When Guests Arrive

Guests are more than likely coming to your dinner party hungry and won’t want to wait all night for the food to finish cooking. Further, if you forget to prep and organize, your kitchen may transform into a very messy gathering place. Continue reading Five Dinner Party Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making

The Top Ten Corporate Gift Ideas

85_60_large

It’s that time of year for showing thanks by giving gifts. Sometimes gift giving—especially in the corporate workplace—can be difficult because it may appear most people have every essential item or trinket they need. However, there is something out there even for the most savvy and well-accessorized clients and employees. Here are ten gift ideas for the corporate setting and for those who appear to have it all:

1. Silver Letter Opener

This classy gift can be customized with the company logo, a quote, or the person’s name and job title.

2. Cell Phone/ Business Card Holder

This is a functional gift idea to keep desk space organized with two of the most commonly grabbed items on a person’s desk. You can also customize this gift if desired.

3. Fancy Picture Frames

A fancy picture frame, such as leather or metal, can add both sophistication and warmth to an office.

Continue reading The Top Ten Corporate Gift Ideas

How to Complete Your Holiday Gift List in 5 Minutes

89_73_popupShopping for everyone on your gift list can cost you a lot of time if you are driving around town hunting for a possible gift. Or maybe time is not an issue for you. Maybe you just need a little something extra for each person to show just how much he or she means to you.

Cane River Pecans are a perfect way to give the gift of a lasting impression. You can make your shopping quick and easy at Cane River Pecan by choosing to “Shop by Products”, “Shop by Occasions”, “Shop by Price”, or “Customize Gifts.” Each item contains a picture of the product and the packaging, so there is no mystery about what you are getting. Continue reading How to Complete Your Holiday Gift List in 5 Minutes

How to Make Healthy Halloween Treats for Your Party

Happy_Halloween_1!
Happy Halloween 1! by Bubamara is licensed under CC by-SA 2.0.

Halloween doesn’t have to be a time of stomach aches and sugar highs. There are plenty of fun, healthy alternatives to creating tasty Halloween treats without getting tricked. Here are a few creative and healthy options for a festive snack, dessert, or salad idea:

Banana Ghosts and Tangerine Pumpkins

This is a great idea for snacking on while handing out candy during Trick-Or-Treat. For Banana Ghosts, simply peal bananas completely, cut in half, and use mini-chocolate chips for eyes and regular size chocolate chips for the mouth. For Tangerine Pumpkins, peal tangerines completely and place a small bit of celery in the center to look like a stem.

Apple Bites

All the little goblins and monsters will love this snack. Simply cut rounded, thin slices of any apple variety. Put a thin coat of peanut butter on each slice. Place small marshmallows between the slices, and abracadabra! You have scary plate of mouths on your table. Continue reading How to Make Healthy Halloween Treats for Your Party