Baby Shower Gift Basket Tips and Inspiration

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Posted on August 11, 2020 by Roeshel

There’s nothing more precious than a new baby and putting together a collection of sweet baby gifts can be so meaningful for parents-to-be! I love shopping and gathering up gifts to create a beautiful arrangement and I’m all about a pretty presentation. I thought I’d share a few I’ve made this past year to help inspire you if you’re stuck or looking for some examples to go by. Some affiliate links included.

Baby Shower Gift Basket Tips

Tips for personalizing a gift for a new little person makes if feel so special, right? Here are a few tips to help:

Registry – most parents-to-be will share their baby shower registry. Try to choose a few items from their hand selected wish list when possible.
Gender – it’s rare that we don’t know this ahead of time and completely unnecessary but if you do know, it does narrow down options.
Name – even more rare, but if it is known, I love to add something monogrammed – specifically, I love adding a wall art letter or creating a personalized iron on decal.
Theme – a lot of the time, the baby shower invitation will give a hint to the nursery theme or design style … elephants, owls, woodland, boho, Noah’s ark, etc.
Parents’ hobbies, collections, lifestyle. Do they love the outdoors (fishing? hunting?), love their dog(s)?, have a favorite sport’s team?
Your signature piece – for example, I’m all about wellness so I try to include chemical free, natural, organic options when I can.
Diapers & board book – baby showers now will often host a special raffle for bringing one of these items. I always use a pack of Honest newborn diapers in the bottom of the basket to lift the gifts. Either way, diapers are SUPER helpful and adding a favorite children’s story or baby board book to create a library of bedtime stories is one of my favorite things to add.
Gift wrap a few of the items with coordinating wrapping paper. I often use what I have on hand. It doesn’t have to be specific baby shower themed.

Baby Shower Gift Basket Inspiration

Here are 5 baby shower gift baskets I’ve put together to help inspire your next baby shower gift.

Girls:

EMMA

Emma’s mommy’s favorite color is purple and she designed an owl themed nursery. My dear friend waited a long time for this precious miracle and I am so happy for them!

Gifts I selected:

Hoot Board Book
Seedlings Calm essential oil (also check out Feather the Owl diffuser at Young Living)
Gentle Baby essential oil
Ruffled Romper & Headband
Newborn Swaddle Blanket & Beanie
Tulle Tutu and Headband
Milestone Stickers
Owl Teether and Rattle Socks (no longer available)
Purple Owl Squishmallow
Owl Diaper Caddy is no longer available (here’s a neutral owl diaper organizer option).
Organic Cotton Gowns
Floral Romper Bodysuite & Stockings
Lavender Woods Crib Sheet Set (no longer available)
My 1st Halloween Outfit

SOPHIE

– a pink themed collection fit for a princess!

Gifts I chose: {some substitutions pictured)

Gentle Baby Essential Oil
Gentle Babies Book by Debra Rayburn
Pink Bunny Mist Humidifier
The rest of the collection of pink bibs, stuffed unicorn, canvas basket, floral swaddle, pink tutu, headbands, etc. were purchased from TJMaxx

Boys:

TOBIAS & ELIAS

– shopping for twins is so much fun! I didn’t go with completely “identical” but it was fun to put a woodland theme gift collection together for two!

Gifts hand picked by me:

CONNOR

– this little guy’s mom and dad are parents to two German Shepherds. What fun it was to include the ‘fur babies’ too!

Gifts I included:

Baby Wash & Shampoo, Diaper Rash Cream, Baby Lotion from Young Living Seedlings Collection
Diffuser/Cool Mist Humidifier
Baby and Pet Bib Set (black and white)
Baby and Pet Bib Set (gray)
Plaid Flannel Jumpsuit
Plush German Shepherd (decor only)
Hot Dog, Cold Dog Board Book
Diaper Organizer

MARINO

– a blue teddy bear/sweet dreams collection for this precious boy.

Gifts I selected:

What are some of your favorite go-to baby gift ideas?

DIY Chocolate Candy Wedding Party Favor Gifts

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Posted on April 10, 2018 by Roeshel

DIY Chocolate Candy Wedding Party Favor Gifts

Isn’t it funny where inspiration comes from? At times, it’s somewhere completely random or even unknown. I’m thinking the inspiration for these DIY chocolate candy wedding party favor gifts may have been handmade soaps or even those beautiful yogurt bowls I’ve seen on Instagram. To be honest, I’m not sure – I’ve done some searching and haven’t stumbled across anything similar.

I made these up as a hostess party gift/favor and got drafted to make up some bridal shower favors. So here’s my DIY tutorial for beautiful chocolate/candy melts. They are so easy! Some affiliate links included.

Supplies I used:

THISsilicone mold
candy melts (light cocoa and bright white shown)
sprinkles <— my favorite!
decorations (icing roses)
zip lock baggies
skewer
Peppermint Vitality essential oil
treat bags
labels (Avery 5260)

Total Time: Approximately 30 min.

Serves: This silicone mold is a large size (3×3 inch). Two bags of melts makes 6.

What I did:

I transferred candy melts to quart sized baggy (I used two: light cocoa and white) and melted according to package instructions – either in the microwave or in a double boiler. My experience: I carefully set both bags (unzipped) into the microwave on ‘defrost’ for 50 seconds then checked and repeated and re-checked until melted. Instructions warn against overheating and I didn’t have any issue.

*Melted candy will be hot. Please use caution!

I set my silicone mold on a small cookie sheet (a tray or something that gives the mold support to be moved and that will fit into your freezer works).

Once my candy was melted, I added 2-4 drops of Peppermint Vitality essential oil to the melted white candy, zipped the bag and kneaded the baggy to mix. I didn’t do it with both colors, just one.

Then I snipped off a bottom corner of the baggy (very small snip!) with scissors and piped the candy into the silicone mold and repeated with the other color. I filled each silicone space with half and half of each candy into each square.

Next I gently shook/shimmied the mold to level the melted candy.

Using the skewer, while candy was still melted, I swirled the colors to create a beautiful unique design where the colors meet.

I am in LOVE with how each square is a unique and one of a kind design! I think this was my favorite step! I started out with just more of a zig zag but then discovered that the more swirly, the better.

Then quickly decorated with icing roses, sprinkles, colored sugar, edible decorations, etc.

I placed the tray/silicone mold in freezer to set the candy. It didn’t seem to take long at all…probably about 15-20 minutes if that. Sometime I let it sit overnight if I got busy.

Then I removed them from freezer and carefully popped the bars out of silicone mold.

I placed them into a bag and secured with a personalized label.

Beautiful! I love that each design is unique, don’t you? They’re so pretty, so professional and designer-looking but so easy to create! I can’t wait to make more!

So.many.photos! lol But I’m just so happy with how pretty they are!

This batch was a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” theme.

I whipped up 60-70 of these for a bridal shower but since you can personalize them with any candy melts (so many colors!) and any deco ratings (so many colors and shapes and ideas!), they’d work for not only bridal showers but for Mother’s Day, baby showers, wedding favors, party favors, hostess and teacher gifts, prizes, etc. I made a few every evening over a couple of weeks’ time. I gave a few out as essential oil infused door prizes and at Easter to my family too. I even had my grandson helping me decorate a few!

Warning – not only are they a beautiful sweet treat, they’re so addicting to create! Here is the very first batch that started my madness (without the swirl technique)…

Need more info on essential oils for dietary use? Read more about why I choose Young Living HERE. xo

DIY aromatherapy heat/cold {rice} packs: Snuggle Bunnies

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Roeshel

Who likes a little extra comfort with some warmth when cold, cooling off when hot and relaxing/calming essential oils to promote a good night’s sleep!? Don’t we all?

Only a few more weeks ’til Easter!

Looking for a (useful and handmade) gift idea? I like to give my nieces and nephews candy-free gifts. Since I’m so in love with essential oils, I think these cute lil’ snuggle bunny heat/cold packs are a nice gift idea. Perfectly soothing. Also a cute idea for essential oil class/party door prizes too.

What I used: (*includes some affiliate links)

fabric – I purchased something similar to this (makes 15 bunnies)

coordinating ribbon
Young Living essential oils {I recommend lavender, Valor, Peace & Calming or Gentle Baby}
extra long grain rice
sample bottles
free downloadable printable bunny pattern (available below)
free downloadable printable usage instructions (available below)
8.5 x 11 in. card stock (1 piece for printing pattern, more pieces for usage instructions)

Tools: printer, scissors, sewing machine/thread, straight pins, screwdriver

What I did:

Iron fabric.

Download and print the bunny pattern on card stock. Cut out pattern.

free printable Snuggle Bunny Pattern download

Trace pattern on wrong side of doubled fabric. Pin fabric pieces together and cut out bunny shape.

Sew all sides (I sewed as close to the raw edge as I could get and capturing both pieces – front/back – of fabric). Leave the bottom open.

Turn right side out (a screwdriver comes in handy for the ears – don’t poke too hard).

Iron. Fold in bottom raw edges and iron.

Fill with rice. You’ll want it to be a bit floppy, not super packed full.

Sew opening shut.

Add a ribbon bow, attach instructions inside a gift card and a sample of soothing/relaxing essential oil (Recommendations: Young Living Peace & Calming, lavender, Valor or Gentle Baby).

Print usage instructions: (download printable)