Category Archives: packaging tips

Wedding Gifts Given and Received

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I made my way (alongside my fiancee) to a friend’s wedding this past weekend, and it was held at a pretty big brewery. As a lover of beer, it’s safe to say that I had lofty expectations that were met and exceeded once all was said and done.

Despite being excited for such plans, I know my fiancee was a little nervous for the weekend’s festivities since she was a part of the bridal party, her first time being in one to boot. She was first worried about what I would do the day before and day of while she was doing her bridal duties (which I told her not to worry about at all). And more so than that, she was a bit anxious about what was expected of her and trying to do her all to be there for the bride.

When all was said and done, things went swimmingly. I enjoyed my own alone time relaxing back at our AirBNB and doing my own thing while she was busy. And her other uncertainties were just fine when it came to doing what she could for the bride and the whole bridal party.

One of the coolest things I didn’t realize was so standard nowadays with wedding parties was the gifts my fiancee received from the bride as a thanks for being part of her special day. She got a brand new tote bag that was super cute, some makeup and toiletries to celebrate the occasion, and a few candy boxes that were elegant and “fancy” for candy. (I’ll try not to mention how I ate one of the two candy boxes the day of since my fiancee isn’t a huge fan of candy haha!)

wedding gift for guest; Shutterstock ID 414452338

I’m a big fan of weddings because of the celebratory nature of the events, especially considering how once in a lifetime they can truly be. Of course, not always do weddings turn out to be the only one someone has in their life, but that doesn’t mean the occasions should be any less heralded as an amazing time to unwind and have fun.

I look forward to all of the weddings we have lined up in the next year, especially considering that ours is on the horizon, just 13 months away. There’s nothing quite as exciting in life as a huge life event such as this, especially one where all of your friends and family can be there with you to celebrate you.

Surprise Snacks for Your Kid’s Lunchbox

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I was always a big fan of my mom surprising me with little things in my lunchbox when I went to school as a kid. Sometimes it would be positive notes attached to the inside of my lunchbox, whereas others I may find a little treat that wouldn’t imbalance my diet by any means. And even others, there was a dollar or a trinket just to make me smile.

If there’s any situation that the phrase “It’s the thought that counts” applies to, I’d say it’s this one right here. But coming up with interesting and fun ideas to surprise your kids isn’t always the easiest, and we all know how simple it is to forget little acts of kindness.

So, instead of you doing all the legwork in brainstorming things you can do to surprise your kids at school, we’ve come up with the perfect way to let them know you care: candy boxes.

Okay, so initially those words scream “unhealthy!” Especially if you let them eat an entire box of candies. But there do happen to be some pretty popular candies that are lot healthier than you ever would have thought, and we’ve compiled a few to lessen your stress about the sugars your child is getting in a day. Let’s see what’s out there.

Reese’s cup minis.

Did you know that chocolate and peanut butter is actually one of the healthier candies out there? We all know Reese’s dominates that market, but it doesn’t have to be dominant since it’s unhealthy like so many other candies. Peanut butter is a wildly understated health food, and since it’s 50% of Reese’s recipe, your kids are actually benefiting from them. Just make sure they don’t eat the entire box in one go. Perhaps that means you need to send them along with a quarter of the box’s contents instead of trusting them not to clear the box out!

Yogurt covered raisins/nuts.

I’m sure you know the magic of these treats yourself. Unfortunately, they get a bad reputation for being “adult candies”. But that doesn’t have to be the case with these candy boxes. Once you let your kids try them, they’ll be hooked. It helps to hide the box’s name from them, so pouring some into plastic bags or tupperware may surprise them even more. They’ll give them a go and be hooked. That’s one snack that any parent wouldn’t mind their kids being hooked on!

Art and Appreciation

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Anytime I find myself wanting to do something fun or interesting or engaging these days, I end up somehow keeping my mind occupied by something stimulating. At first, it was just reading books I had stored in some old cardboard boxes. This kept me interested in something new with each read-through of an old book. It stimulated me in ways that not much else would and, to be honest, brought me back to a time that I had the free time to read as much as I wanted.

But then I started to take on a new hobby, and that was going to museums and gardens to view art. Art is, honestly, complex enough to seem pointless or confusing or “dumb” to people who don’t take the time to appreciate it, understand it, or “get” it.

I can’t blame them, though. I used to be one of them. I don’t think I ever thought of art as dumb. It was just confusing to me and left me with more questions than I came with. Little did I know, however, that that meant the art was working. It made me question it, question things. It made me feel things without me realizing that I was feeling them. And that, honestly, is the essence of art.

Perhaps it took me visiting a few art museums with my fiancee to see the true beauty of it all. Perhaps it was the fact that we gave each piece a healthy amount of time to sink in, which allowed us to think about it and discuss it afterwards. Perhaps it was neither of those things and I just haven’t visited an art museum in a long while. Yet now that I’ve read more and grown more and thought more and seen more and experienced more, I understand it better than I would have when I was younger.

No matter the case, I’ve a newfound obsession with viewing art. I no longer want to just stick to my books from my cardboard boxes. Instead, I want to go out and apply the knowledge I’ve gained from those books. I want to think about things. I want to appreciate things. I want to understand what it is that makes these things called art so good, so high culture.

With a little help from my experiences growing up, the things I learned in class from college, and the books and articles I continue to read, I think I can learn to appreciate art to its fullest. It’ll take time, and it’ll likely take multiple viewings, but I want to be able to achieve that.

Choosing a Favorite Candy

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I’ve never been a big fan of candy or ever claimed to have a sweet tooth in the slightest, and I think part of that comes from my love for savory foods more than just about anything.

Besides, anytime I want to eat something sweet (especially containing chocolate), I absolutely have to have a glass of milk near me to cut the sweetness. Considering milk is my favorite drink anyway, this comes as no surprise to me and those who know me well. But the whole “too sweet for me” thing is quite real, especially when milk isn’t on tap.

So, I’m not often found browsing the candy boxes shelves at local stores when getting groceries, and that’s just simply because I never, ever seem to eat candy. If someone gives me candy as a gift add on, as a stocking stuffer, or just for fun on Halloween and Easter, I’ll pick through the few that I enjoy more and munch on them from time to time. But I honestly don’t crave candy in the slightest.

One thing I can remark on regarding candy, though, is my favorite types. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoy chocolates and chocolate sweets with milk any given time, though I don’t seek out pure chocolate bars like some people do.

And on the opposite end of the candy spectrum, I do not enjoy hard candies. The stickiness, pure sugar aspect, and how hard it can be on your teeth do not appeal to me. I always feel like I’m digging pieces of hardened sugar out of my teeth after eating them, and if I don’t happen to crunch through these candies to speed up the eating process, I end up sucking on them for far too long, which then feels like I’m slowly eroding my enamel with full awareness of what’s happening.

So, rather than those two, my favorite type of candy rests somewhere in the middle with gummies. Gummies aren’t hard on your teeth whatsoever so long as you clean your mouth properly afterwards. They’re fun to suck on for a few seconds before tearing them apart and swallowing. I don’t mind grabbing a few candy boxes of gummies from the store anytime I’m about to see a movie and want to save money, so the blue sharks, the rainforest frogs, the Haribo bears, and other like candies are what you’ll find me enjoying the most.

The Appeal of Vinyl Albums

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I’m a big fan of vinyl records ever since my girlfriend’s father gave us his old turntable. I knew that records were popular back in the day and even gained a resurgence as of late with more hip crowds, but I never quite understood why until I owned one and bought my first few albums from the local record store.

If anything, it all takes me back to collecting CDs when I was in high school and early college. There was something real about purchasing one of my favorite bands’ new albums on CD and playing it in my truck while driving around. The whole experience had a meaning to it. It had weight. It became an experience.

Nowadays, if I want to listen to something new by someone, I can hop on Spotify and go to their new album right away to quickly cycle through different tracks until I like what I hear. It’s definitely convenient and faster than anything else out there, but it also doesn’t carry the same sort of weight as making a trip to buy a new album and then listening to it on the way home.

The only problem I seem to have with getting a new album, though, is that my first few were of records I had already known inside and out. Now, is this a bad thing? Well not at all. I wanted my first three or four albums to be of artists I already love, and I wanted those records to be of absolutely complete albums from the first to last track.

What I’m saying is I was predispositioned on the first few albums I got. I wanted what I already liked because I wanted to make those first few records special.

From here on, however, I think I want to do it differently. I want to still purchase records from my favorite artists, but I want to listen to their new music on record first. No more hopping into Spotify immediately to make sure I like the new stuff. If it’s an artist I highly support and follow closely, there’s a reason for that. Their past stuff is already amazing, so there’s no doubt the new stuff would be too.

And if anything, the whole point of records back in the day was to listen to the next great record as soon as it drops and experience that music for yourself. To listen to it before anyone else could and then own that record for good.

To me, that’s what I’m looking forward to. I have such an expansive taste in music lately that anything goes, so all sorts of artists will be dropping new music year in and year out for me to like. While going after new music all the time will likely mean my two cardboard boxes of old albums will grow to four cardboard boxes, it’s all worth it simply because they are timeless so long as turntables are still considered vintage and can be repaired or bought like new.