A Thank You from Afghanistan

Working with gifts and gift-givers every day is definitely a feel-good job, but nothing in my business has been more heartwarming to me than my recent project "Treat a Hero". This campaign has allowed us to send care boxes from the La Bella Baskets store to deployed troops serving oversees.

Our second package went out in September. A few weeks later, we received an amazing photo and message from Sgt. Rich:

I am deeply thankful to Scott and his wife Abbie for taking the time to share this with us. It has re-energized me to keep working to raise money in $5 increments and keep sending more packages. Our 3rd package is just about ready to go out! Let's send some more for the soldiers to receive for the holidays!! Please visit the fundraiser page to donate or read more. Most of all, please share the link when you're there. On behalf of our heroes, thank you so very much!

Behind The Scenes: All About Our Amazing La Bella Baskets Cookie Bouquets

Each season brings beautiful new cookie designs to our La Bella Baskets online stores. Customers rave about how delicious they are - once they can bring themselves to eat something so pretty! In fact, cookie bouquets have become the top seller from my store. I didn't see that coming, but it makes sense. Once people have seen and tasted these cookies, they immediately become repeat customers, and it's easy to get addicted to the fun of sending such cheerful and delicious good wishes.

Here's the lowdown: the cookies are baked at a bakery in New York. They are a shortbread recipe that's incredibly delicious and holds up well - they stay fresh for 6 weeks! When you order a bouquet, you can choose to personalize the center cookie. Then each cookie is attached to a stick, individually wrapped, and inserted into a ceramic base. The entire bouquet is also bubble wrapped. They ship in a sturdy box and arrive in perfect condition.

 

 Each cookie really IS as big as your hand! It's hard to believe but I have seen them :) 

The hardened frosting keeps the designs as perfect as the day they were made

There are so many to choose from for every occasion! And they're perfect to send to a family. Choose the 5-cookie or 7-cookie option so there's one for each person. Of course, all of the beautiful choices are available in our store and can be ordered online. See the Cookie Bouquets tab, and click again when it says "Butter Cookie Bouquets".

On The Way...

Wow, guys, we really did it... our first package is on its way to our first service member! It's only because of all of YOU that this is possible. There was a bit of a learning curve as I figured out how to send something to an APO address, but we have that worked out now :) I also discovered that the shipping is 23.95 to an APO (nearly double the mainland rate), so we will need to plan for that accordingly.

This time, we ordered the box "America The Beautiful", loaded with snacks and a book of inspiring patriotic stories. At the 20% discount, it's 39.99 plus the 23.95 shipping, which comes to $63.94. So far, we have received $45 through the fundraiser, so I chipped in the rest to cover for the shipping discrepancy. I really can't do that regularly! But I'm happy to do it when I can. This box is not normally in our Armed Forces category, so it may not be available to send to APOs after this. But I feel it's a perfect combination of treats and inspiration for a service member. I'm so excited to for him to receive it!

The package is going to Josh, a young, 20-year-old soldier who is single. Can you imagine how he will feel to receive something from back home, knowing we are behind him and thankful for his sacrifice? Here is the message we included:

"We are a group of everyday American people who want you to know how much we appreciate your sacrifice on our behalf. God bless and protect you every day. "

Now we need to work on our next box, and many more after that! We have the name of another service member already lined up...this next one is for Scott, a husband and father who is away from his family. Can you help me send him a treat and thank him for what he is doing to protect our families? I am so anxious to keep the ball rolling and to bring some encouragement to these troops. Please help me keep up the momentum! Many thanks, my friends. Here's the fundraiser link again: (click on the picture):

Don't forget, our candle give away comes up in a few days... I'm looking forward to one generous donor receiving a special thank you from me! Please be generous as you can. Every $5 donation gets you and entry into the candle drawing. Thank you again!

Launching "Treat A Hero" Initiative

Ever since falling in love with La Bella's line of care packages for troops, I have wondered how I could use my business to promote support for our service men and women. I have so much gratitude for their daily sacrifice and it does my heart good to think of them receiving some little gesture of appreciation from back home.

So I'm so thrilled to announce my new initiative Treat A Hero, which brings together many small donations in order to fund the purchase and delivery of our sweet care packages to active duty service members. You can read all about it on my page at gofundme.com. Donors will be entered into my candle raffle as a special thank you! I'm so excited to see what we can do for our guys and gals in the field. Please, share widely, and give a little something to make a big difference for our heroes. Click on the photo to go to the fundraiser.

Mother's Day Gifts Are Here!

This is only a small sample. Our store is loaded with beautiful gifts for Mom! Cookies, flowers, gift baskets both sweet and practical... something for every deserving mother. Each one can be delivered to her home with your personalized message. Please come by and take a look!

Congratulations...

...to the winner of the March Gift Basket drawing, PEGGY CURTIS!!!

Peggy was submitted by La Bella Baskets Consultant, Kathy Cooper. Congratulations to you both!!!

We've started taking entries for the April basket drawing... Hurry over and enter here: http://www.inspiredbasketsbylabella.com/gift-basket-drawing.html

 

Gift Basket Giveaway!

It's a busy week before the end of the month! Easter is upon us, and we're thinking about all of the upcoming Spring events - in no time, we'll have First Communions, showers, weddings and graduations! Mother's Day is coming too. So many opportunities for gift-giving...

 

Each month, La Bella Baskets shows appreciation to new friends and customers with a gift basket giveaway. Take a moment to enter our free drawing for this month! The deadline is the 31st. If you happen to see this after the deadline, enter anyway and your name will go into next month's drawing.

First, please look over my online store here and select a gift you would love to have, up to $100 in value.

"Like" my Facebook page here.

Then, click here and enter your information to go into the drawing. It's simple and easy! Good luck - I hope one of my friends and customers will be this month's lucky winner!