Archive for July, 2010

Wedding Jewelry Customs

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Wedding occur all around the world and wedding jewelry customs have become unique to each culture. This article brings to light just a few wedding jewelry customs. I hope you enjoy it!

There is so much more to a wedding than what you see at the surface. Weddings can have special meanings and social implications. Once thing that is so important that it could be considered sacred is the wedding jewelry. Some cultures require the bride to wear wedding jewelry or bridal jewelry that is very ceremonial and is rich in tradition.

America

In America, it is hard to pinpoint a certain tradition that can be traced back soley to American heritage. This could be because America is rich with people from other nations. However, there is a thin line of American heritage that runs through out history with regards to wedding jewelry customs. One of those customs is for the bridesmaids and/or the bride to wear a tin cup necklace as her wedding jewelry or bridal jewelry. The tin cup necklace is made of pearls that are spaced out evenly along a sterling silver or 14kt gold beading chain. Other names for the tin cup necklace is a floating pearl necklace and a pearl illusion necklace. It is common for people that prefer crystals rather than pearls to switch the pearls on a tin cup necklace to crystals. This is often called a Camilla necklace.

The most traditional wedding jewelry custom in America is wearing pearl wedding jewelry. A classic strand of white or cream pearls lying on the neck of an American bride is iconic. If a bride wants to be a little more fancy she can had a two or three strand pearl necklace. Wearing layers of tin cup necklaces would also create a look achieved by two and three strand pearl necklaces as well.

Sweden

Sweden has a unique wedding jewelry custom. It’s traditional wedding headpeice is famous through Sweden. Brides often wear dainty silver crowns when they get married which are called brudkonans. These crowns can be heavy to wear because they are made of either brass, gold, or silver. A brudkonan is a symbol of purity and virginity that dates back to the middle ages and is correlated to the Catholid Church of Sweden. When it comes to wedding bands, the bride will wear three bands on their ring finger. The first ring is the engagement band, the second is the wedding band, and the last ring is the ring of motherhood.

China

Chinese women will wear a cheongsam when they get married. The color of a cheongsam is usually red because red is the color for luck. The pheonix is what is symbolized in Chinese wedding jewelry and wedding garments. The bride will wear a tiara made of silver decorated with pearls and feathers.

India

India is more than likely the most popular place that is noted for there traditional wedding jewelry customs. A 24 kt gold headpeice called the shringar patti is worn by the bride. The bride will also be wearing a nose ring, bridal necklace, and bridal earrings. All of the bride’s wedding jewelry will be made out of 24 kt gold. The Indian bride is adorned from head to toe with 24 kt gold wedding jewelry.

These are just a few countries and their wedding jewelry customs. If you’d like to comment or add any other wedding jewelry customs that I might have missed, feel free, I’m interested. Best wishes, Kendall

Baby Gifts: Shop for the Baby, Not the Parents

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Babies can be the most difficult people to buy gifts for – we have no idea what they like! But then again, we do know their needs, and we know about their parents well enough. These little pieces of knowledge are often enough to help you come up with great baby gift baskets – and they’re pretty easy to prepare, too.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you can just throw anything into a basket and expect it to be received well – parents of a new baby would probably wonder why you prepared a basket filled with solid food. It’s best to give something that the new baby can use for a long time. Here are some tips on which kinds of baby gift baskets are the most popular.
1.) Clothes and Toys. Every baby needs soft clothes to keep warm, as well as toys to keep them occupied while in the crib. You can fill a basket with clothes and toys themed around a single color – blue and purple is best for boys, while pink and yellow goes best for girls. Red, purple, and green are colors that can be used for babies as well. If you can afford it, shell out an extra few dollars to have the clothes and toys personalized with the new baby’s name.
2.) Blankets and Pillows. Newborn babies sleep a lot – up to 20 hours a day – so it’s also a good idea to give new baby blankets and pillows. A baby gift basket with blankets and pillows may also contain a storybook for the parents to read, plus maybe a musical toy to help lull the little guy to sleep. It may also be a good idea to include a milk bottle that’s suited for the outdoors, in case the baby decides to snooze while their parents take him/her out for a walk.
3.) Stuff for bath time. During the few hours of the day when the baby is awake, they always look forward to bath time. Babies love to kick and splash in the water, especially when they learn to sit up and hold things. A great bath-themed gift basket would contain some hypo-allergenic bath items, like baby baths, talcum powder, towels, and bath toys.
But why not give all of the above-listed baby gifts? Nothing says you care more than a whole welcome wagon gift basket! You can easily take a small toy wagon or cart and fill it with everything a new baby may need – clothes, toys, blankets, pillows, and bath time items. Personalize these items and you’ll have a gift basket that the baby’s parents will appreciate for a long, long time.
Another way to let the put a smile on the parents’ faces is by customizing the gift basket to reflect a parent’s occupation or profession. If the dad is a construction worker, for instance, you could get a toy wheelbarrow and fill it with baby items and toys themed around construction. If the mom is a teacher, you can combine a small blackboard (to write the baby’s feeding schedule, for instance), some toy blocks, and clothes with numbers and letters. A gift basket is always more thoughtful the less generic it is!
An even easier way to bring the parents into the picture is to put together a sports-themed gift basket for the new baby. If the parents are fans (or even players) of basketball, football, tennis, or any other sport, feel free to theme your gift basket around that. You don’t know just how cute babies can be until you see them wearing a martial artist’s black belt uniform.
Everyone knows that babies grow pretty quickly during the first few months, and it’s a pretty exciting activity to watch and record a baby’s growth. There are many kinds of growth charts out there that make a welcome addition to any baby’s basket – you can be sure the entire family will be using it for years to come.
As the baby grows older, they’ll begin to appreciate picture books and storybooks more. It won’t hurt to include a few good books in your basket – it’s a pretty good investment for the child’s development. You can make it even more special by giving books that the parents used to enjoy in their youth, such as the classics by Dr Seuss and Charles Schulz.
Another great thing you can do with books is to have them personalized. Personalized storybooks are a growing trend among new parents these days – all you have to do is to find an author of these storybooks and give the child’s name. When a child’s still young, having their name in a storybook can be a pretty novel experience, especially when their parents read their stories over and over.
And of course, you can’t go wrong with toys. Babies start out with chew toys and little things that they can grasp with their tiny hands. As they grow older, they’ll like toys that require hand-eye coordination, like push-button toys and building blocks. Stuffed toys are also great companions in the crib, and can help little kids fall asleep even when their parents are in another room.
As the child grows older, it isn’t a bad idea to give them board games and other games that are usually reserved for kids of schooling age. For instance, chess is a great game that challenges and develops their analytic skills. It can be great fun for a child to play at an adult’s level so early in life – and the less the adult knows about playing chess, the better the game gets!
When you’re putting together a baby’s gift basket, you should always keep in mind that the baby will be doing two things best – growing and developing. As such, some gifts last longer than others. Try not to give short-term gifts like nappies and baby formula – the mom and dad probably already has that covered. Instead, try to think of baby gifts that are for keeps.

Buyers Prepare for Wholesale Jewelry and Gift Shows!

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Well, it’s that time of year again, the wholesale jewelry and gift shows for 2009 are underway! Is it just me or did 2008 go by exceptionally fast? It seems as though we just started preparing for the new season and now it’s here. Our wholesale show preparations are finished, new handmade earrings and bracelets are ready to go!

For Buyers the preparations are just beginning. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your buying season:

1. Review your sales records for last year. This will give you a good idea of what sells and what hasn’t sold well in your area. Sometimes this review will surprise you.

2. Eliminate slow sellers, discount them and sell through remaining stock to make room for new products.

3. Go through the buyers guides for the wholesale jewelry and gift shows that you will be attending. Mark your suppliers booths on the show map to ensure you place your orders with your existing suppliers. Some shows have expanded recently, the CGTA show in Toronto for example, alot of your suppliers have moved into larger booths because of the expansion of the Toronto Congress Centre, make sure you know where they are so you don’t miss out on seeing their new products for 2009.

4. Make a budget and stick to it! Make allowances for new products from existing suppliers and well as new suppliers’ minimum order requirements. Leave yourself room for some last minute additions.

5. Research new products online. Go through the buyers’ guide and visit the  websites of suppliers you are interested in. You can find out about their products and services, minimum orders, shipping costs, etc. without walking that extra mile to see their booth.

6. Make a list of questions for suppliers. During the hustle and bustle of shows important questions sometimes get overlooked.

7. Take advantage of “Show Specials”. Many suppliers will offer free shipping or free point of purchase displays. Displays, especially for handmade jewelry, will greatly increase your sales. Most of our customers who have taken advantage of our jewelry display packages have seen significant increases in sales of our handcrafted jewelry, some 200-300% increases.

8. Make sure to offer your customers a variety of unique gift ideas. Focus on your best selling price points, but also offer some high-end as well as low-end alternatives.

9. Keep in mind your customers! If you are a local retailer you will want to freshen up your existing lines for your existing customer base. If you are in a resort or tourist centre you can stick will proven sellers as your customers are always changing.

10. Wear comfortable shoes!

Making the right preparations will ensure your buying success. Research is key, these days everyone is online and trying to provide you all the information you need to make the correct buying decisions for your stores. We hope these tips will help you with your Wholesale Jewelry and Gift Show preparations.