I love our gift bags.  They are so much easier to use than wrapping paper, I don’t have to go searching for a suitable bag to carry the gift to a party, they are adorable and they are reusable.  I get really excited when I see one out in “circulation” and know someone else appreciates our bags too!

This past Friday, Benjamin and I attended kid’s Shabbat on the beach at Main Beach in East Hampton.  It was a wonderful way to end the week - peaceful, spiritual, relaxing and the beach is one of the most beautiful in the US.  As I was decompressing from the work week, a beautiful blue (not the ocean) caught my eye.  There it was, a GIFT HERO gift bag hanging from the arm of someone’s beach chair.  I was so psyched to see it, I snapped a picture with my phone for everyone to see.

Looks like we have a new “It” bag for the back to school season

We fell into a breakfast rut recently. Benjamin, who doesn’t have a lot of time to eat in the morning, said he was “bored” with everything I offered. Ordinarily, I don’t put up with food fatigue but I really need to make sure he is full before going to camp. He doesn’t get a morning snack and lunch probably isn’t until noon (the bus picks him up at 8:18).

I hadn’t baked banana bread in awhile – kind of felt too hot out to bake. But, we agreed that he would eat it…if it had lots of chocolate chips. I forgot how easy it is to bake and how healthy it can actually be (even with the chips). This recipe makes enough for 2 loaves – which if only Benj eats it (I keep it in the freezer to reduce temptation), gives us more than 2 weeks of breakfasts.

Here’s our recipe:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour (I use one whole wheat and one regular)
2 eggs
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas (but I throw in 4 to make it healthier)
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

I put all the ingredients in my Kitchen Aid mixer and it is done in just a couple of minutes. Makes 2 loaves.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Note: you can also make muffins, just bake for about 25 minutes.

My cousin Rebecca broke her arm the other day – not a fun way for a girl to turn 6 years old. Her birthday is later this month, so we decided to send her an early birthday present from GIFT HERO to try and cheer her up.

What do you send to a 6 year old with a broken arm? It had to be something she could play with one hand. So we chose Hoppers Jr., a great single player game that Rebecca can play all by herself with one hand. The object is to help Red Frog Freddy win the leaping contest by being the last one on the pond. Players choose a challenge and place the frogs on the playing board to match the picture shown. To win, players hop all of their frogs around the pond until only the Red Frog remains. There are different levels of cards so kids will not easily get bored as they get better at the game.

We also sell lots of other fun single player games for all age ranges. For the 5-8 set we offer Rush Hour Jr., River Crossing Jr. and Clever Castle. For ages 8 and up we have the regular versions of Rush Hour and River Crossing, as well as Chocolate Fix.

These games are also great for travel as they are small, light and some even come with a drawstring storage bag.

Don’t worry Rebecca, GIFT HERO is on the way!

It isn’t too late to plant an herb garden with your kids this summer. Most herbs are easy to plant and grow like weeds. Earlier this summer, Benjamin and I planted basil, parsley, mint, rosemary, chives, cilantro and dill (ok, cilantro and dill were a bust – they too quickly go to seed…but the others are fabulous). I feel kind of like the Barefoot Contessa going out into my yard to clip fresh herbs for dinner. This weekend, I made pesto, a chimichurri sauce for steak and used some chives in an omelette and some mint for cocktails.

If you have a yard, just find a patch of dirt that gets sun and buy some small herb plants from a local nursery or garden store. If you are an apartment dweller, a medium sized planter on a sunny windowsill will also do the trick. You don’t need many plants because most of these (especially mint which is a perennial and should come back next year) grow quickly and spread. You can plant more than one herb in the same planter.

Benjamin loves to fill up a watering can and go out and water the herbs (and snack on some of the leaves). At GIFT HERO we sell an adorable Kid’s Watering Can Kit from ToySmith that makes a great gift for boys and girls ages 5 and up. It comes with a colorful and durable watering can plus a rake, a trowel, a shovel and gardening gloves.