Inspiring athletes over 50

I just received an email from Holly, who works for Volume 9 which is an online marketing company. Their mission is to increase their clients’ profitability with innovative search marketing services, best in class consulting practices, and highly skilled operational teams.  Their vision is that they will be recognised as the leading provider of search marketing services in the markets we choose to serve. In her email, Holly told me that one of their clients  Presbyterian Homes  which, founded in 1904, is an independent, not-for-profit and faith-based organisation with a national reputation for creating extraordinary retirement communities, posted an infographic from the Moorings in Arlington Heights,  which is below. 

The Moorings in Arlington Heights, Illinois is an active senior living community that focuses on enriching life after retirement. They celebrate the seven dimensions of wellness, which includes intellectual, social, spiritual, environmental, community, emotional, and physical aspects of your health. They just posted an inspiring infographic that shows how we don't have to slow down or stop as we age. Read the blog here

The infographic from the blog is shown here:

Making Christmas Gift Baskets

It doesn't matter how many people you have on your Christmas list to buy presents for, but chances are that you'll almost always have someone on your list that you just don't know what to buy for them. Many people run into this kind of trouble when buying Christmas gifts, but an option that's always readily available is to either make a Christmas gift basket of your own or to buy a pre-packaged one. There are all sorts of things that go into making Christmas gift baskets, but here are some good pieces of advice and suggestions to use before going all out to afford the nicest Christmas gift basket possible!

Do It Cheaper!

Even though you may not want to come across as a cheapskate, making your own Christmas gift basket is considerably less expensive than buying one at a retail store or even a specialty shop or business. The reason that it's usually a whole lot cheaper is because you are actually paying for all of the products to be pre-packaged and usually gift-wrapped in a nice Christmas basket. Even though retail Christmas gift baskets can be a great thing for some people, there are plenty of others who would simply rather create their own not only because it's the less expensive option, but also because it will come across as a whole lot more personal!

Think About the Receiver!

The first thing that you'll want to do before even starting to prepare a Christmas gift basket is to think about the person you are buying and making it for. Making a list of all the things that he or she loves is important because you don't simply want to throw a few things together in the hopes that the receiver will like it. After you have thought about what you are going to buy the person, though, the first step is to actually select the Gift basket and decorate the outside of it. Even though decorating the outside of a gift basket doesn't seem like it would take a lot of work, consider the fact that you may end up with a plain brown basket to fill. This is not a downside entirely, however, because you can always fill the bottom of the Christmas gift basket with garland, hang a few small Christmas tree ornaments on the outside of the basket weaves, or do something else to spruce up the look of the gift basket itself!

Buy the Gifts!

After you've made sure that the outside and inside of the Christmas gift basket is decorated well then you are absolutely ready to buy Christmas gifts to put inside the basket. Even though this is an important aspect to the gift basket idea, one shouldn't spend too much time pondering what to include. Gathering a good variety of gifts is always good to do: perhaps a couple of DVD movies, music CDs, as well as various other small accessories are great to put in a gift basket.

All of these things will definitely help you make your special Christmas gift basket. Remember that a lot of people actually choose to go into business for themselves specializing in Christmas or holiday gift baskets, so making one for your family and friends is all the more important!

Do you aspire to?

I find it interesting that many people become so mesmerized by the gold medals, trophies, and daunting heights they aspire to, they tend to forget that their heroes and heroines, more often than not, started with far less than they now have. 

The overnight sensation or the hero who appears on the scene has worked hard and long for the recognition they receive. We tend to forget that any thing we want to do well, requires hard work, dedication, and passion. We should not focus on the gold medal, the trophies or the daunting heights, but instead focus on our passion, while we strife to perfection. 

Alternatives To Gift Baskets

When searching for the perfect gift for one of your family members or even one of your friends there is usually a whole lot of pressure to buy the right thing simply because you don't want to disappoint anyone. There are times when you just don't know what to buy, and everyone has those experiences as well. Some people choose to take their time when buying gifts while others like to get it done as quickly as possible. One route that many people take when they find that buying gifts is too difficult is to purchase gift baskets for their friends and families. Gift baskets can be good gifts for multiple reasons; one of them being that the recipient will receive a whole plethora of smaller gifts instead of one. 

However, some people may consider gift baskets to be some of the most impersonal gifts they could ever get (even less so than cash!) just because it shows that the person who's buying it doesn't really know him or her at all. Of course, this doesn't go for gift baskets that have a theme running through them, like sports memorabilia and the like. But simply because gift baskets can be seen as impersonal means that if you aren't sure what to get for your close friends or family then maybe it's time to finally ask them what they've always wanted. Until you know that piece of information, though, here are some ideas to check out that can be used as alternatives to gift baskets:

Board Games

Unless you know the person really well and know that he or she doesn't like the thought of board games, buying a board game usually always is something that plenty of people enjoy. Whether it's buying a relatively older game with a new twist, such as a new version of Monopoly, or buying one of the latest games on the market that is also fun, such as Mad Gab, there are plenty of choices in retail stores that you'll have to make. Nevertheless, though, hopefully you can see how board games can be used as alternative gifts to gift baskets!

Gift Cards

Even though gift cards are essentially a trade of cash, buying gift cards for your friends and family can be a unique thing to do. Of course this requires knowing exactly where the recipient likes to shop, but these are the perfect alternative to a gift basket. Instead of putting your money into one large basket that may contain a bunch of things that your friends and family dislike, placing all of the money that you'd be spending on the individual on a store gift card is a great idea! Of course, you may just want to include a little bit more money on the gift card than you would have actually spent, but buying a gift cards is a great present for someone whom you don't know what to buy.

Of course, there are plenty of other perfect gifts that are great ideas and alternatives to gift baskets. Oftentimes gift baskets come in big, bulky packages anyway so buying something that is less cumbersome is a good idea!