When a close friend or relative is having a baby, there are always presents and baby shower gifts to think about getting. The new mother is going to have an intense period of adjustment before she gets settled into the routine of having another human being to look after, so she will need all the help possible from family and friends to make that transition as easy and memorable as possible. This should be a celebratory time for the new family, not a time of worry or stress, and a gift basket to commemorate the new addition can be just the thing to brighten their spirits even more, and maybe even supply them with some things that will end up coming in handy.

A baby gift basket can be one of the easiest way for you as the gift giver to be creative, and show the person your giving it to just how much you care about them. Instead of one big gift, you get to give out a plethora of trinkets, toys, and other fun items, wrapped together in a beautiful package which, in itself, can be a gorgeous thing to receive. A popular thing to do when buying a gift basket is to let the company who makes it fashion the wicker basket as a bassinet, within which are all the things you want to bestow upon the new child, making your gift all the more thoughtful and appropriate. Better yet, there are so many companies out there that are experts at making these sorts of things, so even if you’re not exactly Martha Stewart yourself, you can let an anonymous craftsperson make it seem like you should have your own cable show.

Within the gift basket, you’ll want to include the basics, those simple bare necessities. This means, teddy bears and or dolls are a given, as any parent will know a young child can never have enough teddy bears. If you want to be gender specific, you can go for the standard pink or blue color palettes to appease notions of femininity and masculinity, but many people nowadays are shying away from such black and white notions of sex, so your best bet is probably to stay as neutral as possible. This also means that you can go nuts and include just about anything in the toy department that you want to give the new baby. No longer do Tonka trucks mean ‘it’s a boy’ nor do Raggedy Ann dolls indicate the infant is a girl, so take advantage of this freedom in creating a truly unique and baby gift basket. Baby oil or baby wipes can be the new parent’s dream as well, since they’ll surely be running through plenty of both, so don’t be afraid to include the practical as well as the sentimental.

In addition to the variety of contents you can include in your basket, you also have the luxury of having a wide range of prices and sizes to choose from, as crafting gift baskets for babies is a burgeoning market right now. Obviously, if the expecting mother is only a co-worker or a casual acquaintance, you don’t want to present them with an elaborately fashioned and ornately packaged baby gift basket [http://www.westminsterweekly.com/category/home-news], as you’d probably be shelling out more money than you really want to spend. A nice, small gift basket can say everything you want to say, and do it in a classy, memorable way, without costing you the proverbial arm and leg.

You’ll be slaving over a hot stove for hours, preparing a feast fit for kings this Christmas. From the turkey to the desserts, you put love into every recipe, and your family digs in with gusto. Why not add some festive touches to the table as well, and make the presentation as breathtaking as the dishes you’ll be serving? It doesn’t take much time or money to transform your table from humbug to very merry.

Choosing a Theme

The easiest way to coordinate your decor is to choose a theme. Your theme can be as specific as a single Christmas carol, or as broad as a certain style or colors. For example, you could choose “Jingle Bells” as your theme, making the centerpiece a miniature one-horse open sleigh, and attaching bells to everything that doesn’t voluntarily move. Or, choose a “Country Christmas” theme and add lots of country touches to your table, like felt cut-outs and cross-stitched napkins.

If you’re planning on selecting colors for your table, stick with one main color and a maximum of two accent colors. Holiday colors of green, red, and white look very festive, or accent with silver or gold for a more elegant touch. Blue and white work nicely together for a winter theme.

Table Coverings

You may have your great-great-grandmother’s handmade lace tablecloth stowed away, ready to use for your Christmas dinner. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but if spillage and possible staining are a major worry for you, save the lace for accenting your decorative holiday displays instead and pick up some inexpensive cotton or other fabric to cover your table with, or use clean sheets in various colors. You can even use two contrasting colors of fabric, and use the second, smaller piece to hang at an angle over the larger one. Christmas prints are cute and charming, but try to steer clear of anything too busy or bright, as the fabric will overshadow any other accents you add.

For a children’s table, cover the surface with butcher paper or inverted wrapping paper and provide crayons at each setting. Christmas crackers are also great fun for kids, and look cute sitting on each dinner plate.

Centerpieces

Centerpieces can be as simple as a small grouping of different sized candles. You needn’t go overboard and spend hundreds of dollars on fresh flowers and a beautiful decorator’s vase to hold them in. Potted Poinsettias make a pretty centerpiece, as do small baskets filled with pine sprigs and pinecones, or clear glass bowls full of bright Christmas tree balls.

Keeping your chosen theme in mind, choose a centerpiece that will stand out among your dishes of food, and become a conversation piece for guests. If you plan to use lit candles, never leave them unattended, and choose unscented candles wherever possible.

Napkins

You don’t have to limit yourself to simple linen napkins, although these work perfectly well. Use facecloths, small hand towels, or handkerchiefs instead if you prefer. Roll your napkins and fold the roll in half, securing with a pretty bow, or fold them origami style into an interesting shape.

Napkin rings can be made from pipe cleaners, mini wreaths, licorice strings, ribbons, artificial flower stems, or anything else you can think of that will look festive and do the job. Tie bells, small ornaments, pinecones, silk flowers, or even small toys onto each napkin ring for added decoration.

Serving Dishes and Platters

Your serving dishes don’t need to match each other to look pretty. A mixture of different styles and colors add whimsy and a country feel to your presentation. If you don’t have enough trivets for all of your dishes, cover pre-cut pieces of thick cardboard with aluminum foil and use these as shiny mats that will protect your table and still look nice.

Place Cards

If you want to use place cards to prearrange the seating at your table, use your theme to come up with imaginative ways to create or display them. Gift tags are an easy idea, and they can be attached to each napkin or wine glass with ribbon or pipe cleaners. Miniature artificial poinsettia pots are available at many dollar stores, and they make gorgeous place card holders. Simply fashion your cards and attach them to straws or toothpicks, then secure them into the pots.

Pinecones can hold name cards as well, if you maneuver the cards so that the ‘teeth’ of the cones hold them in place. Create shapes out of clay or dough, thread the cards through candy cane sticks, or simply place your cards on the top of each dinner plate. The possibilities here are endless.

Extras and Finishing Touches

Adding candles of varying heights and colors will add warmth to your table setting. Scatter tea lights, votives, pillars, and tapers around the center of the table, making sure that they are secure and not interfering with anything that could be flammable.

You can also decorate the stems on wine glasses with purchased wine charms or pipe cleaners, or tie small bells to each one with ribbon. Tie cutlery together in a similar fashion if you wish, or tuck utensils securely inside rolled napkins.

For an added touch, decorate each chair with bows, bits of garland, or pretty fabric. Anything goes as long as it doesn’t scratch or otherwise interfere with your guests’ enjoyment of your wonderful meal.

With a bit of extra effort, you can take a plain and boring table and create a stunning masterpiece that will impress your guests even before the first course is served.

Affiliate Marketing is the promotion of anothers products or services. If this process is done right,it’s the ideal work at home business opportunity. The key here is to promote your own website that links to affiliate products, services and information that you will make a profit from.

Most off-line businesses are affiliate Marketers.They offer another’s products and services from a location that they own or lease. It’s no different on the web to be successful long term you must have your own piece of real estate, your own website {a themed content rich website} that will establish a internet present for you as you promote your affiliate programs.

How do you establish a internet present. By having your own domain name and”Branding” The term ‘branding’ is often bantered about the Internet and often thought to be proprietary to only those ‘big’ outfits like IPO’s and multi-national companies.

NOT TRUE! ‘Branding’ is every bit as important to small companies and individuals alike. In simple terms a ‘brand’ is something that starts becoming recognized with a product or service. On the BIG side, some ‘Brands’ are, YAHOO, Kellogg’s, Ford, IBM, etc. It’s not likely the average person taking this course will ever develop a ‘Brand’ of this magnitude of recognition, but all the same, a personal ‘Brand’ is vital to your own recognition.

For an individual Netrepreneur, placing your own photo on every page you promote can be most beneficial, add your name and a telephone number and before long people will start to: 1] recognize your face 2] develop a comfort zone around you 3] join programs and/or purchase from your webpage(s)

Sure you could spend a lot of time and money creating a ‘Brand’, but most of the great ones are gone or in the very least already on a drawing table somewhere.On the other hand, a photo of your head and shoulders is already copyrighted to you, people’s natural curiosity compels them to look at faces, and faces ALWAYS last in the mind’s eye far longer than any name or phrase.

For Affiliate Marketers, having your own theme,content rich website is important, and you should be promoting affiliate products and services that are revelent to your themed website.

Now that you have written your business plan, have your preliminary financial data in place, you need money to make it happen.

How do you find that money? If you have saved up some, you can use that, or you can go to friends and family and get some money from them, if they support your concept and think you can do it. (F/F/P phase)

There are two other sources to go to as well, Angels or Venture Capitalist.

An Angel is a person or group that typically gives a startup up idea from $25K to as much as $1M (that much is typically an Angel Group) to begin developing the Proof of Concept or the product itself. You should go to an Angel Funding Source if you need less than $1M, and typically less than $500K, to get your product built, or if your plan requires a Proof of Concept, the Proof of Concept built.

If you go to an Angel or Angel Group you need to look at some factors before starting to talk to them. Do some research and find out:

1. What the person/group you are interested in asking money from typically invests their money in.

2. If they accept Venture Capital as a future source of funding.

3. If they are willing to add more cash down the line to help reach that “next” milestone.

4. If they have contacts with people that may be interested in providing more money should the need arise.

5. If they have contacts that may want to use your product/services.

6. How much control/hands on activity they want to have with your company. (Do they want to sit on your Board of Directors or Board of Advisors, do they have any say on how the money is spent within the company?)

7. And if you are going for a lot more money in the near future, if they work with or know any Venture Capitalist that like your industry/product type.

It is the recommendation of TDBell Enterprises, Inc., that you work with your Angel Investors as an Equity Play, meaning they get a small portion of your company for the money they invest. We do not recommend that you use the money as a loan.

A Venture Capitalist is typically a person or company that has gone to from one to many people, companies, retirement funds or other large pools of money and created a Venture Fund that is geared to one or more industries/products/services. These funds typically finance a company from $500K to over $200M, taking stock in the company as “collateral”.

Like going to the Angel Investors, you need to look at a few things when you go to a Venture Capitalist:

1. Has the person/group invested in companies in your industry?

2. At what stage of the company (Proof of Concept, Development, Revenue in place (and if so, at level of revenue is required), etc.)

3. Are they going to be Sole Investors at this stage, or are they going to have other groups joining in this round with them.

4. How involved are they going to get with your company? (Do they want to manage the company, etc?)

5. Do their portfolio companies need your product and will they introduce you to them if they do?

6. How much of the company stock do they want?

7. Will they add more funds to the company should it be needed? (And if so, at what cost to you?)

8. How much reporting do you have to do to them?

After you have looked at the available Angels that you can find, the available Venture Capitalist you can find, you need to decide which path is the best way to go for your company and your “style”.

If you are confident that you will need Venture Capital level funding, after you narrow your search down to the Venture Capitalist you are going to target, and have answered the above 8 (and a few more I’m sure) questions, you need to decide if you need to go to an Angel first.

At this point you start fine tuning your financial section to meet the needs of the Investor you are going to approach. The over all business plan stays the same through this process (unless you are fine tuning it to meet development/production needs due to feedback, etc.). The only part of the business plan that changes is the Financial Section(s) and that changes based on the target Investors. You already have in your plan the steps to go live and to go to revenue. You have your milestones written down, etc, in the plan, and you have “line items” in the financial section that correspond.

Example:

You are going to create a software/hardware intensive service product that requires FCC approval of the Concept. To create the Proof of Concept to meet the FCC needs, you need $750,000, but to go to revenue you will need roughly $35M (which includes the $750K). You are able to get a Friends/Family/Personal Pockets (F/F/P) round up of $150K.

Your research shows that the available list of Venture Capitalist out there that would fund this project require you to have your FCC permits in place, a working model of your service product in place, and 1 solid customer ready to pay for your services once you are able to build out.

In this example you would need to go to one or more Angel Investors to help you reach the remaining $600K to get your prototype up and running to do the testing that will satisfy the FCC. You would want to find an Angel or Angel Group that allows for future rounds of Venture Capitalist backed funding. This group would hopefully be willing to add a bit more in if needed to go past any “gotcha’s” that may crop up as you answer the FCC requirements.

Now that you know you are going to an Angel or Angels you rewrite your financial section to show an investment of $150K (F/F/P), the need and the use of the $600K from the Angels, and when the remain investment of $34,250,000 will be requested and how it will be used.

When you write up your presentation to the Angel(s) you show the Living business plan, current Financials, and talk to your needs.

When you get to the Venture Capitalist later you write up your presentation, you show the current business plan, which no longer has the Proof of Concept stage in it (it’s completed successfully, and not part of your plans now, living business plan remember?) but shows next stages over the next three to five years as perceived today, with the financials now showing how you spent the last $750K, and what you will be doing with the next $34,250,000 that you are asking from the Venture Capitalist.