Hot off the presses and fresh to your mailbox, the 2010 Occasions Catalog has arrived! This is your all-year, go-to, keep-in-your-nightstand guide to giving. It’s filled with gift ideas for all of those year round gifting occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, thank yous, thinking of yous, and sympathy gifts. Plus, it’s chock full of great [...]

You’re standing at the door, about to ring the doorbell for a dinner party. Question: Do you have a host/hostess gift in your hands or not?
Well, it depends on the situation. Let’s break it down.
If you have a dish of food in your hand, an assigned side dish from the host, then there is no [...]

Thanks for the great response regarding my last gifting tip “Open Presents Later.” I got a few follow-up questions about how to pull it off as well as how to handle pushy guests who want you to open their present during the party. Here are some more pointers:

Have a table set up to gather the [...]

You’ve been there, right? At a four-year-old’s birthday party, when the presents get opened as the partygoers sit around and watch? It never fails—minutes later at least half of the room is in tears, kids fighting over gifts and parents apologizing for the bad behavior.
If you’re hosting a party that involves gift-giving, do yourself and [...]