With just over 6 years trading online BoutiqueToYou.co.uk have earmarked 2012 as potentially their biggest year yet! Lots of intelligent new software is being bespokely built as we speak and will be launched in 2 phases from the start of the year. Phase 3 will be just before ‘wedding season’ and will launch with brand new visuals – our 3rd generation website since 2005!

We will be inviting select brands and designer/ makers to join us to sell their unusual gifts with their very own concession storefront with the strap line

   ‘Bringing the Boutique to You!’

This is nothing new for us as we have been championing small UK independent suppliers right since we started, it’s just we will have the power to do it better! In the busy world of e-Commerce everyone is competing for that lucrative first page on Google. We are working hard to stand out from the crowd with investment and commitment.

Just search ‘wedding gifts’ in Google.co.uk and we should be around position 2 -3.

If you sell anything at all to do with weddings then we can work this hard for you and your business and help make us all more successful. Don’t think we are limited to everything weddings, though. We rank competitively for many of our main keywords and are working hard behind the scenes to improve even more: e.g. unusual gifts, personalised gifts, personalised jewellery…

What’s more … for a strictly limited time any business we invite to join us will not be charged a joining fee!

Want to know more? Interested? Simply fill out the simple form below and we’ll tell you how.

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

 We have also been very busy selling communion gifts to our customers. This seems to be a very popular occasion and as such we are continuing to grow our choice of gifts in this  category of our boutique. We hope you like!

We have been adding lots and lots of  new wedding gifts to our wedding boutique and there are lots more to come. If you fancy a personalised wedding cake topper don’t leave it to late for your wedding day as the current lead time is approx 6 weeks and this could get longer the further into the wedding season we get.

In the meantime we hope you like our current gifts selection!

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

Personalised Tea Mug

I am a self-confessed tea addict and love when someone buys me a new mug. It’s usually just at the time when my old one starts getting a bit battered and faded, so a shiny, gorgeous new replacement is just what’s needed.

I’ve been bought some pretty interesting mugs  over the years including one that can hold a pint of tea; one with a shoe as a handle, one that had a funny picture of my friend on the side but NEVER one with my own name on which I’m hoping one day will complete my set of unusual mugs.

Apart from the fact it’s blatantly obvious your and family and friends will probably subconsciously go out of their way to serve you your cuppa in it at all times, it’s also handy for having at work so that you will never encounter the mystery mug problem. It’s not so bad if you work somewhere small as people tend to keep to their own but in a big organisation it can be a bit perturbing to walk into the staff room and see the minger from HR with their chops around your cup! Personalisation of things can sometimes act like a security device and make someone more likely to carry on looking and select another cup instead!

Do you know someone like me? It’s safe to say I’m not a rare breed so chances are you do. Next time you’re buying them a gift, a personalised mug should do nicely. Now, who wants a brew?

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

Lovely Wife Glass Keepsake

There must be nothing nicer than a bride opening up a little something special as she gets her wedding frock on and sips her glass of fizz!

Often her mum or dad will give her a a little gift token or maybe her best woman or maid of honour. Sometimes. even the groom leaves a special  gift with someone to make sure it reaches his bride just as she gets ready. Here at Boutique To You we have arranged for many gifts to arrive at wedding venues sent with heartfelt wishes from the groom to his bride.

 As I write this we have just arranged for a pair of embroidered ‘mrs’ knickers to be delivered on behalf of a groom to his bride when she arrives at their hotel venue next week. Not only are they personalised with her new married name but they are also her ‘something blue’! He has requested they be made in powder blue silk with her new name embroidered in ivory silk cotton. How romantic a gesture is that?

A something blue keepsake  is probably one of the most popular wedding gifts most people would present to the bride to be just before the ceremony. Once over, it was always the garter that had a hint of blue to it. We offer these but we were also one of the first online UK gift companies to develop swarovski crystal charms to be tied into the bridal bouquets. These look absolutely stunning entwined into the flowers or even into the bride’s hair. They are a contemporary classic in the making. We sell several designs : a blue swarovski heart and a diamante blue horseshoe. We also sell smaller versions in the form of a garter charm to be clipped somewhere discreet attached to the bridal underwear.

A nice piece of personalised jewellery would also work well as a bridal gift. Something like this that can be engraved with a special message, words or even the wedding date will last long past the wedding day. If you choose something that you know she will wear every day or on  a regular basis afterwards then you are onto a winner. Just to touch her bracelet or the charm on her necklace will bring all the happy memories flooding back time after time. You could also choose something that she can add to. Charms are still extremely popular and show no signs of going out of fashion. Maybe she could add to the jewellery if they go on to add to their union with the addition of a baby.

One of my personal favourites for a bride’s wedding token is our ‘lovely wife’ engraved glass token. We know of one groom who arranged to have this left on the pillow in their honeymoon suite. What a romantic sentiment to let the honeymoon commence! You could even go one step further by having some mr and mrs pillowcases ready and waiting on the nuptial bed for them both! Two gifts in one.

So there you have it. Some of my top tips for giving gifts to the bride to send her on her way. They are just that little bit different and just goes to show how you can bring tears ( some more)  to her eyes as she embarks on the biggest journey of her life so far- certainly one of the happiest!

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

Mothers Day Gifts

In my lifetime, before twenty-four hour supermarkets and Sunday opening hours, Sunday was a family day…a day of rest as it always traditionally was. As I got older, the retail world did the greedy thing of beginning to open a few hours on a Sunday and then the hours went up and up until people were still nearly working a whole normal working day. Mother’s Day should not suffer because of this whether your poor mum has to work or quality family time is sacrificed in order to spend the day mooching around the shops.

When we were young, Mother’s Day was a family day out. My mum loves us spending time as a family and so we’d got out somewhere different for the day and maybe go for a meal after seeing my grandmas. Other mothers use the day as a day off, where just for one day she can be waited on hand and foot…for at least five minutes until she can’t resist pitching in herself instead of watching domestic carnage unfold at the hands of her darling family.

For new mums, their first mother’s day with a baby boy or girl must be one of the milestone ones. It’s certainly a new and quite amazing experience. For mums whose children have flown the nest, it’s a nice excuse to hear from them or spend some quality time with them in amongst the hustle and bustle of your busy lives. It should be a sacred time to enjoy being together and appreciated more than most days. I often wonder what celebrity mums get bought for Mother’s Day? And how they spend their time? I’d like to think they do the same as everyone else and that they get more pampered and fussed by their family than they do by any number of hair and make-up assistants.

Historically, the tradition is centuries old and has always been a day to honour mothers and motherhood. Nobody is exactly sure how Mothering Sunday came about but it is suggested that it originated from a Roman Spring festival which celebrated their Mother Goddess. This later developed through the Christian faith where it became customary to visit your ‘Mother Church’ at this time. People working as servants and maids were allowed one day off a year to visit their mother and were sometimes permitted to take flowers or eggs as a token gift. Quite often, they were allowed to bake a cake to take home as a gift too.

Mothering Sunday changes year to year, but it is always the fourth Sunday of Lent. Whatever you do on mother’s day, it’s not about the amount of money or how many presents you give, a lovely little token gift and a card will be appreciated but putting time aside for her in your busy life is the most important thing of all. Make the most of her while you’re still lucky enough to have her.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little insight into Mothers Day. Visit our main site for our full range of Mothers Day gifts to help mum celebrate her special day.

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

Personalised 1st Mothers Day T-shirt

Our best selling mum gifts all year round are our range of personalised mummy t-shirts. Made from cotton and lycra theylook good wash after wash. You can choose from pale pink, white or slimming black.

Just in time for Mother’s Day ( April 3rd) we are giving one of the t-shirts away. If it is your first Mothers Day coming up then we will  send you the ‘ My 1st Mother’s Day’ t-shirt. We can fit up to three babies names on it – just in case you were lucky enough to bear triplets in the last 11 months

If it’s not your first Mother’s Day then you cna choose the very popular ‘ This Mummy Belongs To’ t-shirt. Again, we can fit up three kids names on it.

Personalised Mummy T-Shirt

All you have to do is swing by our facebook page to enter. You have until mid night Monday 25th March and one lucky winner will be picked at random from our very big, magic hat!

If you can’t wait until then we offer free UK delivery on all our Mothers Day gifts

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

Personalised Life Story Charm

Charm bracelets have been in fashion at different times for decades like any sort of trend. It is believed that Egyptians wore them and that their charms were made of precious stones and wood. Even Queen Victoria wore a primitive version of the charm bracelet which began a trend amongst the noble classes throughout Europe. The popularity was further increased by soldiers returning home from World War II bringing home handmade keepsakes made by crafts people which they gave to their loved ones when they arrived home. The trend in the 1950’s and 60’s with American youngsters was to collect charms to record milestone events taking place in their lives. The trend died down again in the latter part of the twentieth century but re-emerged in the Noughties with the popularity of Vintage and the creation of Pandora and Pandora inspired bracelets – a more modern take on the traditional charm bracelet. These charms are more like beads that thread onto a chain in comparison the traditional link attachment style. Initially these bead shaped charms were made from Murano glass and were popular on the continent before taking the rest of the world by storm. This current fashion for modular jewelry builds on the success that ‘Add A Bead’ jewelry had in the 1980’s.

Charm bracelets are a great gift idea because depending on your budget, you can spend as much as you’re comfortable with without it looking like you’re only giving half a present. This gives the recipient control over what to add to their bracelet. A really nice touch is to have a charm symbolising milestones in the person’s life.  You can even have a few charm bracelets to suit different looks you may want to adopt. More vintage style ones for one occasion, smarter ones for another occasion, however you want to style them to suit your look that day! These days, there are even charm necklaces and earrings for people who may prefer other items of personalised jewellery.

Like any charm bracelets, the beauty of them is that you create your own individual look. Depending on the type of bracelet you buy the can be as cheap or as expensive as you like. Some charm bracelets come with an existing selection of charms already attached, some come with a few and then you continue to collect them as and when you like and some come with nothing and you make up your entire charm collection from scratch but you are in control. At weddings I’ve been to in the past, the bridesmaids have been bought a charm or two to add to their bracelets as their present for being part of the bridal party. They will always act as a nice memory of the day for those people and it’s a thoughtful and unusual gift idea.

These gorgeous accessories are a great way to tell your life story (or someone else’s) and it’s nice to have something to represent wishes for the person or an event that has actually taken place.  Whether it be a birth, death, marriage, anniversary they options are endless. One thing is for sure. Charm bracelets are a classic gift idea and gorgeous accessory and I’m certain this trend will never go away. Get yours now to be part of it all and personalise your life story with a charm bracelet!

If you have a blog by all means use and publish this article but please keep all text as is and our links complete. Thankyou!

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

BoutiqueToYou.co.uk

Are you as passionate about unusual gifts as we are? Do you like to blog about gifts that are in our sector e.g. wedding, birthdays, christenings, babies, new mums & dads, personalised jewellery etc; ? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, we have an interesting opportunity for you… If you’d like to raise the profile of your own blog and let the world know about some amazing products why not become a guest blogger for us?

We’re looking for some lovely bloggers to have their own voice on our BoutiqueToYou.co.uk blog to provide our customers your reviews and thoughts instead of just hearing from us all the time. In return, your blog will be promoted a link and biog, both of which will be featured underneath the post. We’ll also be sharing links to anything you write for us on Twitter and Facebook. We have a growing following!  The thing we need to know for sure is that this article is ours exclusively and won’t be published anywhere else (not even your own blog). Of course, by all means, mention on your blog that you’ve blogged FOR us and link it back but please don’t put the article itself there.

If you’re still interested here are a couple of little guidelines on how we’d like you to layout your posts.

MAIN TEXT – Pick anything from our site that you LOVE and tell us and everyone else why it is you like it or maybe talk about something topical and involve that as part of the post. So long as one or more of our products or the site itself is mentioned we’re happy. Any images and your bio will be put into the blog post by us.

BIOGRAPHY – Please send us 2-3 lines about yourself and a link to your blog so we can add it to your guest blog.

The next step is to submit it to us and you can do so at enquiries@boutiquetoyou.co. uk . Put ‘Guest Blog’ in e-mail subject line and we’ll try our best to feature yours. (Please forward any questions you may have to this address as well.) Thanks for your time! We look forward to reading all of your lovely blogs!

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

It is amazing what is out there for brides these days. I am a  bit of a veteran at the marriage thing and have been happily married for 19 years next month. I remember buying wedding magazines way back when for tips and ideas but now in the age of immediate publication, wedding blogs are the thang!

I recently came across one such wedding blog : www.rockmywedding.co.uk.

I got swallowed up in all its loveliness about brides and their adventures leading up to their big day… and then oh the big days! WOW!! Soooo envious as to what some brides ( and grooms) manage to pull off. I literally had to pull myself away to get some work done. Well .. almost!

This style savvy blog is put together by a team headed up by Charlotte O’Shea who in 2009 was a newly wed herself  .. so they know what brides are looking for.

What are you waiting for? Head over there now for wedding day heaven

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You

Personalised Pearl Bridesmaid Necklace

Bride Wearing Our Bijoux Pearl Wedding Necklace

We hope you like and welcome all feedback

Unusual gifts from: Boutique To You