With our holiday decorations packed away and our new years’ intentions freshly inked, we find ourselves in the middle of January in a blink of an eye.  We’re starting to look ahead for the new year and what’s coming up?  Valentine’s Day is less than 1 month away now!  We absolutely love the trend of celebrating your girlfriends with “Galentine’s Day.” 

Celebrated one day before Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day is a day to celebrate your non-romantic relationships and friendships with your girlfriends.  Love it!

At T.E.D, we’ve been thinking of some creative ways you can celebrate your friends.  Here’s what we came up with!

1. Keeping it socially distant? Organize a Galentine’s Day Zoom dinner party with your friends. As the organizer, assign everyone a “dinner fairy.”  As the dinner fairy, you are in charge of what your assigned friend eats for dinner.  Door Dash Thai Food, Sushi, Pizza, or whatever the person would like and surprise them! Eat together on the Zoom and have a dinner party! You are treating a friend to dinner while getting dinner and all being together.

2. Send Snail Mail. Depending on where you are sending mail in the country, your correspondence can take anywhere from 1-5 days. Plan accordingly. Grab some cards (we’re partial to The Paper Source’s collection of Galentine’s Day & Valentine’s Day Greeting Cards!) Take the time to write a nice message about your friendship and how much you appreciate your friend.

3. Treat your friend to a small gift!  A small gift that brings a smile to your friend’s face is a great way to show appreciation.  There is always chocolate or flowers (no shortage of either in the month of February) or consider some of our favorite items at T.E.D. below.

Pom-pom cardholder keychain pouch  – We love this fun, colorful and useful key chain pouch. Perfect for storing your credit cards, ID’s, and a bit of cash along with your keys. It’s priced right at just $12.00. It’s the perfect little something for your Galentine.

Gratitude Journal  -- Perfect for your introspective, gratitude practicing friend. This hardcover journal has 365 papers and is full of details like a pink ribbon page marker,  pink gingham interior covers, and gold foil imprinting.  A tip?  Write a short message in the front of the journal letting your friend know why you are grateful for her!



Pen & Notepad Set  - A little something for your friend, we love this gift set of the pen & pad that reads, “Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti.” At under $20, this gift set will let her know that you’re thinking of her 

What ideas do you have to celebrate your gal-pals this year?  Friendships are so important as women. We hope you find small and meaningful ways to celebrate those people who support you all year-long. Share your ideas with us here, on Facebook, on Instagram or shoot us an email.  Happy Galentine’s Day! 

Hi y’all!  We are on a blogging roll here at Taylor Elliott Designs!  In case you missed my last two posts, be sure to check them out. I shared some of my favorite unusual gifts (for the one that has everything!) and gifts for toddler boys. Today I am sharing gifts for teacher, for your bestie, and gifts for mom.  You will notice that these are actually all my designs and products.  At first, I felt funny about sharing gift ideas that were just mine but I asked myself – would I give these to my children’s teacher, my best friend, or my mother?  The answer is yes!  These are some of my favorites and I hope that they will get you into the spirit of giving. 

1. Gift for Teacher.  Best Teacher Ever Notepad.  This simple message, “best teacher ever” makes a big impact in any teacher’s life. It helps them stay organized while they are reminded that they are loved and appreciated. We’ve added a small touch to make it feel even more special with the gold foil. At just $11, we think this is the perfect gift for a teacher this holiday season

2. Gift for Teacher.  Best Teacher Ever / Teachers Like You Journal Set. These notebooks have gold foil imprinting for an extra special touch and contain 50 lined pages for all of your teachers thoughts and notes. They are shrink wrapped together and perfect for gifting.  Just add a festive bow! The messages are, “best teacher ever” and, “the world needs more teachers like you.”  And at just $14, this is an easy one to show your teacher appreciation!  

3. Gift for your bestie. Pom Pom Pouch. We’re convinced that you can’t have enough pouches.  Why not have pouches inside your pouches? Store just about anything in this one.  It’s perfect for your bestie who has everything already and whom you want to treat to a little something special.

4. Gift for your bestie. Confetti Picture Frame.  Grab your favorite photo of the two of you, a wild night out or a comfy pj’s night in, and this is the perfect gift for your bestie. Nearly sold out, be sure to snag yours before they’re gone! 

5. Gift for mom. Prayer List Pad.   Give your momma something that will mean a lot to her and something that is thoughtful.  This pad allows you to jot down your prayers easily and also write down your answered prayers.  It’s just as important! The perforated lines allow you to tear off and the pad comes with stickers so you can stick the lists to just about anything! 

6. Gift for mom. Gingham Notecard Set.   This cute notecard set is a small gift for mom that she’ll really appreciate. Fun, whimsical, and sweet – we love writing snail mail and we know that Mom will, too! The notecard set comes with 10 cards and 10 envelopes in a clear box package. These notecards are just so much better than a text! 

Hi y'all! I hope you enjoyed my first gift guide that I posted on Friday. Giving and receiving gifts is one of my top love languages so it is my joy to help others find special gifts for their loved ones. 

Next up is one of my favorites, toddler boys! My son, Harrison, is 3 years old and is about as busy as they come. It has been so fun seeing some of the things he's interested in. I included a few sensory and STEM activities in here as well as just some fun toys that Harrison has been loving lately. We either purchased or were gifted, by loved ones, each of these items so I know for a fact that my 3 year old loves them. Also, everything on this list is under $50 so that is pretty awesome.

1. Toy Sink With Flowing Water
If your toddler is obsessed with water then they will love this sink. All you do is fill the based up with water and the water will steam out of the faucet. Just this morning, Harrison "washed dishes" for about 45 minutes. 

 2. Bears in Pairs Game
Bears in Pairs is is a great game for toddlers. Together we practice colors, counting, matching, and fine motor skills by opening the doors and hiding the bears.There are several levels so this game can grow with them. 

3. Cleaning Caddy
My toddler loves to do anything we are doing and that includes cleaning. This cleaning caddy has some miles on it, as well as our toy Dyson Vacuum mentioned below. 

4. Light Up Rain Boots
Harrison calls his rain boots "work boots". These boots are very easy for him to put on and take off and they are easy to clean. Plus, they light up which is so fun to him. We have them in navy!

5. Writing Tablet
This little writing tablet would be a great stocking stuffer coming in right under $10. Harrison plays with this a lot while we are driving.  It comes with a protective sleeve, perfect to throw into my purse for when we are out and about. 

6. Dyson Vacuum
We love this cute little vacuum. It actually has a sucker on it and sucks up dust and dirt which is really neat. We have had ours for a couple of years and it has taken a beating but is still running great. 

7. Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Rosenthal
I discovered this book while I was at market selling Taylor Elliott Designs. It was the first book I purchased when we found out we were expecting our first baby, Harrison! It's the sweetest book. It teaches important life lessons like patience, sharing, and compassion with a topic that toddlers can understand...cookies! 
PS: they also make a Christmas version of this book, too!

8. Kinetic Sand Kit
Harrison loves kinetic sand and mama loves this kit because it's like a mini sandbox. If you haven't heard of kinetic sand, it's a lot less messy than regular sand! This is a great gift item for the holidays and for birthdays, if you have several kiddos to shop for. It's under $9!

9. Magna-tiles
We love magna-tiles! It has been really fun watching Harrison's imagination when we play with magna-tiles. As of lately, he builds garages for his cars. He will be receiving another set for Christmas so we can build even more things!

10. John Deere Gator
This is a small gator, not much larger than a hot wheels car. But, Harrison loves it and it's under $10 and would make a great stocking stuffer. Harrison often tows his gator on is "tow truck", mentioned below. 

11. Wooden Truck and Trailer
This quite possibly might be Harrison's favorite toy right now. He is very into trailers and towing things. He loads and unloads this truck and trailer daily. 

Happy gifting!