How to give a DVD as a present...

Ok so you've ignored all of my previous advice and have opted to buy her a DVD for her birthday, that doesn't mean however that you can take the lazy approach. If you follow these tips you can turn a boring and unimaginative DVD gift (I'm sorry, we love you but DVDs make boring presents!) into a movie night that I bet she'll love! She'll love it even more if you buy a DVD that you saw in the cinema together and enjoyed - that way it'll be like a recreation of the original date and a cute reminder of how much fun you had together the first time around! The great thing about this present is that you can adapt it for almost anyone. A friend, your mum, your brother - it's easy to put together but it makes it look as if you've put loads of effort in!

This can be done in two ways so it's a simple idea to adapt for those in LDRs (Long Distance Relationships) and also 'normal' relationships, although what's 'normal' really?!

First you can prep it all as a box set (aimed at those in LDRs) or you can give her the DVD as you would any other present and then show her the night that you've already put together (aimed at those in 'normal' relationships). I'll start by explaining the box set and then later on explain the movie night.

The box set idea is really designed to give as a present for a time when you won't be there which is why it works especially well for those in LDRs. Here's a checklist of all of the components of the box set, after which will be some tips on wrapping it up like a pro! You can buy all of the things on the list from the supermarket too so don't worry, you don't have to dash around town into 20 different shops just to put it together!

• A DVD - I know, I'm stating the obvious but I don't want you to forget it when you go shopping!
• A Bag of Popcorn - if you know her favourite then definitely buy that one, if not stick with something safe like sweet popcorn. Try and find out whether she prefers ready-made or DIY microwave popcorn too. If you want, you could also put in some popcorn boxes (see below) for her to put the popcorn in on her movie night.
• A Bar of Chocolate - Dairy Milk, Galaxy, Maltesers. If you know her favourite choose that but again if not, pick something safe like Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• A Bag of Sweets - Haribo always go nicely with movies but you could pick anything like Skittles, Starburst or even Love Hearts if you're feeling romantic!
• A Drink - they now sell pre-mixed cocktails and spirits so they're a nice idea for a vodka/gin/rum drinker (JD and Coke or Mojito) or you could get a few cans/bottles of coca cola or even a couple of Relentless if you're planning an all-nighter!
• A Voucher for a Pizza - I'm not sure that you can buy gift vouchers for Domino's or even Pizza Hut, but you can order online so you could arrange to do that, or even just attach the money for the pizza to the voucher. You could use one of the ones below or if you're feeling creative, make one for yourself. I've done pizza vouchers because that's the easiest and most common takeaway to have with a film but you could adapt the vouchers to say anything - Chinese, KFC, Indian, or just about anything. If you do plan to do that the best way would be to open up the voucher in paint, cover '1 Pizza' with a white box, print and then hand write in the gap '1 Chinese Takeaway' or '1 Chicken Tikka with Rice' or whatever you've decided to go for. If you do print off a voucher then printing them on photo paper makes them look extra professional and are sure to impress her. Just be aware that if you plan to hand write the takeaway choice on then you'll need a permanent marker as biros just ruin the look!

• Tortilla Chips and Dip - this one's really an alternative to the pizza voucher. Depending on her preferences either go for this idea or the pizza, although if you know that she'd happily eat both then of course you can include both.
• Peanuts - despite all the chocolate, sweets and general junk food in this present, if she likes to snack on peanuts during a film then they'd be a great thing to add in too. Don't forget to try and buy her favourite variety!

Well that wasn't too long or complicated. One more thing to say, obviously if you know of any other things she likes to eat or drink when watching films then they'd be great to add in too. We love to know that you pay attention to our favourite things! If you want to add a little sign to the front of the box (see below about wrapping if you're confused by the sudden addition of a box!) then there are three below that you can use. One is a completely prepped up label, one is a popcorn box style sign and the other is a pink ticket shape that you can add your own details to. If you google the ticket to get an idea of how it looks, the two vertical boxes are used for the ticket number but I'd suggest using it to add the date of her birthday/the anniversary and the other details for similar personal touches. Again printing them on photo paper makes them look even better!

Now onto the presentation! I mentioned a box earlier if you were reading closely. For wrapping this up again, there are two options. Open and closed. The open option will end up looking something like a hamper whereas the closed option will be in a box with a lid and so would be easier to send in the post/by courier or just if you have to transport it a fair way. Your decision may also depend on how much you have to fit into the set. If everything will fit nicely into a shoe box then closed may be your best option as you can keep it quite secretive. If you can only fit it in a box with the lid off then the open option is for you. I have done this idea for presents in the past but unfortunately didn't take any photos so I've had to use google just to give you an idea of the finished result. If you want a tutorial for wrapping a box then you can find one here.

This is the closed box, nice and easy. The tutorial above shows you how to wrap the lid and box separately but you could also wrap the box as a whole, like in the picture, and add a simple bow or some pretty coloured plain or patterned ribbon from the haberdashery (that's the fabric/sewing shop boys!). If you are going to add a little 'movie night set' sign then you could put it on top of the lid (does kind of give the whole idea away though), on the inside of the lid, or just on top of the presents inside. If you want to make it look a little classier you could lay some tissue paper across the bottom of the box that's long enough to leave an overhang (see picture below), then scrunch some more tissue paper up and place it on top, add the presents and fold the overhang over on top and add a little tape and maybe even the movie night set sign. 

Now to wrap the open hamper. One thing I would suggest would be wrapping the DVD individually so that it remains a surprise until the last minute, other than that nothing needs to be wrapped except the box. So first take a look at the tutorial above to wrap your shoe box and then again, add some scrunched up tissue paper to the bottom for support and extra prettiness! You could also scatter some 'confetti' - you know the shiny little metallic shapes - on top of the tissue paper. You can get this in supermarkets, card shops, ebay and the like so you shouldn't have any trouble finding that if you want to buy some. Add in all of your things, DVD, popcorn, chocolate etc and then procure some cellophane wrap (I know, I should have warned you sooner, I'm sorry!). You can get some online from Ebay or florist supply stores but the best prices are always at garden centres who stock floristry supplies. Your local florist may even sell rolls. Then cut a large enough square/rectangle so that the middle is underneath the box and the two sides meet at a point higher than the highest piece of the box set. Finally all you need is some ribbon or just plain curling ribbon (also found in floristry supply stores) to tie it up. A good tip when you're trying to tie it up is to collect it all together with both hands, then transfer to one and wrap it up with an elastic band or hair band. Then let go, wrap the ribbon around and then remove/cut off the hair band/elastic band. Hopefully it should end up looking like a fancy version of the picture below (google really didn't have much on offer, I'm sorry!).

Now for those of you lucky enough to live with or at least be with your girlfriend for her birthday/your anniversary/valentine's then the movie night experience (as opposed to set) is really aimed at you. You can do this one of two ways (today's clearly all about the power of two!). One, give her the dvd (somewhere that's not the living room/film watching room) and then invite her downstairs to watch it and surprise her with everything already laid out. Or you can present her with a voucher for a movie night and be prepared with the popcorn, chocolates and everything else that's listed above and a few extras that will be listed below for when she decides to cash in!

I'll deal with the easiest option first - a voucher for a movie night. I've given you 13 options but as always, if you're feeling creative, she'll love it even more if she knows that you've designed it yourself.

Next, the pre-prepared movie night. So before the big evening, you're going to need to go to the supermarket. Unavoidable I'm afraid, but if you do put the effort into shaping this movie night as a surprise for your girlfriend then she'll love it and be so impressed with you that you'll forget about the stress of the supermarket! On top of the things on the list above you may want to add/substitute these ideas too/instead.

• Ice Cream - I cannot stress the importance of ice cream when watching films, it's as important as having icing on a cake! If you can stretch to it then a nice tub of Ben and Jerry's or Haagen Dazs would be amazing but something cheaper like Walls with some yummy sauce and sprinkles works just as well.
• Hot Dogs - the above list includes a voucher for a pizza. If you're going to be there then obviously it's a bit different for you to sort out dinner. So you still have the option of organising a takeaway of some description (even better if it's a surprise to her!) or you could buy some easy food like hot dogs, burgers or KFC style popcorn chicken.
• Fruit - depending on how healthy your girlfriend is, or rather her attitudes to pigging out on junk food, you could make up a huge fruit platter. Summer's the best time for buying fruit as lots of things are in season, particularly berries. This means that you could have a huge fruit platter of strawberries, bananas, apple, pear, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, star fruit, pomegranate and melon among many others instead of lots of chocolate and sweets! If you don't want to go too mad with fruit you could just buy some nice berries to go with the ice cream to make yummy (and healthy!) sundaes. If you are going to serve fruit, don't forget that apples, pears, bananas and a few other fruits will go brown if not served immediately or covered in lemon juice.

To add to the experience you could buy some pretty serving bowls for things like tortilla chips and chocolates and sweets. For the popcorn you could even serve them in these retro popcorn boxes, bags, candy stripe bags or just plain coloured bags.

I think this is obvious but try and keep this all a secret from your girlfriend as it'll be much more effective as a surprise! If you think there's a chance she'll go into the living room (or film watching room) then just tell her you're planning something and to stay out. I can't promise she'll listen (I don't!) but you've got a better shot at preventing chance from ruining the surprise! It's also best to present the DVD and the evening separately. If she only thinks she's getting a DVD then she'll be even more surprised by everything you've bought and LAID OUT READY. Do you think I was trying to make a point with the capitals? I was. Get organised and have everything laid out on the coffee table ready for her to walk in, be surprised, love it, sit down and enjoy it! Don't forget that if you do have wine or soft drinks, refrigerate them well in advance so that they're nice and cold when you're ready for them. And if you do buy her a chick flick, don't moan that you have to watch it. For one night only you will have to pretend to genuinely want to watch a chick flick, it's tough but I'm sure you can all cope!

So all that's left for me to say is that I hope you've enjoyed this post, and more importantly that you've listened to me and are planning a surprise movie night soon! If you do try it out, let me know, send me pictures at lovefromlila@hotmail.com and good luck with it. I'm sure she'll think it's brilliant!

Love from lila xx

A Duesseldorf German Birthday

This post is going to be a story, filled with a few crafty ideas too, with a 'moral' at the end so if you're not interested in the story, scroll down to find out why this story's relevant!

Well, as most of you will know, I'm currently studying in Germany and today my dad's arriving to visit. As it was his birthday two weeks ago, he's also expecting presents! Now, being in Germany made present buying a little more complicated. I couldn't buy clothes because they'd be difficult to take back if he didn't like them. I obviously can't buy DVDs because a) they're so ridiculously expensive and b) his command of German is nowhere near good enough to sit through a whole film! So as he spent some time working out here in the 90s I decided to do a 'Duesseldorf German Birthday'. What that means is that all of the presents will be things that Germany is famous for, german oddities and german-themed presents.

This is a picture of all of the presents before they were wrapped.

First I'm going to give a quick overview of the presents and how they fit into the theme. And then I'm going to give a little description about how I presented it all (pun intended!).

So let's start with the most obvious and work clockwise!

• Haribo - really doesn't need any explanation.
• The 'Muffins' box, Muffin Glasur, Candles and 2 Pots of Decorations - obviously I'm not gifting him a cupcake mix, decorations and candles so if you look below, you'll find out how they came together!
• Curry Sauce - if you've heard anything about Germany it's probably about sausages. Am I right? In little kiosks, wagons and snack bars all over Germany, you can buy something called 'Currywurst' which is just a sausage, typically something like a frankfurter, with curry sauce on top. I thought that a 'German Birthday' wasn't complete without some curry sauce to take home so I had to include some.
• A German Newspaper - to see just how much German my dad could remember I also bought a German newspaper from the actual date of his birthday. It's also nice to be able to look back in the future and see what was happening on your birthday so a bit of a double win there.
• A German Flag - again, doesn't really need an explanation.
• Axe -  this one is part of the German oddities section. Whilst you might recognise the canister, you probably won't recognise the name. In France and Germany, Lynx is sold under the name of Axe. As my dad does actually use Lynx, I thought he might appreciate a can of Axe, and it's also Anti-Hangover which is essential!
• A Newspaper, A Sponge, 2 Jars and A Potato - now these are part of the presentation so you'll have to scroll down to find out what I did with these.
• A Jar of Brown Stuff - this is a jar of German mustard, but it's not just standard mustard as you can see from the colour, it's a jar of Loewensenf Duessi. Loewensenf is a brand from Duesseldorf and Duessi refers to the flavour, named after Duesseldorf, which is sweet with chillies.
• 3 Painted Eggs - another German oddity. In German supermarkets you can buy pre-boiled eggs which are also painted. I have yet to work out why, other than laziness, that someone would buy a pre-boiled (and painted) egg however!
• A Lebkuchen - if you've ever wandered around a German Christmas Market in Germany or Britain, you will have seen these hanging up. They're a spiced cake/cookie which are shaped (usually as hearts) and then decorated with cute sayings. This one says 'Sparrow, you are lovely', with Sparrow as a term of endearment not an actual Sparrow obviously. Given the slightly silly saying, you might guess that Lebkuchen are pretty hard to find in the middle of May in Germany!
• The Blue Card and Envelope - again, one for presentation that you'll have to scroll down for!
• A Bottle of Fizzy Water - if you've ever spent time in Germany you will have found out, probably the hard way, like me, that Germans have a tendency to drink fizzy water as opposed to still. Another thing that I thought just had to be included.
• Killepitsch - this is a local liquor tasting of herbs and berries. Absolutely disgusting but it obviously has to be in the mix!
• Remoulade - now this stuff is delicious. It is basically a mayonnaise with some mixed herbs in, and although originally created in France, it is particularly common in Germany. My favourite use of it is for egg sandwiches! Yum!
• Chocolate - couldn't cover Germany without chocolate. This is from a company called Arko which is German. The chocolate I chose for my dad was milk chocolate covered Almond Flakes - pretty much a nutty Magnum (without the ice cream!).

Something I also plan to do is to take him around the town, show him the interesting places, and, what I suspect he's most looking forward to, is taking him to some pubs for the most famous German export, beer! For that I also made him a little 'voucher' to put in his card for a beer from me in town!

Now onto the presentation. I really wanted to have a go at potato stamps since I haven't done that since I was a kid. So I decided to use the blue paint to make pretty heart stamped newspaper which I then used to wrap the presents. The finished bunch of presents looked like this.

You can also see that the card's already finished in this picture. For the card I made a bunch of balloons out of newspaper. I coloured them all in different colours, stuck them on and then added all the appropriate messages. The picture below shows my bunch of balloons!

Finally, here's a picture of the finished cakes, I think you'll agree that they look pretty funky!

Well I realise that may not have been the most exciting or relevant post for all of you but before I finish with that and move onto the point, I would just like to say Happy Birthday to my Dad!

So, why did I bore you all with a story about a Duesseldorf birthday? My point in sharing this was to illustrate the thinking outside the box principle. If you have a birthday or anniversary coming up, instead of buying something easy like a DVD, get creative (I know, I say that every week but I'm just trying to reinforce it!). It's always nice to receive presents where it's clear that a little more thought and effort has been put in. So make some pretty cupcakes and buy them something outside the box. Maybe even think of a theme and buy things around that idea? Or expand your idea, if you're planning on buying a DVD, turn it into a movie night set (I will do a post about that in the future!). You could even make personalised wrapping paper. You don't have to use newspaper, you could use brown postal paper (which you can usually buy from the post office) and decorate with potato stamps. As you make the potato stamp yourself, it also means that you can put any picture that you want onto the stamp. I went with a simple heart shape but you could cut out the person's name, a smiley face, a special picture, really anything that you think you can cut into a potato! For an idea of how to do it, the picture below shows the heart stamp that I used, and the picture below that shows the top side of the stamp (and paint and subsequent mess) where I cut two triangles out to make a handle!

If you're really observant, you'll notice that I also had a sponge in my original picture which I used to make another heart shaped stamp. For detail's sake the pictures below show my heart stamp and all of my 'wrapping paper' drying. The red hearts were made with the sponge stamp and the blue with the potato stamp.

Making funky birthday presents doesn't have to be difficult so get experimenting and like always, if you try something, tell me at lovefromlila@hotmail.com.

Love from lila xx

4 Everyday Romance Tips

Well today I'm planning to give you some quick tips to remind that special someone that you love them. They're designed to be small gestures/presents that only take a few minutes to plan and execute but still make a big impact. I'm not going to ramble on and make you wait any longer so here goes...


Leave A Note

The title speaks for itself really, this idea is just a simple note to remind her that you love her. To make it a bit more unique though, you can make it different using the various methods below. If you're feeling adventurous then you could even write it in a foreign language, either one that you know or have a look on the internet.

• Send A Text - it doesn't have to be long and wordy, just a simple 'I love you' or 'I miss you' or something similar.
• Send An Email - again, it's probably best not to make it a huge long essay, just a short note saying how you feel.
• Leave A Message On Facebook - whether a private one or something on her wall, she'll love it!
• Leave Her A Post It - the best bit about post it notes are that you can stick them almost anywhere! If you know your girlfriend's going to be using her notepad/diary during the day then you could put the note there, you could stick it to the fridge, leave it on your pillow if you wake up first, put it on the mirror or even sneak it into her lunchbox! You could write it on normal square post its, buy some heart shaped ones (both 3M and Post It have a heart range) or even just cut a square one into a heart shape.

• A Computer Post It - these are basically post it notes on your computer. If you have Windows 7 or Vista, you can add a gadget to your desktop which resembles post it notes (it's called sticky notes and it should already be installed, just right click on your desktop, choose gadgets and click on sticky notes!). If she won't mind you adding this to her computer then this is a nice way to leave a message for her.

• A Shower Note - you can buy shower crayons (there are some here on amazon for £3.99) which you can use to write on porcelain, tiles and shower walls that will wash off with a wet cloth. Given that you can use them on porcelain, you could also use them to leave a little note on her morning tea cup too.
• A Voicemail Message - if she uses her voicemail and you know when she won't be able to pick up the phone so that you can leave a message, then this is a really cute idea. If you get rumbled then you can easy turn it into a phone call to say 'I Love You'!
• A Phone Call - just pick up the phone at a random point in the day and tell her!
• An E-Card - while I'm not a big fan of these, if you can find a good one then this is another nice idea to brighten her day.
• A Letter In The Post - you can either send this through the post or personally pop it into her letterbox. For this you could either send a postcard or just a simple card. You could also head along to a local stationery shop where they usually sell plain coloured cards and envelopes in various sizes (used for cardmaking) which would make a pretty but simple note.
• A Fridge Magnet Message - if you have or buy some fridge magnets you could leave a simple 'I Love You' on the fridge for her to see when she goes to the kitchen for her breakfast.

• A Toast Message - no, I'm not crazy! As you've probably seen, you can buy funky I Love You stamps which you use before toasting bread to leave messages. What girl wouldn't want a slice of 'I Love You' toast for breakfast!

Leave A Present

These ideas are little presents that don't require much preparation or money but are sure to brighten your girlfriend's day!

• Cakes - oh yes, I can work cakes into everything! If you don't want to make cakes then you could just buy a pack from the supermarket and decorate one or all of them. You could just draw a heart on top with some writing icing, or write 'I Love You' or you could put one letter on each cake to spell 'I Love You'. You could even just put some pink/red icing on top and sprinkle some hearts on top. If you can, it would make the gesture even more special if you can sneak it into her lunchbox for her to find later. If you know any of her colleagues or lecture mates then you could try and persuade them to surprise her with it later in the day!

• Chocolate - yum! So simple, buy her favourite chocolate bar and either put it in her handbag with a note, leave it on the kitchen counter for her to find before she leaves for work or again, arrange for someone to give it to her later in the day. If you want to make it really unique, you can use either of the two designs below or the template to make a paper 'wrapper' for the chocolate bar (just beware that the sizes may be a little off, google doesn't have the answer to the dimensions of a cadbury dairy milk bar so I had to do it from memory! If you do want to download them, just right click and choose 'save as'). The designs are done in a 3-part way so that you place the middle part of the design on top and fold the two sides around and stick together. If the designs are a bit too big, just cut them a little shorter.

• A Heart - you could just cut a heart out of paper or buy a cute little heart shape and pop it in her bag or leave it on the kitchen counter with a little note. If you're really lucky you can often find cute little things on the high street. If you can't find anything you can buy lots of different types online. Some are glass beads in purple and red, wooden ones that you could paint yourself if you fancied, handmade felt ones or fabric ones in red or pink sets. If you have the resources available you could also make a heart out of wire or something similar - use your imagination!

• A Flower - take a look at my first blog post for lots of ideas for making/buying flowers. I'm not suggesting giving her bunches of flowers just because it's monday! Just a cute single flower waiting for her on the breakfast table would be nice, it doesn't even have to be from the florist, a pretty flower from the garden works just as well!
• Heart Breakfast - if you normally make the breakfast then you could adapt things a little to make a cute gesture of love in the morning. You could buy a heart shaped egg mould (you can find them cheaper on the highstreet) for a cute heart shaped fried egg, you could cut her toast into heart shapes or spread the jam on her toast into a heart shape (that she can then spread afterwards!). If you normally have something like a cappuccino at a coffee shop in the mornings and they sprinkle chocolate on top, you could take along a piece of paper with a heart cut out of it and ask them to shake the chocolate over that to make a heart on the coffee instead! If you drink orange juice at the breakfast table, you could cut a slice of orange into a heart and put it on the rim of her glass (this one might take a few tries to perfect!).

Bring Home A Present

After a long day at work/uni it's always nice to be greeted by your boyfriend bearing gifts so here are a few little ideas for you to improvise on that will make her smile after a long, hard day! That's not to say that the ideas below are the only things we'd love you to bring home, just the thought alone will make any present brilliant!

• A Flower - either from the florist or from the garden (your own, I'm not encouraging theft here!) a flower will brighten up the end of any girl's day.
• A Chocolate Bar - if you happen to pass a newsagents on the way home then a standard chocolate bar would be brilliant. If you happen to pass a specialist chocolate shop then something more unique would be even better and if you happen to pass an old fashioned sweet shop then you could even get a bag of her favourite sweets!
• A Fresh Loaf/Cake/Cookie/Pastry/Dessert - if you pass a bakery or a farm shop on the way home then we'd love you to surprise us with a yummy cake or cookie. You could even pick up a fresh loaf of bread or even a special bread for something different. If you know what's on the menu for dinner it would be nice to match the bread to dinner. If you're not sure what would work, ask someone in the bakery/shop to help you pick some bread to go with your meal! A nice surprise would also be something yummy for dessert, again if it's matched to dinner it's a bonus. As summer's approaching lots of bakeries will start selling some fruity products like fruit tarts which would make delicious desserts to take home.

• Fresh Fruit/Produce - again, because summer's approaching, you'll find lots more fresh produce available more readily. Bringing home something like fresh strawberries or other fruits would definitely brighten my day! The best strawberries are ones which don't have any white at the top (indicating under-ripeness) but that also aren't too soft and squidgy (indicating over-ripeness).

• A Takeaway - if you've both had a long day then surprise your girlfriend by bringing home a takeaway to save you both from having to cook or put too much effort into dinner!

Just Say It

My final tip is to remember to tell her how you feel! If you love her, tell her, if you miss her, tell her, and if she looks especially pretty, tell her that she looks especially pretty because we're not mind readers. Just because you think it every day, doesn't mean we know that's what you're thinking!

As I say every week, if you've tried something then let me know at lovefromlila@hotmail.com, and don't forget to get creative with your ideas and gifts. We'll love you even more for it!

Love from lila xx