Top Notch Gift Shop

Guys can be so hard to shop for sometimes. We’re always on the hunt for great gifts for men so that you’re not searching and panicking the closer it gets to Valentine’s Day/his birthday/Christmas. One of our all time favorite men’s gift is a set of cufflinks!

Every man needs a couple of sets of cufflinks, either for around the office or for formal events like weddings. Dress shirts just look so much more crisp and classy with a set of cufflinks peaking out from under a coat sleeve.

The best part about cufflinks today is that they don’t have to be boring! Think of cufflinks as an extension of his personality. He can wear his favorite sports team or hobby on his sleeve. If he’s not a fan of dressing up, he will be with a piece of a Notre Dame football on his arm!

You can match up just about any guy with a set of cufflinks. Even if you want to keep it simple, a sleek pair of engraved cufflinks will thrill him and make him look Top Notch!

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you couldn’t tell by now, we adore Valentine’s Day! It’s such a fun holiday to celebrate, and is filled with such bright and colorful symbols of love. Do you ever wonder what exactly it is you’re saying to your beloved when you send them flowers or chocolates? We did, and we’ve compiled a list of the most common Valentine’s Day symbols and their meanings:

Hearts – The ultimate symbol of love, the heart is the symbol of life itself. Giving someone a heart on valentine’s day is almost like saying you put your existence in their hands.

Roses – The meaning behind roses can change a bit depending on the color you choose, but all roses are a symbol of love, compassion, friendship and peace. The red rose is most closely associated with passion and romantic love.

Cupid – This mischievous little winged angel is known for piercing the heart of his victim with arrows to cause them to fall in love. Both the Romans and the Greeks told stories of Cupid in ancient times (the Greeks called him Eros).

Love Birds – It was a common belief in the past (and is still today in some places) that birds find their mates on this special day. It’s often said that lovebirds can’t imagine their life without their mates and are bonded for life.

What is your favorite symbol of love? Are you giving any of them out this Valentine’s Day?

Maybe you’re in a long term relationship right now, or maybe you’ve only been dating a few months. Or maybe you aren’t even dating anyone, but you’ve had your eye on a special someone for a while now. Whatever the case is, Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to tell the people in your life how much you really care. But this year, ditch the regular old box of chocolates and flowers for something a little more fun:

Our Heart Sprinkles Giant Fortune Cookie! This larger than life fortune cookie is hand dipped in your choice of topping and then coated with sprinkles. The best part though, is the custom message you put inside. Maybe you want to send it as a secret admirer. Or maybe it’s the perfect way to deliver a marriage proposal! You can customize the fortune inside to say anything you want.

If you could write your own Valentine fortune, what would it say? Leave it in the comments and we’ll post our favorites on the blog!

It seems like Christmas is barely finished (maybe because we need to take down our tree STILL), and now we’re already turning our thoughts to the season of love – Valentine’s Day. But how can we help ourselves now that we’ve got the hot new line of Lolita Valentine’s Day glasses in stock?

From deep, true love, to the innocent first love, all the way to something a little bit naughty, Lolita has done it again with this amazing line of glasses. Each style is available in martini glasses, wine glasses, champagne flutes, and shot glasses.

Check them out below and on our Lolita Valentine’s page. Aren’t they amazing?

It’s that time of year again. The athletes, the food, the billion dollar commercials… it must be time for the Superbowl!

We love the NFL playoffs and all the excitment that comes with it. Even if your team doesn’t make it all the way to the big game, watching the Superbowl can still be a lot of fun! Whether you’re hosting your own party or visiting with friends on February 7th, we’ve got some great gifts to make the playoffs tons of fun!

NFL Beer Mugs – drink in style with this mix and match set. Everyone can root on their own team with these glasses – you can choose all the same or get 4 different NFL team logos for your mugs. Engrave each one with your buddies’ names and you’ll be ready for the playoffs and next season!

Pro Football Gameday Trivia – Put down the snacks and do something fun during the commercial and halftime show. Prove to all your friends that you’re the master of NFL trivia and show off your play calling abilities with this fun game!

NFL Edition Scrabble – After the game is over, wind down the night with this fun football themed edition of Scrabble! The playing board is shaped like a football field and there are special scoring rules that will thrill any football fan!

New Year’s Eve is one of our favorite nights of the year. We love gathering with our friends and family to celebrate the end of the holiday season with one big party! New Year’s is a wonderful time to reflect on changes in our lives and to look forward on what’s ahead. If you’re throwing a party this year, toast 2010 in style with the new line of New Year’s glassware from Lolita!

Each glass is decorated with the festive scene of New Year’s Eve in Time Square – the biggest celebration in the world! Celebrate with all the confetti and fireworks that you’d see in New York City. The martini glass even comes with the famous crystal ball wrapped down the stem of the glass!

Have a fabulous, festive and SAFE New Year’s Eve and a wonderful 2010. We look forward to another wonderful year with all of our customers.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring… except for mom and dad because they had a million things to do before Santa arrived! Stocks still need to be hung, Christmas carols have yet to be sung.

Does this story sound familiar? With a week to go until Christmas, many people are starting to feel the downside of the holiday season: stress. There’s a lot of pressure to get everything done and get it done NOW! But you need to be realistic with your goals for the holiday season so that you can actually enjoy your time with family and not stress out.

Set Priorities

Decide what your favorite holiday activities are and just stick with those. If the kids love baking cookies, make that a priority, and don’t worry so much about caroling. You’ll have more time for the things everyone wants and won’t feel pressured about the rest.

Slow Down

More important than anything else – take some time to savor the season. You won’t get this feeling again for another 12 months, so you should relax enough to enjoy it. Finish your shopping this weekend, period. Also, don’t forget to crave out some “me time”. Everyone needs to recharge their batteries from time to time!

Does your office hold a Secret Santa exchange every year? This fun tradition has been around for decades and comes in a variety of incarnations. Typically, everyone in the group secretly chooses the name of someone else from a hat and then go out and buy them a small gift. It can be something useful or funny, depending on the group. Gifts are exchanged before Christmas and the secret Santas may or may not reveal themselves.

There are a lot of variations on the traditional Secret Santa game. We’ve found two fun variations for everyone to try out in their office this year:

Yankee Swap – Also known as Yankee Doodle or Dirty Santa, this adds some excitement to normal Secret Santa. Each person brings a wrapped gift, then someone is randomly chosen to select first. They can choose any present they want, and must open it for all to see.

The second person then chooses and opens a gift, and then must decide if they keep it or swap it for the first person’s gift. Each person in order then gets to select a present, open it and decide whether to keep it or swap it for any other gift someone has already opened. This goes through to the end, when the very first person gets to decide if they keep the gift they are holding or do one final exchange.

White Elephant – This is like Yankee Swap but with yet another twist. On the first turn, the person assigned with #1 picks out a gift and opens it so all can see what it is. On the second turn, the person assigned with #2 gets the choice of “stealing” #1’s unwrapped gift or choosing a wrapped one from the pile. If #2 steals #1’s gift, then #1 must choose and open a wrapped gift.

As subsequent players take their turns, they either select a new gift or take any already opened gift from any of the other players. Have any player who has a gift taken away either choose a new gift or take an already-opened gift from another player.

Every December, we gather up the very best goodies and gifts we can find and pass them along to you. It’s an annual tradition of our to look for the richest, most delicious foods we can find. One of our absolute favorites (though depending on the day, everything is our favorite!) is the Assumption Abbey Fruitcake.

This is more than just your run of the mill fruitcake! Before you give it to the dog or stuff it in the back of a cabinet, we want to you to give it a chance. These fruitcakes are baked with care at Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monastery in the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks. After being established in 1950, the monks began to develop their own bakery and through the assistance of a world class chef they put together this amazing fruitcake!

When you give the gift of an Assumption Abbey Fruitcake, you’re not only giving a rich traditional style of fruitcake. You’re also supporting an ancient way of life. The monks bake and package the fruitcakes themselves when they’re not engaged in worship and prayer. There’s only a limited quantity of these made every year, so order yours now before they are gone!

Since today is the official kickoff of the holiday shopping season, we wanted to highlight some of the best new Christmas items we have at our store. If you came back from the mall empty-handed, we have a few new gifts for every member of the family!

The Santa Clues Kit – Do you remember those magical days when you still believed in Santa Claus? You can make magical memories for your own children with this ingenious kit. It contains everything you need to set up the “evidence” of Santa’s visit, including a boot print stencil, sleigh bell, and even a torn piece of his suit!

Glass Ornaments – These aren’t your run of the mill Christmas ornaments! Add some personality to your tree with reproductions of some of your favorite places. Who else do you know who has the Brooklyn Bridge or a Chicago Subway Car on their tree?

Fresh Cut Wreaths – This is a great gift to have delivered right to their home. All of our wreathes are fresh cut and will fill their home with the wonderful fragrance of Balsam Fir!