Afternoon Tea Is An Absolute Must...

Afternoon Tea is a beloved English tradition that can be enjoyed anywhere, including in your own home with family and friends, on a sunny picnic to your local park or at a delightfully romantic café in town... With the array of Great British events happening this summer, it is no wonder that Afternoon Tea is at the height of its popularity! We can't name anyone we know who didn't enjoy a deliciously sweet cup of tea, with a selection of tasty scones to nibble on while cheering our Team GB athletes at the Olympics, or celebrating the 60th anniversary with a cuppa watching the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on BBC! It is the simplicity of the occasion that is why our nation loves it so much...

  

One of our bestsellers here at Smart Gift Solutions is the fabulous Great British Tea and Scones Gift Box  that is filled with quintessentially English gifts to provide you with your very own Afternoon Tea experience or to give to a friend to have their own! You can bake your own delicious scones and fill them with strawberry jam and cream, nibble on scrumptious chocolate biscuits and handmade fudge, and make your own pot of Twinings Afternoon Tea, all for under £30. It's a fab way to join in the Great British Tea Craze, and share with friends, family and colleagues too...

If you're an Afternoon Tea fanatic, and love popping to your local café to enjoy some traditional tea and scones, let us know what your favourite places to go are via Facebook, Twitter or the comment box below - we'd love to know!

Pamper Yourself This Summertime...

Sunny Days 

The wonderful Diamond Jubilee celebrations are coming to an end, and although the weather hasn't been fantastic - it seemed to rain at all the right moments! Hopefully the Sun will return for the London 2012 Olympics... Let us know via Facebook, Twitter or in the comment box below how you celebrated the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend... Was anybody lucky enough to attend the Jubilee Concert, or take part in a Street Party?

So... although the weather may not shout 'Summer here I come...' we thought it appropriate to bring out a fabulous new range of gifts for women as Summer is now here, and we all know you'd love to be pampered! Created for you are 4 splendid new Pampering gifts, in our new Summer Time luxury range for women, perfect for indulging with this season...

Featured to the left is the first of our range, our deluxe 'Sunny Days' gift set priced at £39.50, filled with gorgeous products in a delightfully mellow yellow theme, to calm and relax and simply make you feel good after a hard day's work of sunbathing! Included is a gorgeous Lemongrass candle and soothing Lemon Verbena Bath Salts in a traditional bottle tied with velvet ribbon for that added luxurious touch! The jute bag is reusable too, meaning you can store the products afterwards, to take them away on holiday with the rest of your beauty products...

Lazy Days

Or, why not remind her of the fabulous city of Paris through our second deluxe gift set 'Lazy Days' - to forget all troubles and wind down with, perhaps with a glass of champagne! Both the luxurious soap bar and bath salts are packaged with a gorgeous velvet bow, for a special added touch!

Say It With Flowers

As you may already know, we've recently posted about our fabulous 'Say It With Flowers - Grow Me' gift, which you can send to a loved one to grow their own flower to remind themselves of you! Well... we've now created this beautiful gift set 'Say It With Flowers' for £28.50, so you can remind her that you care! Filled with Jasmine and Mandarin Bath Salts and quality soap by Bath House, she can pamper herself with the finest smells! 

Country Market 

Our final gift selection is our wonderfully romantic Country Market Jute Bag, priced at £28.75, and filled with gorgeous pampering treats - including crème brûlée lip balm, to make her lips deliciously kissable! in a loving red gingham theme, perfect for all occasions including Valentine's Day, Anniversaries or even just to let her know you care! 

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations!

We can't believe we're nearing to June... where have the past few months gone? It only feels like yesterday that we were sending Christmas treats to customers all over the world! It's madness, like the unusual English weather we've been receiving for the past few days... but we're not complaining!

With June on it's way, the celebrations will soon begin for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee - and we're more than excited to embrace the fabulous events that will be happening all over the UK! Including the BBC Concert at Buckingham Palace that we wish we were attending... did anyone else swoon over Gary Barlow discussing it on Graham Norton a few weeks ago?

Street parties will commence all over the UK on Sunday 3rd, and if you're getting involved, why don't you take along our Great British Tea and Scones Gift Set to share with your local neighbours or family and friends? It's designed with the Union Jack Flag and filled with delicious English treats, including quintessentially English Twinings Tea and Handmade Chocolate Fudge! It is the perfect way to start the celebrations for The Queen's 60th year in reign, and for under £30 it is affordable too! 

We also sell the Great British Afternoon Tea Jute Bag featured to the left, which includes a Union Jack designed mug, perfect for drinking your English Tea from this weekend! This too is priced at under £30, and includes Twinings and Elegant English biscuits to snack on with family and friends... it's the perfect celebratory gift to give to loved ones, or to bring along to celebrations too! 

If you want the chance to win some Diamond Jubilee inspired goodies, you can visit our Facebook page over the following week where we will be giving away 3 gifts for you! All you have to do for your chance to win, is simply Like and Share our 'Giveaway Status'... so like and share away and we could be sending a gift out to you that will be perfect for celebrating with this Jubilee Weekend!

We recently created a Pinterest page dedicated to inspiring our Smart Gift followers with ideas on how to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee too! Check it out for inspiration , including ways you could design Jubilee cupcakes! We'll be adding to it throughout the week too...

Let us know via Facebook, Twitter or in the comment box below how you'll be celebrating, we'd love to here how you'll be joining in! 

Food and Drink Festivals

Here at Smart Gift Solutions, we enjoy hearing about the latest Food and Drink festivals that are happening around the UK... from Cheese and Wine to Beer celebrations, there is a festival to entertain and attract anyone! 

So, to keep you updated with the latest festivals this Summer season, we will provide you with regular blog posts about 2012 Food and Drink Festivals... Here you will find the best places to be, and how to get involved - and they won't be restricted to certain parts of the UK, you'll be bound to be near one or two! We'll even provide you with our latest hampers to join each festive celebration - so if you can't make a festival, you can celebrate at home!

To begin the Festival celebrations, you can head down to West England, for the Torquay Food and Arts Festival in Devon! Starting this Friday (the 4th) for a two-day feast of the finest foods, to celebrate one of the most "beautiful and productive landscapes in the UK", you can view some wonderful arts and crafts, and a range of producers of the best food! You'll be able to enjoy a hog roast from Poole Farm Pork, or to sample beautifully made local cider...

Don't forget to keep checking back to our blog to discover the next Festival you can check out! You can contact us via Facebook, Twitter or in the comment box below to tell us what Festivals you'll be visiting, and if you'll be at the Torquay Food and Arts Festival - like we wish we were!

If you're unable to start of the Summer season at Torquay, why don't you check out our Essentially English Hamper that will help you start of the celebrations of 2012 summer in your own home. Although it does not contain a Taste of the West... it is quintessentially English!

Union Jack Recipe File

This delightful Union Jack Recipe File we have recently added to Smart Gift Solutions, priced at £14.99, is perfect for storing your own cooking recipes or giving to somebody you know who loves to cook as a quirky gift. With the stylish union jack design featured on the cover, this recipe file means you can join the spirit of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this June too!

Designed by KTWO products, this recipe file is both stylish and pratical, enabling you to store over 100 designs! Also, with movable index cards you can gain easy access to your recipes, allowing you to stay organised in the kitchen. Both the cover and the pockets inside are laminated, so you can them clean too! If you are planning on giving this as a gift to a relative or friend, we can gift wrap the product and attach a personalised message for an extra £3.95!

Another gift we have recently added to Smart Gift Solutions to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (a whopping 60 years - can you believe it?), is this 'Great British Afternoon Tea' gift set which comes in a traditional jute bag. With a union jack china mug, Traditional Twinings Tea and Honey & Almond Elegant English Biscuits, this particular gift is quintessentially English and a must for this June when the nation will be celebrating!

Do you know how you will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee this June? Let us know your plans!