New Contest Launched!

Design a Basket and Win!

In a few months Canada will welcome the world to Vancouver/Whistler for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

We're launching a series of new containers to celebrate Canada's participation in the Games and we would like your help. The idea is to develop containers that showcase the wonderfully diverse products that Canada has to offer. The entries will be judged on originality of theme and contents so be creative! When suggesting items for the container you may use either broad categories or be very specific. (Please note: We are unable to include official Olympic merchandise in our containers. As well, the words Olympic and Games can't be used.)

One entry will be selected as winner. The winning entrant will receive a gift voucher in the amount of $150.00 Cdn for Occasions Gift Baskets. The winning basket will be prominently displayed on our homepage until the Games end in February 2010. The contest runs from May 22 until June 15, 2009.

It's simple to enter - just go to occasionsgiftbaskets.ca and enter the contest form from the home page.

Good luck!

May Long Weekend (May 18th, 2009), May Run or May Two Four - How Do You Celebrate?

Traditionally celebrated on the last Monday on or before May 24th, this month's long weekend is often seen in Canada as the start of the summer season.

The day was established in 1834 prior to Canada's confederation to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria. Following her death in 1901, May 24th was officially decreed as Empire Day to continually commemorate her birthday. In Canada, the reigning sovereign's birthday was celebrated on a variety of days based on a number of royal proclamations. This confusing format was abandoned in the 1950s in favour of celebrating the sovereign's birthday on the last Monday before May 25th -- leaving May 24th as Victoria's Day.

Confusion about the moveable date aside, the May holiday is usually seen as the end of the winter season. Many people celebrate outside as much as possible and most municipal summer facilities (pools, parks, etc) officially open on the long weekend. Gardener's across the country use the weekend to plant their summer bedding plants and prepare their gardens for the new season. Those with cottages often use the weekend to "open" the cabin for summer. Oddly though, according to Environment Canada data, the May long weekend often has some of the coldest, wettest and most miserable weather days of the year!

Regardless of how you celebrate and despite the weather conditions, there is collective sigh across the country that summer might actually be in sight!

The Mother of all Occasions - Mother's Day May 10

It's literally the mother of all holidays.  Mother's Day is celebrated in North America on the second Sunday of May or May 10th this year. 

The relatively new occasion, first celebrated in 1912, was the creation of Anna Jarvis of West Virginia. Her intent was to organize a day where family members could specifically recognize their mother. She even went as far as trademarking the name and the position of the apostrophe in the occasion's name. It was important to her that the occasion denoted singular possessive (Mother's Day) so that each family honoured their own mother, not plural possessive (Mothers' Day) commemorating every mother in the world.

Today Mother's Day is celebrated with gifts of flowers, jewelry and other gifts designed to pamper Mom as well as lots of invitations to brunch!  Mother's Day has become one of the most commercialized occasions celebrated in North America which would have been extremely distressing to it's founder. Ms. Jarvis was very vocal in her opposition to over commercialization. She strongly believed that a letter penned from the loving hand of a child was an ideal way to recognize mothers. Most people today however, enjoy the opportunity to spoil Mom!

One of the best literary satirists, Erma Bombeck, wrote a terrific piece about mothers early in her career. Enjoy an excerpt here:

When God Created Mothers by Erma Bombeck

When the good Lord was creating mothers He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around this one."

And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic; Have 180 moveable parts... all replaceable; Run on black coffee and leftovers; Have a lap that disappears when she stands up; A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair; And six pairs of hands." 

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands... no way." "It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord. "It's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have." 

"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. "One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks,
"What are you kids doing in there?" when she already knows. Another here in
the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know,
and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs
up and say, "I understand and I Love You" without so much as uttering a
word."

"Lord", said the angel, toughing His sleeve gently, "Come to bed.
Tomorrow..."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower."

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. "It's too soft," she
sighed.

"But tough!" said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this mother
can do or endure."
"Can it think?"
"Not only think, but it can reason and compromise," said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. "There's a
leak," she pronounced. "I told You. You were trying to put too much into
this model."
"It's not a leak," said the Lord, "it's a tear."
"What's it for?"
"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness and pride."
"You are a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there."

Happy Mother's Day