Christmas Trees, not just for the family room

Most people put up their one tree that they have been displaying for the last 20+ years. I know you just love that ornament made out of Elmers glue and popsickle sticks that Timmy did when he was 6 (now 26) but times are a-changin. Themed trees are very big now. Multiple trees can be found in many homes. I have had customers with up to 20 trees in one home!
A great way to keep and still display your much loved ornaments is to designate them to their own tree. Get a 4 foot tree, put it in a different place such as a kitchen or a loft and decorate it with family oriented ornaments. Leave your big tree for a more cohesive look that blends with your everyday decor.
Here are a few tips on decorating a tree:
*Start with greens. Use a pretty pine stem to dress up a boring store bought tree. Attach the pine to the tree stems as extensions of your tree. It will give it a fuller and more realistic look.
*Add floral. Add flowers and leaves that you would not normally find in a tree. You can use flowers you may have in another space in the room. Use large and small sizes. You will be amazed how drastically this changes your tree.
*Stick with a color theme. Choose up to 4 main colors and stick with them. It will give your tree a very cohesive look.
*Use ornaments of every shape and size. This adds interest to your tree.

Think outside the box when putting up trees.
Put trees in your bedroom, bathtub, bathrooms, front porch, dining room, basement......
Make every room feel like the holidays...............

Entertaining at your table

I had a long discussion with a customer the other day regarding what she can put on her dining room table when she is entertaining. She wanted something she could keep on there all year round and that you could see over when sitting at the table. She did not want a floral arrangement that always seems to be the obvious choice. After much discussion we ended up with 5 short candle holders that she would stagger in heights by putting small blocks of some sort underneath a few of them. We took some greenery and weaved it around the bases of the candleholders. She chose candles that worked with the general color scheme of her room. We then added assorted fall picks, pumpkins, and gourds to the greenery. Now the greenery, candleholders, and candles are items that will always remain there. The rest are transitional to the seasons. In Christmas she will take out the fall and add ornaments, maybe some pine. In spring, bird nests and birds would be cute with maybe with some pastel flowers and in summer maybe grapes, artichokes, and other asst. fruits. This is an easy way to keep your cost down but to get a new look every season.

As we were playing with our Halloween stuff one of the girls came up with the idea to dress my baby in our merchandise. She was having a great time! Anna's accessories can be found here at the store! Her boots are actually a hard resin and are great gifts for teachers or hostesses. You can fill baggies with candy corn, tie a bow around it and stick it in the boot. A great gift! Even better is the fact that all Halloween and fall decor items are 20% off this week! Just thought this pic was cute and wanted to share!

Christmas already?

So is it actually possible that it is time for Christmas trees already? I guess so.
T.W.H. girls spent Sunday night starting our process of introducing Christmas to the store yet again. 4 trees for now but more to come!
We actually waited a week later this year to put the trees up. It seems odd to assemble trees when just a week ago I switched my door wreath from summer to fall. Besides the four new additions, the store is packed with warm inviting fall merchandise. New wreaths are being made everyday along with new arrangements and wall pockets. New fall candles have just arrived as well and are moving fast!
For those of you not yet in the Christmas mood ,thats OK! We have a lot of fall for you to choose from. You better hurry though, it's going quickly!

Fall is here!

Its that time of the year when the kids go back to school and the moms can now gather themselves and whip the house back into shape for the fast approaching holidays. We have started putting out our fall merchandise and floral. It seems appropriate this year as the cooler weather has set in for the last few days. When you work retail your mind is always ahead of the game. We order Christmas in January and Easter merchandise in June. Right when we never want to see another snowman figurine or ornament we head to market to buy them by the 100's.
We wait a little longer than other store to put out our seasonal merchandise. Mostly to keep the spirit of the holidays alive. How can you buy a tombstone when its 100 degrees out? Although I have been asked already by more then one customer when Christmas will be out on the floor. I have also gift wrapped many Christmas presents starting this past April. Good for those of you who can plan that far in advance! I end up shoving them somewhere that I can never find or forget that its even there. Kinda defeats the purpose when you then have to buy 2 gifts for the same person.
Back on the subject....Fall is here! Halloween is out in full force and fall is coming out in pieces. We are still getting shipments everyday of new fall merchandise. We are still expecting another sizeable shipment of Halloween decor as well.
See ya soon!

Lolita Night

Thanks to all that came to our 1st Ladies Night Out! It was really a fun time! Each month we will be having an event like this to celebrate holidays or new merchandise. This time we debuted purses, new jewelry, and our entire line of Lolita (some new styles of Lolitas are still coming in!) Look for 30ish, 40ish, & 50ish! They are gonna be great birthday presents for girlfriends.
I bartended, serving up some of our favorite recipes from the bottom of the Lolita glasses. "Princess-tini" was probably our biggest hit! OJ, pineapple juice, vodka, & a splash of 7up. I know I had several myself. Chocolate-tini, however, was not far behind in popularity!
Our next event is slotted for Thursday, August 21st. It is Lakeside Las Vegas!!!! It's gonna be really fun, hope to see you there!!!

party prep!

It's been a bit! We have been very busy preparing for Lolita Girls Night Out ! Just checked the weather and its gonna be very sunny and warm! Much in contrast to todays showers. We all have been busy here pricing new jewelry and purses! There will be displays set up to give you great ideas and tips for entertaining. And, most importantly, the cocktails will be flowing!!!

Enjoy a cocktail or two out on our patio overlooking the peaceful lake! So please join us Thursday the 31st 5-8pm and make it a true Girls Night Out!

Also, the rumor is that the newly opened Massa's next door may be featuring some drink specials for us ladies after our doors close that evening!!!

Rainbow

Because everybody loves a rainbow.....
Here is a pic of a double rainbow that appeared outside the store last night. The second one is to the right of the strong one.

New stuff!

I am spending day after day opening all of the brand new merchandise arriving from our market trip. The large wholesale companies in the industry come out with new stuff at the beginning of every year and then a few times in the middle. Its around market time that this new stuff appears. We attended the very first market this summer so we get the newest stuff first. It's really a great advantage over the other stores that go to later summer markets when the merchandise has already been ordered a lot and has started to backorder. This means that your item is on order but the company does not currently have it in stock. So when it does arrive to them, they will then forward it on to you! So when you hear us say that an item is back ordered you know it will be eventually arriving! Well, better get back to opening boxes. Hurry in to see all of our fab new stuff!
Here is a pic of my stock room right now. Thats just a portion of it!!!!

By the way, we are closed on FRIDAY the 4th, not Thursday as the email indicated. (We are inundated with so much new stuff we can't keep our days straight!)

Customer Appreciation Day

Thank you to all that came out on Saturday! We had a really great turnout and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves! Congrats to those of you who won prizes and gift baskets! If you indulged in any of the food you may have come across the always delicious "Beer Dip". About a year ago we sold cook books that benefited a family friend suffering from ALS. This recipe was on the first page and is a favorite at any party! A few of you requested it, so here it is:
3 green onions (3 stalks) sliced thinly
2 cups cheddar cheese (thinly shredded)
1/2 a cup of light beer
1 packet of hidden valley ranch seasoning (i use 3/4 of a packet)
2 bars of cream cheese
Mix it all together and chill for at least an hour before serving.....
Best served with pretzels but can also be enjoyed with tortilla chips, scoops, regular chips, or even a finger.....:)

On different note.....I hope you all got to see our newly fenced patio. We just received a shipment of garden statuary and fountains for it. We are still in the process of setting it up but we hope you stop by soon to check it out!!

One more thing.....We are now starting to get in the merchandise we ordered at market so come in to be the first to see whats new for mid 08'!

Back from Market

So we just arrived back from market excited about our new finds! We happened upon a lot of great new decor and gift items. One thing that we saw a lot of was animal prints. They are back in full force! Zebra was EVERYWHERE!!!! Giraffe and leopard were big too. Animal prints were on anything and everything you could imagine. Lamps to desks to purses and stationary.
It seemed as if in the past few years the safari/animal print was on shelves a lot less. I guess designers have been a little tired of the safari decor. This time we are losing the safari look and the prints are being mixed with a cleaner more contemporary feel.
Look for purses, candle holders, boxes, and that desk I spoke about all in the zebra print in the coming months. This design based on nature has been around forever and won't be going away anytime soon.....

secret weapon!!

I HATE to give away one of my secrets butttt.......We have these wall plaques (that also look great in a plate stand) that you can get personalized. They are only $39.99! I give them to the bride & groom of EVERY wedding I go to. I have gotten 2 phonecalls from couples the day after their wedding to thank me and tell me how much they loved their plaque. Keep in mind that this is a really busy day for them and the fact that they took time out of it to call me meant they really loved it. (especially since i also gave them cash and didn't hear a thing about that!). I give them at showers mostly. You know that gift that gets opened and everyone in the rooms says WOOOWWWWW! Thats this gift! The only drawback is that we need about 6 weeks to order one for you. I get the recipients last name with Est: 2008 on it. You can't get any more personal than this. This gift also applies to anniversaries and housewarming gifts. People sometimes get the year they moved into a new house as the established date.

You can pretty much get anything you want on these if space allows!

We also have another plaque for $38.99 that can be personalized with just the recipients last name. It's a bit smaller but also very popular!

Gift ideas

We have these really popular initial items that make great gifts for people who are hard to buy for! They come in guest towels & holders, post- it pads w/holders, wine corks (most popular), linen coasters, and really great scented soaps in a set of three. We have done baskets composed of these items either by themselves of with other gifts. They also make really great presents for bridesmaids! And speaking of bridesmaids.......With wedding season in full swing we have several great gift ideas for brides and bridesmaids!
I always give the bride-to-be a handpainted wine glass that has little rings painted on it with glitter on them (these are hand washable!) This is a great item for them to use at showers or their bachelorette party (beware of tipsy brides though, these are glass!) They also come in martini...
We also carry the canvas totes that say bride, bridesmaid, mother of the bride, & flower girl. It's fun to fill these with small gifts and give to the bridesmaids.
For those of you currently planning your wedding or your daughters' wedding we have placecard holders in several designs as well as shower and centerpiece accessories. We also make silk arrangements, bouquets, and corsages!

Going to market....

We are getting ready to leave for market to buy all of the new merchandise the companies have come out with. We value your input and would like to know what kinds of items that you would like to see us carry. We really focus on home decor and any unique gift items that we can find. We can't carry everything but we would like to think that we carry a wide array of items.
What type of items are you currently in the market to buy?
What are some of your favorite items that we carry?
We would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.
If you leave us your name and email or phone # along with your thoughts, we will enter you into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate. You can send us this info at sarah@thewhitehare.com
Come in the store now to play our Golden Dice Game!
Get discounts up to 33% Off your entire purchase!

First timers!

Welcome to our blog! We are first time bloggers so please be patient with us.
We are always trying to come up with new ideas and designs. This blog will help us communicate to you some of these ideas. Hopefully we will help you make your home everything you want it to be and more. We are always here to help you with any decorating dilemmas you may have. Never hesitate to ask as sometimes it just takes an extra eye and another brain to work it out!
Although we may not always have the answer we will certainly try to find it for you!
Happy decorating!
TWH

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