Friday, November 26, 2010

Le Vendredi Noir, Santa and Olfactory tins...

Just a few things on my mind:

...so, in the past few years they have been referring to this day - the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. Wide Americans in their bad t-shirts camp out in line at the big box stores to storm "La Bastille" and pull everything off the shelves in the guise of buying at discount prices. Now, they're trying to combat this day with a special promotion tomorrow called "Small Business Saturday". What I think is unfair is that today, the unsightly, reckless, unsophisticated battle has claimed the glorious non-color of Black for their moniker and tomorrow we (our small, independently run businesses) are stuck with a generic, unoriginal name...I assume you know how I feel about this. AND, another thing - I had a call from a local TV station the other day to comment on this Saturday's "SBS"..."as a small business owner, will you promoting and participating in this wonderfully local event, by slashing your prices to bring customers into shop at your boutique?" Why? No. I work hard. Every small business owner that I know does, too. We are not about to compete with WalMart's $1.99 specials while we slave over our original products, our merchandising and our beautiful displays - never mind paying our loyal employees more than minimum wage. I hope that my customers will understand that I try to offer them the best product for their money and don't have the 1000% mark-up that would enable me to slash their retail price down to just a few more cents more than what I would be paying a child in a third world country for production. Sigh...

So, No. 2: Creed is so into Santa this year. We have been seeing him everywhere since before Halloween. So, I lied. I have told Creed that we were not able to speak of Santa, look for him and discuss him until after Thanksgiving as it is against the law. Yep, that's right - I am a dictator. However, today the moratorium has been lifted.

and No. 3: Zelda is a cool little girl. One of the many things I love about la petite Z is that we have so far successfully avoided the pink sparkly-dom of little girlhood. No "My little ponies", no t-shirts with princesses on them, no Barbies or any dolls for that matter. However, as she grows older, it gets increasingly more difficult to buy her gifts aside from books and music. I have turned to making them -gifts that is - and this year, I have a super idea for her Christmas gift and I beg the assistance of my dear readers. Here is the idea: each morning I drink my tea from Mariage Freres that comes in a wonderfully smooth and beautiful black tin, I save them or regift them but at this point I have at least fifteen or so, like this...



I want to capture smells, fill each tin with an object either possessing the smell or just the smell itself. On the bottom of the can, I'll label the smell in Braille. We can play the game with her (and Creed as well, for that matter) as she chooses a tin, she'll open it and I'll ask her to identify the smell. After she distinguishes the smell, we can read the word together labeled on the bottom of the can. Not only will she be sharpening her olfactory sense but she'll be practicing her Braille as well. So, I have coffee, leather, roses, glue, tea(!), but I need others...pray tell, dear readers...close your eyes, think of your favorite smells, how they be represented or stored in a can? Send me your ideas...Also, I need a name for this game. So, here goes and merci d'avance...

10 comments:

Rebecca Davies said...

Lavender, Orange, Mint, Cinnamon (or cloves, nutmeg, cardamom,...), Cedar.
I have a big selection of essential (and fragrance) oils that you're welcome to paw through.
-Rebecca (empress@cruzio.com)

Anonymous said...

Kiss the Can

toddy

Anonymous said...

Lavender is a great one (sprigs)

also

-cinnamon sticks,
-pine needles,
-earth,
-some charred wood for a fireplace smell,
-laundry detergent (powdered...in some netting [think bridal shower favor netting from when we were little girls])
-talcum powder, oranges or lemon (use zest from the spice section in your store)
-rubber (piece of hose, rubber gloves, etc.)

Good luck! I think this will be a wonderful gift!
Nadine

Karla said...

Smells I love:
Play doh (plus she can smoosh it around)
Clean cotton
Fresh bark
This might be wierd but what about something that smells like her maman? One of your t shirts or something, see if she gets it.
Something metallic smelling (I bet Evan would know how to find that)

Maybe a bad smell as a little kick in the game, can you get skunk or pee or something?

You can call it Smell Roulette....

E said...

Cedarwood or juniper, cinnamon, grass, food scents (celery seeds, beef jerky, yeast, chocolate), sunlight (fresh laundry or a sun warmed dog, not that I know how you'd keep those smells). I somewhat agree about disagreeable smells... maybe some white gas or ammonia or bleach (small amounts) to show what's good to stay away from or be careful around.

Anonymous said...

You can stir the essential oils into parafin wax and pour into the can to solidify.

Anonymous said...

Another idea: if you put each scent into two cans, you can do matching and memory style games, too!

Edie said...

Hey - what about odorama in honor of Mr. Waters? I like the idea of 2 of each scent too for the memory game -
i loved those as a kid.

I was thinking about those Demeter scents, they have things like grass and birthday cake, honey, mesquite...
http://www.demeterfragrance.com/.

If you sprayed fabric you could refresh them, etc. i also like the idea of things that make sound - like coffee beans and peppermints. When i was a kid Audrey used this stuff called liquid smoke in chili, don't know if they still make it, but i LOVED that smokey smell.

I love this idea!

-Edie

Kristen said...

This is such an awesome idea! Let us know how it turns out! I love keeping up with how the twins are doing. I'll always love those kiddos...

Lots of love,
Kristen

hotpinksox said...

I love this idea.

Have you looked into scratch and sniff stickers, maybe as a second smaller gift for her stocking?