3 great ideas for 4th of july picnic ideas

The 4th of July is fast approaching. Do you need a few great 4th of July picnic ideas to help you and your family celebrate this day? It is almost a tradition that this is one of the best times of the year to head out to the local park with a picnic basket in hand, a few towels and nothing to worry about except for where the best seat in the park is to see the fireworks display. Do you need some ideas to help you to make this 4th a memorable one? No matter whom you are with, what your traditions are and how you do it, there are many ways to enjoy this grand holiday.

To help you, consider these simple yet fun picnic ideas.

Go for color. One of the simplest yet most effective ways to celebrate the 4th of July is with red, white and blue. From table cloths, napkins, paper plates and even ice cubes, you want to have all the colors of the day come shining through. You can make your deserts and foods with these colors as well. Add color for lots of fun.

Dress up! A great way to bring the true history of the day out is to have everyone come to a July costume party. Everyone has to dress as one of the Founding Fathers, Lady Liberty or any other important figure of the time. Even Uncle Sam will do. This is a great way to have some fun on this special day and to do something different to celebrate it.

Plan for water fun. Since July is almost always one of the hottest months, make your 4th of July picnic cooler with a bit of swimming and water fun. Let the kids get out the sprinklers and the wading pool. Get yourself into a water balloon fight. Go for a dip in the local lake or take a trip to the ocean. Enjoy the water and enjoy the day outdoors.

There are plenty of picnic ideas for the 4th of July ready and waiting for you to enjoy them. You can create your own theme, style or method of celebrating if you like. Just look for fun ways to share the day with family and friends. Never forget that music, good food and lots of laughs with friends is the best way to spend the day outdoors waiting for the fireworks to light up the sky.

Wallpapers for holidays - how to chose free desktop wallpapers

Desktop wallpapers for holidays are a great treat for the eyes during the holidays. These wallpapers add color and festive spirit to the computer screen. Whenever you look at your desktop, you get to see a lovely wallpaper with lovely colors, designs and text. That feeling cannot be easily described.

Desktop wallpapers and holidays - The holidays bring their own fun and festivity. Imagine your mood during Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and other such holidays. Your mood is totally different. Your heart is full of joy and your thinking is very positive. you avoid thinking about all stresses and negatives in life during holidays. That mood is reinforced with Desktop wallpapers.

How To chose wallpapers - Avoid exe Files. All the static wallpapers are in JPG format. Whichever site offers direct images to set as wallpaper, use that and avoid exe files. Such files with wallpapers may carry ad-ware or spyware. If that is not present, then download and use it.

Design - Please remember that you will be using the wallpaper on your screen. The design should not trouble you in locating your icons. Therefore select designs where the images are more prominent on the right side of the screen. This will give you enough free space on left for icons.

File weight - Desktop wallpapers do not consume much CPU usage. So you need not worry about your system getting overloaded.

Bring holiday spirit on your desktops with holiday wallpapers. They are a joy to watch. You can also send your selection to your friends and family. Enjoy with these free downloads.

Top 5 valentine s day gift mistakes

Mad rush in the markets especially gift shops, young and old people biting their teeth wondering what would be an ideal gift for their loved ones is a common sight in the month of February. For in the middle of the month comes the great Valentines Day occasion that is perhaps celebrated by all lovebirds across the globe.

Valentines Day is the day of love and affection. It is a day devoted to all those who are delighting in a blissful romantic relationship as well to those who either desire to inaugurate or stand on the verge to commence one such liaison.

However in both the cases the manner to express your feelings holds primary significance. The choice of the gift should be such that it speaks your loving and caring heart. Many times huge and expensive gifts are not able to do that while economical things such as flowers readily solve the purpose. So it is better to be careful, avoid some of the common gift mistakes and make a prudent choice of gift. For example

1. People on the occasion of Valentines Day largely prefer Greeting Cards or E-cards. It is because they feel that writing down their feelings is the best mode to express it. Consequently the prices of Valentines Day cards touch the sky.

Cards definitely make a good Valentines Day gift but not as good as gifting a bouquet of beautiful flowers. For a card once read is of no further use. It then finds its place inside the drawer or in between the pages of a book. Whereas flowers that embellish and fill your room with fragrance are kept in front of your eyes till they dry out. Moreover flowers do not require to be hidden from parents like cards that bear the name and feelings of the concerned person.

2. Gifting pricey mementos or souvenirs on Valentines Day is also not a wise choice. Firstly because of the expense you incur. Secondly the trouble you face and the time that is wasted in wandering from one gift shop to another.

Gifting flowers saves both your precious time and money because flowers can be easily chosen for any occasion (For instance red roses have always been emblems of love) and are not very expensive. Flowers can be conveniently sent to the desired destination through Internet too.

3. Most often guys and gals gift weight - reducing books to their beloveds. This is certainly not a judicious Valentines Day gift. Because it makes the other person feel conscious of his/her looks and of that fact that you desire to see changes in him/her. It presents your love in a ‘looks’ oriented manner.

So rather than hurting or annoying your loved ones on this day, it is better to gift them flowers that can be kept as a token of you love for long. All the changes that you want in your partner (weight loss etc.) can be taught later but on the very day of love and affection.

4. Gifting ugly looking clothes is quite popular Valentines Day gift. Since the gifts for these occasion are mostly taken clandestinely, the clothes so purchased hardly fit the concerned person. It thus turns out be a gift that is good for nothing.

5. Soft toys such as teddy bears; Barbie dolls etc. are also useless gifts for Valentines Day. Because the craze for these costly things lasts only for a few days or even 24 hours! Ultimately these bears and dolls are placed amongst their other companions.

While flowers have their own warmth and affection. The tender buds and petals best display your loving heart that is brimming with love like the nectar in the flowers.

Gift card rush will boost holiday sales figures

While online and retail holiday shopping sales have met or exceeded expectations for most retailers in 2005, there is another "rush" for all retailers to prepare for: gift card redemption.

According to Hitwise, an online intelligence service, the market share of U. S. Internet searches containing the words "gift card" was up 32% for the week ending December 10, 2005 as compared to the previous week. In fact, the National Retail Federation expects gift card sales to increase 6.6% this holiday season to 18.48 billion dollars, with consumers spending an average of $88 dollars on gift cards or 15.6% of their holiday shopping budget.

Gift certificates have always been a popular gift choice for the hard to please recipient or even for the lazy shopper. For the gift giver, it allows a quick purchase at whatever store or online merchant they select, with a dollar amount that fits their budget. For the recipient, they can select what they want from a particular merchant and for the most part use the card at their convenience.

But for some, giving a gift card is a cop-out, reasoning it is too impersonal and opting to hand pick a gift and selecting something special and unique for a loved one or friend. However, for some, the gift card is the ideal gift choice, with family or friends even suggesting the store or online merchant they prefer.

For the merchants, it has extended the holiday shopping season because they cannot record the sale until the recipient uses the gift card to make a purchase. This holds down sales figures in November and December, but provides a boost in January when most cards are redeemed. An additional boost is provided by the fact that most of the shoppers who redeem their gift cards typically spend 15% to 50% more than the face value of the card when they select their holiday gift.

There are some downsides to gift cards. Some retailers clear unused gift cards off the books by subtracting off of the face value of the card, an inactivity fee (usually $2.50 per month) after a certain amount of time. Some gift cards have an expiration date and others come with special conditions or restrictions. However, consumer outrage has prompted many states across the country to introduce legislation limiting or banning the fees. Additionally, there is no federal law on gift cards but, two Republican congressmen, Joe Barton of Texas and Charlie Bass of New Hampshire, have requested that the Federal Trade Commission investigate the way retailers conduct their gift card programs.

Is giving a gift card too impersonal? Is it the best gift choice? That question is up for debate and is a personal preference. But with annual gift card sales projected to reach 90 billion dollars by 2007 (Ernst & Young 2005), the gift card is here to stay.