Your summer reading list just got longer -- and more exciting! Gift Basket Review Online has posted a Summer Bonus Edition filled with ideas for boosting what can sometimes be sluggish summer sales. Find fun food summer designs, business and marketing tips, and much more. It’s FREE . . . so go to: www.gbreview.com and read, read, read!

Think FUN this summer and keep your revenue sizzling! For birthdays, thank you, welcome and many other common occasions, fill buckets and coolers with food foods, bright colors, and inflatibles. Christmas is just around the corner so you’ll want to build up your profits. One way to achieve the goal is through keeping your current inventory tight, filling in with easy-to-find affordable fun foods that can be purchased at local wholesale outlets on as “as needed” basis. Layer shreds to create a fuller look, and be generous in your use of curling ribbon, tissue paper, and inexpensive fillers. For more ideas on building summer profits, read GBR’s summer bonus edition, now live at: www.gbreview.com.

Suburban life will never be the same again as Richard Thompson, cartoonist of Cul de Sac, combines comic strips from his first collection, Cul de Sac, and his 2009 collection, Children at Play, in a hilarious compilation Cul de Sac Golden Treasury: A Keepsake Garland of Classics (Andrews McMeel Publishing).
Cul de Sac takes a lighthearted look at suburban life through the eyes of precocious preschooler Alice Otterloop. Adventures in preschool, the importance of Halloween costumes, and family vacations to the beach all take on new meaning in this delightful comic strip. Known for its imaginative humor and intelligence, Cul de Sac features Thompson’s fun and original watercolor artwork, and this collection is highlighted by Thompson’s commentary throughout. The book is a warm and witty omnibus of comic strips that will be a perfect addition to any Cul de Sac fan’s library and a fantastic introduction to readers new to this comic.

Cape Cod Provisions LLC has two new additions to its Cape Cod Cranberry Candy™ brand of cranberry confections. Now milk chocolate, dark chocolate and yogurt covered cranberries are blended so that consumers can enjoy the variety of all three in one perfect package. They are available in eye-catching 5-ounce boxes with a brilliant background of fresh cranberries and window for viewing product. The company has also added a new fruit to its line of Harvest Sweets® brand chocolate covered fruits. Luscious, ripe, whole strawberries are dried and then smothered with all natural rich dark or creamy milk chocolate. They are available in 3.5-ounce boxes packed 12 per case, and in 5-pound and 25-pound bulk. The gable-top boxes are adorned with eye-appealing photos of fresh strawberries and faint swirls of pink on a soft white background. For more information contact Cape Cod Provisions at 508-564-5840,www.capecodprovisions.com.

Cape Cod Provisions provides specialty chocolate and fruit confections under the Harvest Sweets® and Cape Cod Cranberry Candy™ brands. Eleven different fruits are combined with chocolate and other confectionery ingredients, and are available in eye-catching packaging and in bulk. Products are sold throughout the U.S., directly and through specialty food distributors, to gourmet, candy, gift, produce, tabletop, gift basket, wine and other specialty retailers.

WALKERS EXPANDS LINE OF COLLECTIBLES WITH ROBERT BURNS AND KEEPSAKE
 
ABERLOUR-ON-SPEY, SCOTLAND – (July, 2010) - Walkers introduced two new tins at the 56th Summer Fancy Food Show on June 27-29 at the Javits Center in New York City recently.
 
With great Scottish homeland pride, Walkers unveiled the new Robert Burns Tin, a tribute to Scotland's much loved bard, whose songs and poems have become international favorites. The 10.6 oz tin is filled with an assortment of Walkers favorite varieties of shortbread cookies.
 
The cover of the beautiful, reusable, rectangular Robert Burns Tin will make it an instant favorite among shortbread lovers, collectors and those who will receive it as a much appreciated gift.  The cover features a dramatic diagonal swirl from top to bottom of Walkers famous tartan plaid combined with images from paintings of Burns and of the thatched cottage where he was born in 1759 at Alloway on the River Doon near Ayr in southern Scotland.
 
An excerpt from Burns' song "My Heart's In the Highlands" (1789) is imprinted on the lid. It reads, "Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, the Hills of the Highlands for ever I love."
 
Perhaps the most remembered poem by Robert Burns, however, which millions of people sing every New Year's Eve, is "Auld Lang Syne" which translates to "long, long ago."  Burns wrote the poem in 1788 and set it to the tune of a traditional folk song.  Little did he realize that it would be loved by so many and sung through the ages.


 The new Keepsake Tin is small and sophisticated in shape and design.  It's filled with four of the bakery's most popular individually wrapped packs of fingers, rounds, highland and chocolate chip shortbread.
 
The elegant black matte finish with a touch of Walkers red tartan plaid as a design accent makes the 4.5 oz Keepsake Tin a perfect hostess gift.  After the shortbread has been enjoyed it will be a handsome container for keeping sentimental odds and ends.
 
Walkers was founded in 1898 and is the leading brand of food exported from Scotland.  The family continues to operate its original retail shop in Aberlour in the Highlands to stay in touch with its roots.  In addition to receiving the Queen's Award for Export on three occasions, Walkers has earned numerous British, Commonwealth and International awards, including a Grand Gold Medal award from Brussels-based "Monde Selection."  Walkers offer the widest range of shortbread, traditional cookies, cakes, oatcakes, meringues and puddings to over 80 countries internationally.  The company's products contain no artificial flavorings, colorings or additives and are certified kosher OUD.
 

 

Keep Inventory Trim AND Expand Themes?
Customize Holiday Gift Baskets with a Wide Variety of Calendars

Is it time for 2011 already? Time flies much too quickly, and that’s a good reason to stock gift calendars -- a wide variety of them to set the theme for every gift basket. No need to stock your shelves with cases and cases of theme merchandise from dozens of vendors. All you really need is a standard line of inventory and a large variety of themed calendars to set the mood for every type of imaginable gift basket recipient.

Andrews McMeel Publishing is ready to get you ahead of the holiday rush to stock with a huge variety of fun, intriguing, and inspiring calendars. Who doesn’t need a few to manage time and gift lists this holiday season? Andrews McMeel’s diverse calendars provide something for everyone -- and every gift basket theme -- and again in 2011 the company offers new subjects and fresh, new formats with innovations. Just a small sampling is posted to whet your appetite to visit their site. (www.andrewsmcmeel.com)

Shelly Reeves Smith Abundant Blessings 2011 Mini Wall Calendar.
Be inspired by bit of Scripture and one of Shelly Reeves Smith's lovingly detailed paintings on each monthly spread of this small Shelly Reeves Smith Abundant Blessings 2011 Mini Wall Calendar. Shelly Reeves Smith gracefully expresses the comforts of home and nature in her thoughtful watercolor paintings. Her art has a cozy quality that invites the viewer to enter and curl up on a plump chair or venture outdoors where cheerful snowmen or chirping birds await. Paired with Scripture verse or inspirational message, her paintings are a place where anyone would be happy to linger.





Just the Right Shoe™ 2011 Mini Day-to-Day Calendar.
Women and shoes go together like diamonds and furs, that's why every female needs the Just the Right Shoe™ 2011 Mini Day-to-Day Calendar. Photos of Lorraine Vail's award-winning line of miniature collectible shoes along with the shoe's savvy name and description are featured on each weekday page. The weekend pages feature original shoe illustrations by Vail and are accompanied by fun facts about shoes. The calendar comes packaged in a one-of-a-kind keepsake box that resembles a shoebox.




Mary Engelbreit's Mary Engelbreit Hurry Up and Relax 2011 Monthly Planner Calendar makes it easier to get through the hurry-up parts of life and on to the more relaxing parts by helping to keep it all organized. Packaged in its own slipcase to prevent torn pages and small enough to fit in a purse or tote, it's ideal for busy, on-the-go women. Along with monthly planning grids with Mary's upbeat artwork, there is also space for recording names and numbers, plus perforated notes to use for jotting down to-dos, reminders, and lists in the back.