Thankful

Its thanksgiving time again…I sit here and ponder.  In the world of retail it seems like we are always thinking of Christmas.  In February we go to market and plan next years Christmas orders.  Then all summer long the Christmas orders start rolling in.  Everyone in the store groans and says, “Christmas stuff already?!”  Then in September we are already planning our Christmas store move and by October we better have most of it out or we’re behind. 

This can make me feel like I just want it all to be over with, but as my kids will soon both be out of the house, I am really trying to savor each holiday as it comes.  I love Thanksgiving.  I love turkey and I love the smells of our house as we prepare the meal.  I love when our family gets together after the meal and plays games and just relaxes. 

All of us have our favorite things to do.  My husband likes to catch some of the football games, and my brother-in-law likes to nap in front of the TV.  My mom usually starts getting the leftovers together so we can snack as we go through the day.  I love playing games and maybe browsing through the ads for all the good deals that I usually miss.  Whatever we do, the day always goes too quickly.

This year I am thankful for my family, and for our little house in our little piece of paradise(Montana).  Forget all the doom and gloom of the economy.  I am rich in so many ways and for that I am thankful.

Tags: Thankful, Turkey

High Country Gifts & Engraving is decked out in all its holiday glory. We won’t be doing a huckleberry kiosk in the center of the mall this year due to various problems, but we will set up a mini version inside our store. Stop by for your favorite huckleberry items, as well as our seasonal favorites of buffaloberry, strawberry rhubarb and other flavors. New items galore are here to explore and find. What are the fun staff picks for the holiday season?

Kathy’s favorites include:

• purse hooks for your favorite girlfriend gift,
• huckleberry cordials for office staff gifts, give a box to share or boxes or each.
• Celestial glass paperweights, beautiful handblown glass using ash from Mount St. Helens. They include Neptune, Saturn, Tornado and more.
• Esque candles in wonderful fall colors for fall decorating.
• Webkinz ornaments for the kids and the young at heart. Webkinz unlock a world of fun.
• Personalized ornaments! Hundreds of styles to choose from, western, moose, bear, horses, new baby, first Christmas, musical intruments. Use ornaments as bows on packages, for teacher gifts, and gift exchanges.

Rechelle loves horses, her picks come from the western selections:

• Matching horse shower curtains and hooks.
• Horse cutting boards, decorative plates and western ornaments.
• Straw cowboy hats and western picture frames

Sarah really likes:

• Our new angels from Appletree. Tall and elegant, beautiful porcelain, perfect for your nativity or holiday decorating.
• Engraved money clips and pocket watches for the men in your life. Personalize with initials, a funny saying or something sentimental. We can do it all.
• Glacier Pearle jewelry, there are lots of fun designs at very reasonable prices.

Chaun loves quick and easy food:

• huckleberry jam, syrup and pancake mix for friends out of state and for previous residents who miss Montana!
• Pick up some pumpkin cobbler for a quick and easy holiday dish for all of those pot luck parties. Easier to make than pumpkin pie! Or give the hostess the set with a matching pumpkin plate to bake it in. This is a brand new item!
• Tortilla soup mix, yummy! Just add water and in 20 minutes you have a delicious dinner. You could add a variety of other items to dress it up like, chicken, red beans, cheese, tortilla chips. Have fun, be creative.
• BBQ sauces, we have brown ale, huckleberry and other great sauces to top off your favorite meat.

Theresa loves the home decorating dept:

• wine cutting boards, wine bottle holders, kitchen towels
• She’s planning on getting the PETA (people eating tasty animals) Tshirt for her Dad for Christmas.
• Fun pajamas for kids, she is going to spoil her nephew with some fun pajamas, maybe the red moose, PJ Rex, Moose Wanted…..what would you choose?

Did you know we had so much fun stuff? Would you like to know when new products come in? Would you like to be invited to special events? Then you need to sign up for our email news.

Enjoy some pictures of the store. Click on a picture to see the full view.

Tags: Appletree angels, girlfriend gifts, huckleberry jam & syrup, Nature's Berry Patch, personalized ornaments, purse hooks, tortilla soup mix, webkinz Christmas ornaments

Every year our mall sponsors a halloween costume contest amongst all the stores. Since we love to dress up and have fun, fun, fun, of course we participate. This year we had a tough time deciding on a theme, but decided to make it easy on ourselves and go as hunters. This way we could show off our PETA and other hunting t-shirts. Well, here we are, hunting for great bargains store wide! We look forward to all the trick or treaters tonite during our mall wide event. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: great bargains, halloween hunters, happy halloween

The snowman and the reindeer have arrived early, in plenty of time for holiday buying and playing. The reindeer is a return from last year, but he sure is fun if you haven’t gotten one yet. His virtual gift is a sleigh and he loves to ride around in it. The snowman’s (or snowgirl’s) virtual gift is a frosty fireplace. Perhaps you better not let him get too close, he might melt! No, just kidding, webkinz do not melt.

Carriers have also arrived. We have a fun red carrier with white fur, camoflauge pet carrier and a lovely lilac carrier. Of course these come with codes and you will receive a wonderful virtual wardrobe or dresser with your carriers. Its a fun way to take your pets to parties, on vacation, to visit Grandma and Grandpa and all those other fun times to play.

Everyone has been asking about the Holiday tree ornaments and yes, they have arrived as well. These codes unlock a virtual tree and ornaments. Your first ornament will give you the tree, and each ornament will give you 3 virtual ornaments to choose from. You can decorate your tree in lots of different ways. The ornaments are $5.99, but are very limited. We won’t have them for long and they may end up being like charms. Once they are gone, there will not be anymore, so don’t wait to get them.

November Pet of the Month is the Hippo. We are having a great promotional price of just $8.99. Pet of the month will come with extra virtual gifts, plus you will be able to play extra games and activities during the pet month. The Hippo’s regular virtual gift is a fun wallowing tub and his favorite food is Stubbly Grass Nibbles.

Do you want to know when the new items arrive? Sign up for our newsletter. You can join the webkinz list, a general list, or the specials list. If you sign up for the webkinz list, you will be notified as soon as the new webkinz arrive. Plus you may receive coupons or other items that only newsletter list people get. So sign up now.

Tags: christmas ornaments, holiday webkinz, pet carriers, pet of the month, Webkinz

We are getting really excited about the party and have some fabulous prizes planned. Here is our most recent update.

• Don’t forget to wear your favorite funny hat! This will earn you an extra spin on the Wheel of Wow and believe me, you will want to spin for these great prizes. Look for Curio Cash, it will be available in $10, $20, $50, $100. You might spin to win a Webkinz Yorkie, Bag of Loot, a Virtual Charm code to get into the charm forest or other prizes. Some items are limited and when we run out we may substitute other prizes.
• Find the right gem in Gem Mining and you could win one of our fun puppets, your very own bag of gems, a bag of loot, a valuable extra spin on the Wheel of Wow, or Curio Cash.
• Wish hard in the Wishing Well game and you might win a Lil Kinz, Smencils, valuable extra spins on the Wheel of Wow, Webkinz Bookmarks or other great prizes.
• Take the Chef Gazpacho Cooking Test and see how much you know about cooking. We will give you 2 of the 3 ingredients and you must pick the 3rd. First prize is the rare Whimsy Dragon and 2nd prize is a chef hat and Flathead Cherry Brownie Mix so you can cook up something tasty at home. The winner is the person with the most correct answers and in case of a tie, a random winner will be chosen.

If you are lucky enough to win Curio Cash, you will get to spend it in our Curio Shoppe. Arte’s sister will be here with some great unique items, a couple of rare items and lots of fun items. We can’t tell you what they are….it’s a secret. Some are one of a kind and once they are gone, that is it! Keep in mind that this is just a game. Curio Cash is not real money and cannot be redeemed for real money and cannot be used in Webkinz World. This is just a fun party game.

 Stop by the Stamping Station and build your own postcard for Halloween, just for fun or to send to someone. We have lots of fun stamps to use and color.

Hope to see you here! I am sad that some of our regular kids have said they will not be able to come due to other obligations. We are talking about moving our party day from Satudays to Sundays. If you have a preference, please let me know by making a comment below, or telling me in the store. Thanks to all our favorite kids for making this fun for us! I think this could be our best party ever!

Tags: Curio Cash, Curio Shop, gem mining, webkinz party, wheel of wow, wishing well

We have finalized the webkinz party plans for Saturday, September 27. The party will be from 11am-2pm and we have the following fun activities planned.

• Everyone’s favorite…. the Wheel of Wow will be here. One spin per person will be allowed, but you may be able to earn extra spins in some of the other games.
• Wear your favorite funny hat and get an extra spin on the Wheel of Wow.
• Play the Wishing Well. Everyone will get one turn at this one. We will lay out 3 rows of cards and you can win based on what you get in a row.
• Hunt for gems in our Gem Mine. You will get up to 3 tries to find a colored gem to win a prize. Once you find a colored gem, you trade that in to get your prize.
• Take the Jelly Bean Challenge. One guess per person. Guess the correct number and win a webkinz. Only one will be awarded per day.
• Make your own Webkinz Halloween card with our stamping station. Stamp your favorite characters, color them in and take them home.
• If you are lucky enough to win curio cash on the Wheel of Wow, you will get to spend your curio cash at our version of the Curio Shop. Many items will be offered, some rare, some fun and some just delicious.
• Take the Chef Gazpacho quiz. We will give you a recipe with 2 ingredients listed. You must choose the 3rd ingredient to make the recipe correctly. The chef with the most correct answers will win our Grand Prize of a Whimsey Dragon. In case of a tie, a random drawing will take place.

We have lots of prizes planned, including Lil Kinz, Webkinz bookmarks, extra spins on the wheel of Wow, fun puppets, bags of gems, playdoh and candy treats. Our staff is excited to play games with everyone and hope to see you all there!

So don’t forget to come to High Country Gifts & Engraving in the Gallatin Valley Mall, between Penneys and Eddie Bauer, on Saturday, September 27 from 11am-2pm for a fun day of Webkinz activities.

Tags: gem mining, High Country Gifts, jelly bean challenge, webkinz party, wheel of wow, wishing well

We have belonged to SWMBIA, (Southwest Montana Building Industry Asssociation) for many years now, but had not fully taken advantage of our membership. This year we had a call from the Rosa Johnson Development Company asking us to help decorate a house for the annual Parade of Homes. We were thrilled. She had a fabulous idea to decorate the home with a warm cozy Christmas feel and wondered if we would do the tree and some other items from our home accessories line.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bozeman, Christmas tree, Holiday Decorating, Musical Celebration, Parade of Homes, Rosa Johnson Development, SWMBIA

The last party was lots of fun with many activities. Here are some pics.

Tags: webkinz extravaganza, webkinz party, wheel of wow

Happy Anniversary to me. My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on Wednesday. Time sure goes by quickly, it sure doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. Early on in our engraving careers, he engraved a wedding album and made a Freudian slip in the engraving. He was supposed to engrave it with 25 Loving Years and somehow translated that into 25 Long Years. We had a good laugh over it, re-engraved it correctly and sent it off with the customer. I told him I was saving it for our 25th anniversary and here it is already. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Belgrade, happy anniversary, The Mint

One of my favorite things is pie. For my birthday, I don’t really care for cake, I would much rather have pie. I love all kinds of pie. Apple pie, huckleberry pie, cherry pie, german chocolate pie and chocolate cream pie are my favorites. I know that most people love pumpkin pie, but its not one of my favorites.

My grandmother made some of the best pie crust I have ever had in my life, and my mother has followed in her footsteps using her recipe. She has passed this recipe down to me and I am willing to share this with you. Now, keep in mind that this will not be a “politically correct” kind of recipe. It goes against all the “healthy” eating people out there. I believe, however,  as long as you keep all things in moderation, that the unhealthy aspects of this recipe are pretty small. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: huckleberry pie, lard pie crust, pie crust recipe